Nearly half of UK novelists fear total displacement by AI

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
Today 22:14

A Cambridge study finds 51% of UK novelists fear artificial intelligence may replace them entirely, sparking calls for regulation, consent, and copyright reform.

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Jessica Graham, owner of independent book shop Primrose Hill Books, poses for a photograph in west London on November 6, 2020 (AFP)

Nearly half of published novelists in the United Kingdom fear that artificial intelligence could entirely replace their creative work, according to a new report from Cambridge University.

The study, conducted by the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, anonymously surveyed 258 novelists, 32 literary agents, and 42 publishing professionals. It paints a troubling picture of growing insecurity in the fiction-writing industry.

According to the findings, 59% of novelists said their work has already been used to train large language models (LLMs) without permission or compensation.

This unauthorized use is already impacting incomes, with 39 per cent reporting financial losses due to generative AI. Many cited the erosion of income from related writing jobs that help sustain their fiction careers.

Looking ahead, the sentiment remains grim:

85% expect a decline in earnings
51 per cent explicitly fear that AI could displace their work entirely

Writers demand copyright protection, transparency

Clementine Collett, co-author of the report, emphasized how troubling such a takeover is, stating, "There is widespread concern from novelists that generative AI trained on vast amounts of fiction will undermine the value of writing and compete with human novelists."

Collett also noted that "many novelists felt uncertain there will be an appetite for complex, long-form writing in years to come," warning that novels underpin “countless films, television shows and video games.”

Genre writers appear to be especially vulnerable to AI-generated content:

66% identified romance authors as highly at risk
61% pointed to thriller writers
60% to crime fiction writers

Some authors envisioned a dystopian future in which human-written novels become “luxury items”, lost in a sea of mass-produced, AI-generated fiction.

Not anti-AI, but seeking regulation and fairness

While the outlook is anxious, the UK fiction community is not uniformly hostile to artificial intelligence.

80% of respondents acknowledged AI’s broader societal benefits
33% currently use AI tools for non-creative tasks such as research

However, there is overwhelming demand for stronger regulation and transparency in how creative works are used to train AI:

86% support an "opt-in" system for training AI models
48% back collective licensing managed by an industry body

Writers also called on the UK government and tech companies to implement informed consent, fair payment, and transparency mechanisms.

Professor Gina Neff, executive director of the Minderoo Centre, underscored the report’s broader warning, saying, "Our creative industries are not expendable collateral damage in the race to develop AI. They are national treasures worth defending."

The report, titled The Impact of Generative AI on the Novel, was produced in partnership with the Institute for the Future of Work.