AI is changing how we write stories, making some people more creative. But it might also make all stories sound too similar. This is what new research from the University of Exeter and University College London shows.
Key points
The study asked 300 people to write short stories. Some writers got help from AI, while others didn’t. Then, 600 people judged these stories. They found that stories written with AI help were more creative, better written, and more enjoyable. This was especially true for writers who weren’t very creative on their own.
AI helped in many ways. It made stories less boring and added more plot twists. It also made stories more likely to be published. Writers who could choose from five AI ideas did the best. Their stories were 8% more original and 9% more useful than those written without AI.
But there’s a catch. While AI made each writer more creative, it also made all the AI-helped stories more alike. This means that if everyone uses AI, we might end up with less variety in stories overall.
Oliver Hauser, a professor at the University of Exeter, calls this a “social dilemma.” It’s good for individual writers to use AI, but it might be bad for creativity as a whole. He warns that if too many people use AI for writing, we could see less diversity in stories.
Some experts aren’t sure about these findings. Annalee Newitz, a science fiction author, thinks it’s hard to measure creativity in percentages. They also point out that AI often uses common ideas, which could explain why AI-helped stories are similar.
Related post
This research matters because AI is becoming more common in writing. Some writers love using AI, while others worry about it. There are even lawsuits about AI using copyrighted work to learn.
The study shows that AI can be a helpful tool, especially for less experienced writers. But it also warns that we need to be careful. If everyone uses AI, we might lose the unique human touch that makes stories special.
As we move forward, finding a balance between using AI and keeping human creativity alive will be important. This study helps us understand both the benefits and risks of AI in creative writing.
