- Hurricane Milton leaves at least 16 dead as Florida cleans up
- Britain face 'ultimate challenge' in America's Cup duel with New Zealand
- Lebanon calls for 'immediate' ceasefire in Israel-Hezbollah war
- Nihon Hidankyo: Japan's A-bomb survivors awarded Nobel
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Boat captain rescued clinging to cooler in Gulf of Mexico after storm Milton
- Tears, warnings after Japan atomic survivors group win Nobel
- 'Unspeakable horror': the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- Stock markets diverge before China weekend briefing
- Christian villagers 'trapped' in south Lebanon crossfire
- Sabalenka sets up Gauff showdown in Wuhan semis
- EU questions shopping app Temu over illegal products risk
- Kim Sei-young holds lead with late birdies at LPGA Shanghai
- Toulouse welcome Dupont 'boost' as Olympic star returns to Top 14
- Japanese atomic bomb survivor group Nihon Hidankyo wins Nobel Peace Prize
- Deadly Israeli strike on Beirut likely targeted Hezbollah security chief
- Bangladesh Islamist chief backs crimes against humanity trial for ex-PM
- Everest climber's remains believed found after 100 years
- 20 Pakistan coal miners shot dead in attack
- Clashes on South China Sea, Ukraine dominate Asia summit
- Han Kang's books sell out in South Korea after Nobel win
- Zelensky meets Pope, Scholz as whirlwind Europe tour ends
- Hello Hallyu: why is South Korean culture sweeping the globe?
- UK economy rebounds in August in boost to new govt
- Voice of Japan's beloved robot cat 'Doraemon' dies
- Shanghai markets sink ahead of briefing on mixed day for Asia
- Investors, analysts eye bigger China stimulus at Saturday briefing
- 20 Pakistan coal miners shot dead in attack: police
- Blinken condemns China's 'increasingly dangerous' sea moves
- Toyota returns to Formula One as Haas partner
- EU chief says China must 'adapt its behaviour' to solve trade row
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- Lynx rally, stun Liberty in overtime in WNBA Finals opener
- Pogacar hunting 'perfect' season finale with Coppi's Il Lombardia record
- 'Soul of old Baghdad': city centre sees timid revival
- Kittle at the double as Niners hold off Seahawks
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Yankees advance in MLB playoffs as Guardians stay alive
- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- Kamada says Japan can close in on World Cup place against Australia
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
- Renewables revolt in Sardinia, Italy's coal-fired island
- Argentina held, Brazil leave it late in 2026 World Cup qualifiers
- Obama blasts 'crazy' Trump in first rally for Harris
- 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, a plea in favour of world order?
- Fry homers as Guardians down Tigers to stay alive in MLB playoffs
- Japan PM presses China's Li on airspace intrusion
- In Trump 'Truths,' conspiracies, attacks -- and doubts about the election
Japan literary laureate unashamed about using ChatGPT
The winner of Japan's most prestigious literary award has acknowledged that about "five percent" of her futuristic novel was penned by ChatGPT, saying generative AI had helped unlock her potential.
Since the 2022 launch of ChatGPT, an easy-to-use AI chatbot that can deliver an essay upon request within seconds, there have been growing worries about the impact on a range of sectors -- books included.
Lauded by a judge for being "almost flawless" and "universally enjoyable", Rie Kudan's latest novel, "Tokyo-to Dojo-to" ("Sympathy Tower Tokyo"), bagged the biannual Akutagawa Prize on Wednesday.
Set in a futuristic Tokyo, the book revolves around a high-rise prison tower and its architect's intolerance of criminals, with AI a recurring theme.
The 33-year-old author openly admitted that AI heavily influenced her writing process as well.
"I made active use of generative AI like ChatGPT in writing this book," she told a ceremony following the winner's announcement.
"I would say about five percent of the book quoted verbatim the sentences generated by AI."
Outside of her creative activity, Kudan said she frequently toys with AI, confiding her innermost thoughts that "I can never talk to anyone else about".
ChatGPT's responses sometimes inspired dialogue in the novel, she added.
Going forward, she said she wants to keep "good relationships" with AI and "unleash my creativity" in co-existence with it.
When contacted by AFP, the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, the Akutagawa award's organiser, declined to comment.
On social media, opinions were divided on Kudan's unorthodox approach to writing, with sceptics calling it morally questionable and potentially undeserving of the prize.
"So she wrote the book by deftly using AI ... Is that talented or not? I don't know," one wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
But others celebrated her resourcefulness and the effort she put into experimenting with various prompts.
"So this is how the Akutagawa laureate uses ChatGPT -- not to slack off but to 'unleash creativity'", another social media user wrote.
- 'Pure garbage' -
Titles that list ChatGPT as a co-author have been offered for sale through Amazon's e-book self-publishing unit, although critics say the works are of poor quality.
British author Salman Rushdie told a press conference at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October that recently someone asked an AI writing tool to produce 300 words in his style.
"And what came out was pure garbage," said the "Midnight's Children" writer, to laughter from the audience.
The technology also throws up a host of potential legal problems.
Last year, John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and "Game of Thrones" author George RR Martin were among several writers who filed a class-action lawsuit against ChatGPT creator OpenAI over alleged copyright violation.
Along with the Authors Guild, they accused the California-based company of using their books "without permission" to train ChatGPT's large language models, algorithms capable of producing human-sounding text responses based on simple queries, according to the lawsuit.
P.Mathewson--AMWN