Winner of Japan's Most Prestigious Literary Prize Admits Using ChatGPT to Write Part of Her Novel

Rie Kudan est la lauréate du prix Akutagawa. MAXPPP

Rie Kudan, winner of Japan's most prestigious literary prize, the Akutagawa Prize, admitted to having used artificial intelligence to write part of her novel. 

Awarded the Akutagawa Prize, Japan's most prestigious literary prize, the novel "Tokyo-to Dojo-to" (“Tokyo's Tower of Compassion” in French) by author Rie Kudan would, according to the competition jury, be “of such perfection that” 39;it is difficult to find faults in it. And, as perfection is not human, its writing did not require only human intervention… 

Indeed, Rie Kudan admitted to having used ChatGPT to write part of her novel.

"5% of this novel created by AI"

"I've used generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT a lot. I would say that about 5% of this novel are AI-created sentences that I took as is."

Rie Kudan believes generative artificial intelligence software has helped her unlock her creative potential and said she wants to maintain a "good relationship" with AI.

No debates after the fact in the jury

If everyone isn't so enthusiastic about using AI in this way, this announcement doesn't seem having upset the Akutagawa Prize committee, which indicates according to France Info that "the fact that AI is partly co-author of the award-winning novel did not give rise to debates after the fact in the jury". 

Public opinion is divided, with many people calling the practice morally questionable, questioning whether the 33-year-old winner deserved the coveted Japanese prize.