Author warns of 'AI reverse plagiarism' as AI blurs literary authorship

South Korean novelist Kim Yeon-su has voiced concerns about the future of literary creation in the age of artificial intelligence, particularly the "AI reverse plagiarism" that could occur if humans publish AI-generated text under their own names.

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The biggest problem expected in literary creation is the blurring of the writing subject. ... There is persuasiveness to the suspicion that literature will undergo downward equalization after the subject of writing becomes unclear.

Kim, who penned the theme text for the Seoul International Book Fair, shared his thoughts in a special contribution titled 'Three Paths of AI Writing' for the limited edition book 'Homo Duduri.' He described the potential for AI to blur the lines of authorship, leading to a "downward equalization" of literature.

He experimented with AI, including ChatGPT, for his work on the book fair's theme. While finding AI helpful in some aspects, he noted its limitations in the crucial "rewriting" phase, where meticulous adjustments are made to every sentence. Kim outlined three potential scenarios for AI in writing: AI as an idea generator and discussion partner, AI as a co-writer directed by human prompts, and the emergence of "strong artificial intelligence" capable of independent creation.

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If we assume that an AI author has the same status as a human author, then a human publishing the AI author's writing under their own name would constitute plagiarism. We can call this 'AI reverse plagiarism.'

"If we assume that an AI author has the same status as a human author, then a human publishing the AI author's writing under their own name would constitute plagiarism," Kim stated. He urged for proactive consideration of this future possibility, even though it has not yet arrived. He also reflected on his experience using AI tools like Claude Sonnet and Gemini for the book fair's theme, emphasizing that "as long as I use AI, all responsibility returns to me as the author." He expressed hope that this experiment would spark further questions.

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As long as I use AI, all responsibility returns to me as the author. I just hope this experiment will be an opportunity to draw out more questions.