Generative Ghostwriter The latest recipient of one of Japan’s most prestigious literary awards, the Akutagawa Prize, has admitted to using AI to write parts of her novel, The Times reports. After receiving the award at a ceremony on Wednesday, novelist Rie Kudan disclosed that she’d “made active use of generative AI like ChatGPT in writing this book.” “I would say about five percent of the book quoted verbatim the sentences generated by AI,” she added. Titled The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy, Kudan’s work was praised by perhaps unwitting judges, with one hailing it as “flawless.” But with such a significant portion of the novel being provocatively revealed as produced by a chatbot, those judges may now feel cheated, as debate over the use of generative AI in the arts rages on. Art Imitates Life Kudan’s novel takes place in an alternate future in which AI has become a central part of human life. It follows an architect who helped build a high-rise tower in Shinjuku as a cushy place for criminals to be housed. Kudan explores her character’s discomfort with society’s tolerance of these criminals, as well as the pervasiveness of generative AI, according to News on Japan. Perhaps she felt that these relevant ideas gave her artistic license to use the very same technology she implicates to write the story (or maybe she’s fibbing to illustrate a point). At the ceremony’s award, Kudan elaborated on her motivations by saying she wanted to explore how “soft and fuzzy words” can muddle…Novelist Wins Award, Then Reveals She Used ChatGPT