Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk used AI while writing her latest novel

bookofjoe

>Olga Tokarczuk has responded to the controversy over her reputed use of AI. https://lithub.com/olga-tokarczuk-has-responded-to-the-contr... Update: On Tuesday afternoon, Tokarczuk sent a statement to Lit Hub via her publisher, Riverhead, denying she used AI in her writing for anything other than research. Read it here: >After Nobel Prize-winner Olga Tokarczuk’s recent remarks implying she had used AI to write her recent novel made the rounds on social media, the novelist shared a statement with Lit Hub via her publisher, addressing the controversy: Like any other conversation, remarks made before a live audience at a public event can be incorrectly understood. I did not write my forthcoming book – to be published in fall 2026 in Polish – either using AI or with anyone else. For several decades I have written alone. I state briefly and firmly: 1. I make use of artificial intelligence on the same principles as most people in the world – I treat it as a tool that allows faster documenting and checking of facts. Whenever I use this tool I additionally verify the information. Just as I have done for several decades by reading books and by exploring libraries and archives. 2. None of my texts, including the novel that will appear in Polish this fall, has been written with the help of artificial intelligence – except for using it as a tool for faster preliminary research. 3. I am sometimes inspired by dreams, but before this sentence too is cornered and torn to pieces by the experts, I hasten to report that they are my own dreams. Olga Tokarczuk, May 19, 2026, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

jrm4

This is personal opinion anecdata, but I'm noticing the following. It's only the mediocres that rail against AI; actual geniuses are like "hey, another tool. Cool."

Fergusonb

Cool, I also use AI as a tool.

keiferski

No comment on whether the book seems AI-generated or not, but: It is quite insidious how AI is trained on real-world writers, who then get accused of being a copy, not the original. It makes me think the future of language, at least in realms where authenticity matters, is going to be constantly changing slang, experimental structures, etc. – all things that boilerplate LLMs will never give you.

tptacek

I don't even know what this story is trying to be about. She won the Nobel (and the Man Booker) many years before the public availability of LLMs. It sounds like she's saying she used LLMs the same way people used Google, before LLMs supplanted it. So what? "Flights" is a good read.

feverzsj

Kinda interesting that more boomers embrace AI than zoomers.

pawelwentpawel

Aren’t we already reaching the point where AI is using content generated by other AIs, like in a game of Chinese whispers? And through osmosis it's now reaching the writings of Nobel laureates too?

iugtmkbdfil834

I am starting to think that most of the stuff that gets awards at the Novel ( or Oscars ) level is at best mediocre. By comparison, I wouldn't have a problem telling people to read Sapkowski in original the same way I would argue that the best way to read Pratchett or Adams is in original. That is how good it is ( and translations for either are not bad at all ). Otoh, maybe her creations are not intended for a person like me. Anyway, I somehow doubt the denial from her as sincere. Not that it changes much.

gadders

The winner of the the Caribbean category of the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize has been accused of using AI. (I think I also read somewhere that one of the judges was accused of using AI to judge the stories but can't find a source for that) https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/...

ArbriT

Read her books. You will understand she doesn't need AI.

bawolff

Honestly, instead of just blanket judging based on if AI is involved, lets just judge the work in question. If you can prompt your way to a nobel-class novel, that is almost even mors impressive than writing it yourself.

farmeroy

I think Burroughs would have leaned into AI... probably would have cut up its responses anyway! We all know that LLMs are terrible at producing interesting writing so I agree with other comments here along the lines of... even if a writer includes generated text, if it rises to the task and the author has somehow made it interesting, good for them!

AlexeyBrin

The author said that she used AI for research which I find reasonable. I just ordered two of her books House of Day, House of Night and Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead .

GeoAtreides

art is dead, the only thing that remains it's its simulacra

pan69

Author writes book using search engine. Author writes book using word processor. Author writes book using typewriter. Author writes book using ...

ChoGGi

> I make use of artificial intelligence on the same principles as most people in the world – I treat it as a tool that allows faster documenting and checking of facts . I have no idea of this author, nor care if she uses AI to research topics, but fact checking? Do people use AI for that?