The Guardian collects a bunch of authors’ thoughts about the role of AI in their field. The are disparate and interesting. Nick Harkaway is there:

The technology will inevitably improve somewhat, but what’s the point of building tools that do things humans like doing and are already good at? Is it because, unable to satisfy the appetite for living synthetic friends like the ones in stories, the tech industry is falling back on the digital equivalent of an off-brand teddy bear?

Adam Roberts gives an interesting response too:

The actual business of writing, for me, involves distracting the inner censor, that self-conscious part of my mind that would otherwise interrupt my flow (I listen to music as I draft), and just putting the words down. Once I have a first draft, then I do of course go back and revise, shape, correct – engaging my conscious mind – but the key writing principle is: first you get it written, then you get it right. I quite often surprise myself with my first drafts.

YZ Chin (who has been under my radar until now):

…you could tell AI to “serve” you fiction about an enemies-to-lovers arc that takes place in space. But how will you ever find something else to like if you stay entrenched within the loops fed to you by algorithms? And the oddly specific reading preferences – did algorithms have a hand in shaping those tastes in the first place?

Unfortunately it couldn’t resist doing the thing at the end of the piece, but it’s a good read and put me onto some interesting new books.