Stephen King is one of the most prolific and popular writers of our time, with over 60 novels and 200 short stories to his name. His works span genres such as horror, fantasy, science fiction, and crime, and have been adapted into movies, TV shows, comics, and games. But did you know that his books were also used to train artificial intelligence programs that can generate text?
That’s right, some of the most advanced AI tools in the world, such as OpenAI’s GPT-3 and DALL-E, have learned from King’s stories how to write sentences, paragraphs, and even whole chapters. These tools can produce text on any topic, given a prompt or a query, and sometimes even create images from text.
But how does King feel about his books being used as AI training data? Is he worried that machines will take over his creative territory? Not at all, according to an article he wrote for The Atlantic. He says that he is not afraid of machines taking over his territory. “I don’t think they have what it takes. Not yet, anyway,” he writes.
He explains that he believes that creativity requires sentience, which machines do not have yet. He gives an example of a creative moment in his writing that he thinks a machine could not produce. He also acknowledges that the possibility of machine creativity is fascinating and inevitable, and compares himself to King Canute or a Luddite if he tried to stop it.
But what about the legal and ethical implications of using existing works to train AI? Who owns the rights to the generated content? These are some of the most vexing issues in the field right now, as there is no consensus on who owns AI-generated content. James Grimmelmann, a professor of law at Cornell Tech, told The Verge that “the question of who owns AI-generated content is one of the most vexing issues in the field right now.”
Some argue that the original authors should have some control over how their works are used by AI, while others claim that the generated content belongs to the public domain or the AI developers. Some also suggest that there should be a new category of intellectual property for AI-generated content, or that there should be a system of licensing or royalties for using existing works as training data.
King himself does not seem to be too concerned about these issues. He says that he does not mind if his books are used to train AI, as long as they are not used to harm anyone. He also says that he does not care if someone uses AI to write a sequel or a parody of his books, as long as they do not claim it as their own.
King is also curious about what AI can do with his books. He recently used an AI tool called Artbreeder to create an image of Pennywise, the clown from his novel IT, based on a text description. The result was a terrifying and realistic portrait that he shared on Twitter. “I used Artbreeder to create this. It’s pretty cool. Scary, too,” he tweeted.
AI tools can also create images from text that are not based on existing characters, such as a dragon or a unicorn. Some of these images are impressive and artistic, while others are bizarre and distorted. Kyle Chayka, a writer and critic, wrote for The New Yorker that “AI art is a new frontier of creativity, where humans and machines collaborate to produce novel and surprising works. But it also raises questions about authorship, originality, and value.”
Stephen King’s books are not only entertaining and inspiring for millions of readers around the world, but also for machines that are learning how to write and create. Whether this is a good or a bad thing depends on how we use these tools and how we respect the original authors. As King writes in his article: “There’s something about the human mind that can’t be duplicated by a machine, at least not in our lifetimes. It’s the ability to make connections, to see patterns, to imagine possibilities.”
Relevant articles:
– Stephen King: My Books Were Used to Train AI, The Atlantic, August 23, 2023
– The scary truth about AI copyright is nobody knows what will happen next, The Verge, November 15, 2022
– Stephen King Shares Terrifying AI Art of Pennywise, ComicBook.com, August 21, 2022
– Stephen King Had AI Conjure An Image Of IT’s Pennywise, And The Result Is A Nightmare, CinemaBlend, August 22, 2022.