Is it wrong to write a book with AI? Joshua Rothman compares AI-generated fiction to the Roland TR-808 drum machine: once despised, now everywhere. The analogy is fun, the question is real, and the “Shy Girl” scandal gives it actual stakes. (Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker)
- The "Shy Girl" scandal is the concrete hook: a self-published novel acquired by Hachette was found to be roughly 78% AI-generated according to detection firm Pangram, and the publisher cancelled it, though the author disputed responsibility.
- Rothman points out that fiction is a layered craft where premise, plot, and prose can be evaluated separately, and readers gave the book four stars anyway, suggesting audiences may be less bothered by AI involvement than critics assume.
- James Patterson running a novel factory with collaborators, romance writers using AI to publish hundreds of books under pseudonyms, and professional composers using near-AI orchestral tools all complicate any clean line between human and machine authorship.
