Liu Cixin says no plan to employ AI writer, at least for now

by Xinhua writers Yao Yuan and Huang Xinxin

BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Will science fiction writers seek a helping hand from artificial intelligence (AI), which is already assisting, if not replacing, humans in many forms of writing?

For acclaimed sci-fi writer Liu Cixin, author of "The Three-Body Problem," the answer is: not now, but not sure in the future.

"At least for now, I don't intend to include AI creation in my works," Liu said Thursday via video at a sci-fi forum in Beijing. "But given its current speed of growth, AI may have a strong writing ability in five to ten years. By then, I wouldn't be so sure not to accept AI's help."

The Hugo Award winner said the fast development of AI technologies may make sci-fi writers like him "the last generation of sci-fi writers whose writing is undoubtedly done by humans."

"Of course, many future writers will stick to human writing, but that would need proving, and that proving could be difficult," he said.

Meanwhile, 61-year-old Liu said he is trying his best to write, even though writing has been slow and difficult.

"I will try my best to depict humans' relations with the universe, our future in the universe, and the many possibilities we may face in the future," he said.

Liu is most known for his sci-fi trilogy "The Three-Body Problem," which has been translated into more than 30 languages and adapted into animation, television and radio dramas. Its film adaptation will be helmed by acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou.

Machine writing is controversial for sci-fi writers. Award-winning sci-fi writer Ted Chiang reportedly said large language models are not creating interesting art, as they are programmed to take an average of or emulate the choices that other writers have already made.

Ji Shaoting, the forum's organizer, said sci-fi writers have a mixed feeling toward the advent of AI writing. "Some are boycotting AI writing, while some are cooperating with AI, using it to fill in contents."

"So far, what AI produces is boring, as it mostly does semantic rearrangement of existing texts and lacks overall thinking. It is no match to human writers when it comes to creating new ideas," said Ji, a member of the science fiction committee of the China Writers Association. ■