AI've Got A Co-Author
From ChatGPT drafts to short stories and even poetry, many writers are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for creative works
By : Rochelle Crasto
Update: 2025-09-07 14:08 GMT
There was a time when a writer’s worst enemy was the blinking cursor. That maddening vertical line mocked you, daring you to produce a sentence worthy of the blank page. Today, the cursor still blinks—but now, it doesn’t blink alone. On the other side of the screen sits a tireless collaborator: Artificial Intelligence (AI). From ChatGPT co-drafting short stories to translation models sharpening poetic flow, AI has quietly slipped into the role of co-author. And depending on whom you ask, that’s either a creative revolution or a threat to the very soul of writing.
Muse & Machine
Writers have always borrowed inspiration — sometimes from muses, sometimes from whiskey, and often from other writers. But AI takes this companionship to a whole new level. Writers are using generative tools not just for research or grammar checks, but to actively shape creative works. Poets are feeding lines into AI and letting it spit out surreal verses that spark new stanzas.
Novelists are asking AI to spin side plots or flesh out dialogue for minor characters. Even journalists are experimenting — collaborating openly with AI on first drafts, before polishing the human voice back into the copy.
Author Robin Sloan, known for his tech-infused novels, once called AI “a writing partner who never runs out of ideas, even if half of them are bad.” And that may be the most accurate job description yet.
AI Pen Pals
Gen Z writers in particular see AI as less of a threat and more of a companion. On TikTok, #AIpoetry has millions of views, with users showing how prompts turn into digital verse. Wattpad and fanfiction communities are experimenting with co-creation, where writers use AI to brainstorm alternative endings or test character dialogue. “It feels like jamming with a bandmate,” says Sneha Kapoor (22), an aspiring fantasy writer in Bengaluru who uses AI to overcome creative blocks. “I know the melody I want, but sometimes the AI throws in a riff I never would have thought of. I don’t copy it directly, but it pushes me to try new directions.”
For these young writers, originality isn’t about writing in isolation — it’s about remixing, collaborating, and acknowledging that creativity has always been collective.
‘Originality’ Debate
Of course, not everyone is enchanted by this new duet between human and machine. Critics argue that AI-generated text is derivative by design, pulling from the vast sea of words it was trained on. Can a tool that recombines old data ever produce something truly original?
“There’s a risk of mistaking novelty for creativity,” warns Professor Alan Nazarth, a literature teacher. “Just because an AI can surprise us with a strange phrase or quirky twist doesn’t mean it understands meaning. Writing isn’t only about words on a page — it’s about intention, context, and human experience.”
This debate gets even messier when you toss copyright into the mix. Who owns a co-authored poem — the person who typed the prompt or the algorithm that generated half the stanzas? Publishers are still scrambling for answers. Some literary journals have outright banned AI-assisted work, while others allow it only if the role of the machine is disclosed, much like citing a collaborator.
AI Assistance
For most writers experimenting with AI, though, the machine is less of a rival and more of a very eager assistant. The best results tend to come not from passively accepting AI’s output, but from treating it like a sparring partner. “It’s like bouncing ideas off a friend who’s read every book in the library,” says Mumbai-based writer Arjun Mehta. He uses AI for rough translations of Urdu poetry before painstakingly shaping them into lyrical English. “The raw AI version is clunky, but it gives me scaffolding. I can then bring in rhythm, emotion, and metaphor. Without me, the poem is lifeless; without it, I’d waste hours wrestling with the literal meaning.”
That symbiosis is the sweet spot where many see the future of human-machine writing: not replacement, but augmentation.
AI is also expanding the very definition of authorship. Collaborative novels are emerging where readers can interact with both human and AI writers in real time. Poetry collectives are experimenting with AI “co-signatures,” where a machine’s role is acknowledged like a second pen name.
In Japan, an AI-assisted novella titled The Day a Computer Writes A Novel even made it past the first round of a national literary competition. While the judges noted its lack of emotional depth, they admitted its structure and pacing were surprisingly competent.
Meanwhile, publishing houses and content platforms are navigating how transparent to be about AI involvement. Should books note “With AI assistance” on the cover? Will future anthologies include both human and machine voices, side by side?
Fear And Wonder
If the history of literature teaches us anything, it’s that new technologies always rattle the creative cage. The printing press was once accused of cheapening knowledge. Word processors were sneered at for making writers “lazy.” Even Spellcheck sparked anxiety that students would never learn proper grammar. Today, AI is the bogeyman, but also the bright star. It inspires both fear and wonder, and perhaps both are justified.
“It’s not about whether AI can write better than us,” says UI/UX designer Brenden Mathew. “It’s about how we choose to write with it. Do we treat it as a shortcut or as a creative provocateur? The answer will define the stories of the next century.”
