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Death of an Author (novella)

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Death of an Author
AuthorStephen Marche (under the pen-name Aidan Marchine)
LanguageEnglish
PublisherPushkin Industries
Publication date
2023
Publication placeUnited States
Media typeDigital
Pages104

Death of an Author is a 2023 novella by Stephen Marche, under the pen name of Aidan Marchine. It has been noted as one of the first books to feature extensive use of artificial intelligence-generated text, including by ChatGPT and Cohere.

Development

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Marche used ChatGPT, Cohere, and Sudowrite to create the book.[1] He claims that 95% of the book was AI-generated.[2] The cover art and blurbs were also AI-generated.[3] He produced the novella within months.[4]

Following production of the book, Marche has argued that artificial intelligence will play an important role in the creative industries in the future.[5][2]

Themes

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Gus Dupin is an academic who receives news of the death of Peggy Firmin, a writer who Dupin extensively researched about.[6]

The novella is a crime-mystery.[7] It features the theme of artificial intelligence.[8]

Reception

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The New York Times has described the book as "arguably the first halfway readable A.I. novel, an early glimpse at what is vectoring toward readers."[1] New Scientist has described the work as "not awful".[9] Slate has described it as "pretty good".[10] It has been discussed within academic papers.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b Garner, Dwight (May 1, 2023). "A Human Wrote This Book Review. A.I. Wrote the Book". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b Nguyen, Terry (October 23, 2023). "Literature Machines". The Boston Review.
  3. ^ Harris, Elizabeth (April 20, 2023). "Peering Into the Future of Novels, With Trained Machines Ready". The New York Times.
  4. ^ Fidler, Katherine (May 15, 2023). "ChatGPT wrote a novel called Death Of An Author - but it's not making a point". Metro. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  5. ^ Evaristo, Bernardine; Winterson, Jeanette; Marche, Stephen; Eaves, Will; Harkaway, Nick (November 11, 2023). "'It is a beast that needs to be tamed': leading novelists on how AI could rewrite the future". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  6. ^ Marchine, Aidan. "AI Wrote 95 Percent of This Murder Mystery". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  7. ^ "'Death of an Author' Prophesies the Future of AI Novels". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  8. ^ Pearl, Mike (February 28, 2024). "AI 'writers' are mostly worthless right now. But that won't last". Mashable. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  9. ^ Tonkin, Boyd. "Death of an Author review: Murder mystery generated by AI isn't awful". New Scientist. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  10. ^ Miller, Laura (April 24, 2023). "The Robot Did It". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  11. ^ Vlaad, Sofie. "Texts Without Authors: Ascribing Literary Meaning in the Case of AI". Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.
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