The Ghost in the Machine: How Artificial Intelligence is Displacing Human Authorship and Eroding Literary Creativity
TL;DR
It is argued that while AI presents utilitarian value as an assistive tool, its unregulated deployment as an independent author constitutes a threat not only to individual writers but to the cultural and intellectual vitality of society at large.
Abstract
The emergence of large language models and generative artificial intelligence has introduced a profound disruption to the literary ecosystem. This paper examines how AI-generated literature threatens to displace human authorship, suppress the creative voices of writers, and destabilise the ethical and commercial foundations of literary production. Drawing on contemporary research in cognitive psychology, digital humanities, and publishing industry data, the study investigates three core concerns, namely the erosion of the writer’s creative agency, the commodification of literary output, and the philosophical crisis of intentionality and authorship in the age of machine-generated text. The paper argues that while AI presents utilitarian value as an assistive tool, its unregulated deployment as an independent author constitutes a threat not only to individual writers but to the cultural and intellectual vitality of society at large.