We Can't Agree On What Counts as "AI-Written"

AI allegations have taken over the publishing world: there’s a new scandal every week. In all the discourse, though, we seem to have skipped a step—what actually counts as “AI-written”?

AI and LLMs (Large Language Models, like ChatGPT) are being used in every part of the writing process, from brainstorming to research to editing to sentence construction. So, where do we draw the line? And which AI-assisted works are we willing to read?

I put together a survey with nine questions to get a gut check, asking respondents to select for each question whether the author’s use of AI/LLMs would make the finished work “AI-written” and whether they’d be open to reading it.

This is not a scientific survey; most respondents are Book Riot Newsletter subscribers, who are not a representative sample of the general public. Instead, it’s a look into how dedicated book lovers are perceiving AI-assisted work at this moment in time.

Used an AI-powered spellcheck/grammar tool like Grammarly.

I structured the survey to go through a spectrum of AI-assistance, ending with the most straightforwardly AI-written work. As expected, most of us don’t think using an AI-powered spellcheck/grammar tool equates to a work being AI-written—which is good, because full disclosure: I used Grammarly to edit this article. (And ignored its suggestion to change that em-dash to a comma.)

Still, 11% of respondents disagree and categorized this hypothetical work as AI-written.

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Used AI/LLMs for research while writing a nonfiction essay/book.

One of the most controversial corners of the AI writing debate right now is about using AI/LLMs for research. AI-assisted research can take a lot of different forms, so this is likely worth drilling down on. About three-quarters of respondents said using AI/LLMs for research doesn’t make the work AI-written, but regardless, the majority of respondents wouldn’t be interested in reading it.

Ran their writing through an LLM for advice on structure.

This was the most surprising result of the survey for me. We’re split almost exactly 50/50 on whether asking an LLM for advice on structure means the finished work is AI-written. I’ll be honest—I did not expect so many people to object to this.

The results suggest that readers are very skeptical not just of LLMs forming the sentences of a work, but also of LLMs being used as an editor.

Asked an LLM for a story idea, but wrote it themselves.

On the other hand, there seems to be more acceptance of LLM use in the brainstorming phase: if a story idea...