The Last Line
Looking ahead, we may see AI move beyond co-writing text into multimedia collaboration. Perhaps the real magic of writing with AI isn’t that it gives us finished lines, but that it reminds us of the unfinished ones. It keeps the conversation going when our own words falter. The blinking cursor no longer mocks. It invites. And sometimes, if you’re willing to share the page, it even applauds.
Writers have always borrowed inspiration — sometimes from muses, sometimes from whiskey, and often from other writers. But AI takes this companionship to a whole new level. Writers are using generative tools not just for research or grammar checks, but to actively shape creative works. Poets are feeding lines into AI and letting it spit out surreal verses that spark new stanzas.
Novelists are asking AI to spin side plots or flesh out dialogue for minor characters. Even journalists are experimenting — collaborating openly with AI on first drafts, before polishing the human voice back into the copy.
Author Robin Sloan, known for his tech-infused novels, once called AI “a writing partner who never runs out of ideas, even if half of them are bad.” And that may be the most accurate job description yet.
AI Pen Pals
Gen Z writers in particular see AI as less of a threat and more of a companion. On TikTok, #AIpoetry has millions of views, with users showing how prompts turn into digital verse. Wattpad and fanfiction communities are experimenting with co-creation, where writers use AI to brainstorm alternative endings or test character dialogue. “It feels like jamming with a bandmate,” says Sneha Kapoor (22), an aspiring fantasy writer in Bengaluru who uses AI to overcome creative blocks. “I know the melody I want, but sometimes the AI throws in a riff I never would have thought of. I don’t copy it directly, but it pushes me to try new directions.”
For these young writers, originality isn’t about writing in isolation — it’s about remixing, collaborating, and acknowledging that creativity has always been collective.
‘Originality’ Debate
Of course, not everyone is enchanted by this new duet between human and machine. Critics argue that AI-generated text is derivative by design, pulling from the vast sea of words it was trained on. Can a tool that recombines old data ever produce something truly original?
“There’s a risk of mistaking novelty for creativity,” warns Professor Alan Nazarth, a literature teacher. “Just because an AI can surprise us with a strange phrase or quirky twist doesn’t mean it understands meaning. Writing isn’t only about words on a page — it’s about intention, context, and human experience.”
This debate gets even messier when you toss copyright into the mix. Who owns a co-authored poem — the person who typed the prompt or the algorithm that generated half the stanzas? Publishers are still scrambling for answers. Some literary journals have outright banned AI-assisted work, while others allow it only if the role of the machine is disclosed, much like citing a collaborator.
AI Assistance
For most writers experimenting with AI, though, the machine is less of a rival and more of a very eager assistant. The best results tend to come not from passively accepting AI’s output, but from treating it like a sparring partner. “It’s like bouncing ideas off a friend who’s read every book in the library,” says Mumbai-based writer Arjun Mehta. He uses AI for rough translations of Urdu poetry before painstakingly shaping them into lyrical English. “The raw AI version is clunky, but it gives me scaffolding. I can then bring in rhythm, emotion, and metaphor. Without me, the poem is lifeless; without it, I’d waste hours wrestling with the literal meaning.”
That symbiosis is the sweet spot where many see the future of human-machine writing: not replacement, but augmentation.
AI is also expanding the very definition of authorship. Collaborative novels are emerging where readers can interact with both human and AI writers in real time. Poetry collectives are experimenting with AI “co-signatures,” where a machine’s role is acknowledged like a second pen name.
In Japan, an AI-assisted novella titled The Day a Computer Writes A Novel even made it past the first round of a national literary competition. While the judges noted its lack of emotional depth, they admitted its structure and pacing were surprisingly competent.
Meanwhile, publishing houses and content platforms are navigating how transparent to be about AI involvement. Should books note “With AI assistance” on the cover? Will future anthologies include both human and machine voices, side by side?
Fear And Wonder
If the history of literature teaches us anything, it’s that new technologies always rattle the creative cage. The printing press was once accused of cheapening knowledge. Word processors were sneered at for making writers “lazy.” Even Spellcheck sparked anxiety that students would never learn proper grammar. Today, AI is the bogeyman, but also the bright star. It inspires both fear and wonder, and perhaps both are justified.
“It’s not about whether AI can write better than us,” says UI/UX designer Brenden Mathew. “It’s about how we choose to write with it. Do we treat it as a shortcut or as a creative provocateur? The answer will define the stories of the next century.”
The Last Line
Looking ahead, we may see AI move beyond co-writing text into multimedia collaboration. Perhaps the real magic of writing with AI isn’t that it gives us finished lines, but that it reminds us of the unfinished ones. It keeps the conversation going when our own words falter. The blinking cursor no longer mocks. It invites. And sometimes, if you’re willing to share the page, it even applauds.