MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - AI generated ebooks

FatDog · 05-17-2023, 04:48 PM

I just finished listening to Jasper Ffords "Well of Lost Plots" where part of the conflict is the Book World switching to the new "Ultra Word" operating system with all kinds of features.

There is lots of buzz about ChatBot and AI assisted tools for writing.

The 2 things seemed to click.

Yes - asking AI to write something from a few sentences is impressive.

But AI works best if you do not take the first result but order it to fine-tune the results.

What if I pasted "Game of Thrones" into an AI and told it to re-write it for a 7 year old. Dragons must be replaced with Unicorns, sex removed and instead of different kingdoms - it is set in a middle grade school and the different 'kingdoms' are after school clubs fighting over size and supremacy. (Sounds like every Japanese Manga comic).

Or re-write "Game of Thrones" but based around a young woman entering military service struggling among the different specialties.

Then my mind went to the idea of "AI Seed Books".

An author creates characters & situations as a template. Then Kindle runs it through an AI like this:

When a young female relative orders a copy of "Game of Thrones" she gets a customized to her age/reading level, most of the main characters are women.
When the same relative as a teen orders the same book - it is now about a co-ed entering college and the conflicts come from the Greek system - which to join, etc.
When an older guy orders the book - it reads like "Kushels Dart" where the different kingdoms have different sexual specialties. Instead of 6-page descriptions of each meal, the sex scenes take over.

Basically - could an author create interesting characters, several scenarios and let AI 'run the play/book' in different ways to fit the reader?

Lets take Harry Potter:

My 7 yo would get the original Harry Potter.
As an adult that tells Kindle/AI that I am ok with sexual content - I get a more mature version with sex scenes. But since I have an engineering background - Hogwarts becomes MIT. Potions class becomes Chemistry and Quiditch becomes "Call of Duty" or some other E-sports video game.

Could AI let publishers sell the same rough book to multiple age groups & genders?

Authors worry less about pacing and structure and more about the characters, how they develop, how they interact and rough outlines of their roles. AI fills in dialog, scenes, progression - but tuned to the age, gender and interest level of the reader.

Does this sound exciting or horrible? I am conflicted.

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True story here:

Daughters middle grade class sent home a flyer. English class was switching to a "Whole Word" concept. Students would not be judged on sentence structure, spelling punctuation but more on how well they communicated ideas.

Wife and I were worried about this. Would this affect her later education or college scores?

I was in a used book store and in the Kids section found a woman with a stack of books. She was a English teacher and was buying used, age-appropriate books for her class.

I brought up the change to the English curriculum to her and she recognized it as something that had been used about a dozen years ago. (Our state MUST change approaches to education every few years).

She said she was teaching High School when the middle grade kids educated with 'Whole Word' had come through. She could recognize them - because the writing was much, much better. Since the kids did not worry about grammar, spelling, etc., they wrote more and were much more creative.

Less structure = more creative and verbose writing...

Could AI let authors 'word vomit' or 'character vomit' then take care of the grunt work of putting it into a story?

AI can proof read. AI can say "The reader must have AAA level of education to read this book." Will this allow authors to skip having proof-readers at least at first few rewrites?

Can AI taking the grunt work out of writing so authors are free to be more creative? Or will authors 'dumb down' their characters & stories so AI can churn versions to target 7-70 year olds?

My mind is spinning so thank you for letting me process by writing this all down.

05-17-2023, 04:48 PM	#1
FatDog Witless protection Agent Posts: 290 Karma: 1002898 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle	AI generated ebooks - customized for the reader I just finished listening to Jasper Ffords "Well of Lost Plots" where part of the conflict is the Book World switching to the new "Ultra Word" operating system with all kinds of features. There is lots of buzz about ChatBot and AI assisted tools for writing. The 2 things seemed to click. Yes - asking AI to write something from a few sentences is impressive. But AI works best if you do not take the first result but order it to fine-tune the results. What if I pasted "Game of Thrones" into an AI and told it to re-write it for a 7 year old. Dragons must be replaced with Unicorns, sex removed and instead of different kingdoms - it is set in a middle grade school and the different 'kingdoms' are after school clubs fighting over size and supremacy. (Sounds like every Japanese Manga comic). Or re-write "Game of Thrones" but based around a young woman entering military service struggling among the different specialties. Then my mind went to the idea of "AI Seed Books". An author creates characters & situations as a template. Then Kindle runs it through an AI like this: When a young female relative orders a copy of "Game of Thrones" she gets a customized to her age/reading level, most of the main characters are women. When the same relative as a teen orders the same book - it is now about a co-ed entering college and the conflicts come from the Greek system - which to join, etc. When an older guy orders the book - it reads like "Kushels Dart" where the different kingdoms have different sexual specialties. Instead of 6-page descriptions of each meal, the sex scenes take over. Basically - could an author create interesting characters, several scenarios and let AI 'run the play/book' in different ways to fit the reader? Lets take Harry Potter: My 7 yo would get the original Harry Potter. As an adult that tells Kindle/AI that I am ok with sexual content - I get a more mature version with sex scenes. But since I have an engineering background - Hogwarts becomes MIT. Potions class becomes Chemistry and Quiditch becomes "Call of Duty" or some other E-sports video game. Could AI let publishers sell the same rough book to multiple age groups & genders? Authors worry less about pacing and structure and more about the characters, how they develop, how they interact and rough outlines of their roles. AI fills in dialog, scenes, progression - but tuned to the age, gender and interest level of the reader. Does this sound exciting or horrible? I am conflicted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- True story here: Daughters middle grade class sent home a flyer. English class was switching to a "Whole Word" concept. Students would not be judged on sentence structure, spelling punctuation but more on how well they communicated ideas. Wife and I were worried about this. Would this affect her later education or college scores? I was in a used book store and in the Kids section found a woman with a stack of books. She was a English teacher and was buying used, age-appropriate books for her class. I brought up the change to the English curriculum to her and she recognized it as something that had been used about a dozen years ago. (Our state MUST change approaches to education every few years). She said she was teaching High School when the middle grade kids educated with 'Whole Word' had come through. She could recognize them - because the writing was much, much better. Since the kids did not worry about grammar, spelling, etc., they wrote more and were much more creative. Less structure = more creative and verbose writing... Could AI let authors 'word vomit' or 'character vomit' then take care of the grunt work of putting it into a story? AI can proof read. AI can say "The reader must have AAA level of education to read this book." Will this allow authors to skip having proof-readers at least at first few rewrites? Can AI taking the grunt work out of writing so authors are free to be more creative? Or will authors 'dumb down' their characters & stories so AI can churn versions to target 7-70 year olds? My mind is spinning so thank you for letting me process by writing this all down.