The Routledge Handbook of AI and Literature

The Routledge Handbook of AI and Literature provides an invaluable resource for those interested in deepening their understanding of the variety of theories and approaches available when AI is studied or deployed in literary contexts. It also illustrates ways in which AI researchers can use literary lenses to better understand the sociotechnical dynamics and cultural imaginaries shaping human interactions with AI. Both AI and literature are understood in their broadest senses here. The book incorporates chapters that deal with Large Language Models, Generative AI, transformer architectures, story generators, and computational analysis. Literary case studies embrace performance, poetry, comics, as well as prose, and span a wide range of historical periods, from the ancient world to contemporary science fiction and Generative AI poetry. The Handbook brings together early career contributors, as well as some of the best-known names in the digital humanities and computational literary studies. It offers a fresh perspective on the past, present, and future of AI and literature that will appeal to students and scholars with relevant interests across a range of subjects, including AI Engineering, Classics, Computing, Digital Humanities, English, Ethics, Film and Television, Law, and Narratology. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures List of Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Introduction: Why AI and Literature? Chapter Outline Future Conversations and Challenges References Part 1 AI Authors 2 The Author, Poor Bastard: Writing, Creativity, AI Literary Parrots Poetry Will Not Optimise? Creative Writing A Coda References 3 Does Writing Have a Future? The Long Shadow of Logocentrism Large Language Models The Future of Writing References 4 A Brief History of Computer-Generated Literature: In Search of the Author On Authorship and Computer-Generated Literature The Program and the Programmer The Data and Curation The Reader/user Conclusion References 5 Emerging Models of AI ‘Authorship’ in Popular Discourse A Brief History of Authorship The AI as Superintelligent Author-Genius AI as Super-Human Collaborator AI as Authorless Conclusion References Part 2 AI Voices 6 Oracle, Echo, Or Stochastic Parrot? Who (Or What) Speaks in AI-Generated Literature? The Concept of Voice in Narratology Turing Deceptions: the Voice as Interface ‘The Robot of the Machine Is Man’ Parrot, Oracle, Or Echo? Avenues for Future Research References 7 ‘Free Spaces of Imaginal Adventure’: Voicing Silence in AI and Literature Silence in AI Silence in Literature A Case Study: Anne Carson’s Marks and Lacks Conclusion References 8 The AI Question, Or What If Homer Had ChatGPT? The Homeric Question The AI Question Homeric Experiments With AI Conclusion References 9 The Voice of the Platform What Is a Voice? Authors, Audiences, Algorithms The Novel Elämä: Esipuhe and Its Reception Discussion: Defining and Appropriating the Voice of the Platform Conclusion References Part 3 AI Interrogations 10 There Has Never Been an Intelligent Literature Is Intelligence Nowhere Or Everywhere? Jackson Mac Low’s Generative Compositions Dreyfus’s Critique of AI Hayles’ Cognitive Nonconscious Mac Low’s Algorithmic Determinism Where Is Intelligence? Against Intelligence References 11 Shakespeare Didn’t Brainstorm: Why Literature Proves That There’s More to Intelligence Than AI The Computational Theory of Creativity What IQ and Ideation Can’t Do Literature Is More Than Logic Interpretation – and Its Limits Creating Shakespeare The Actual Future of Intelligence What the Monkeys Discovered Notes References 12 A Token Effort? Reflections On the Authoring of (Science) Fiction in an Age of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ Initialisation Training Data Prompt Algorithm Expression End Token References Part 4 AI Narratives 13 AIs Reading AI Narratives? Problems of ‘AI Narratives’ Problems of Definition Problems of Focus Problems of Presentation Problems of Content Problems of Referentiality Conclusion References 14 AI 2041: Critical Design Fiction? Critical Design Fiction ‘The Golden Elephant’ The Pink Elephant Golden Sparrow and Silver Sparrow Making Learning More Fun ‘The Isle of Happiness’ Uncritical Design Fiction Science Fiction Jester References 15 Digital, Deep Fake, and Glitch Twins in the Cultural Imaginaries of Generative AI TwinChat and the Recursion of Digital Twinning Glitch Twins in Cam Conclusion References 16 The Rise of the Artificial Boyfriend: Artificial Partners Past, Present, and Future New Artificial Intimacies in the 21st Century and the Self-Abolishing Artificial Boyfriend Computing and Complicating Romance in I’m Your Man Conclusion References Part 5 AI Ethics 17 (Un)Ethical Extractions: Conceptual Writing, Appropriation, and the Poetics of the Public Domain Go Steal Something From the Library: the Rise of Uncreative Writing Prehistories of Conceptual Poetics The Unoriginal Genius: Author as Programmer Conceptual Controversies: ‘The Body of Michael Brown’ and ‘Gone With the Wind’ Conceptual Poetry and OpenAI Ethical Extractions: Reappropriating the Archive Conclusion References 18 ‘Full of Stories’: AI, Literature, and the Law The Law Is Full of Stories Artificial Intelligence and the Law Schemata and Scripts Conclusion: From Law to Literature – and From Literature to Law? References 19 Rethinking Intentionality in the Era of AI Formalisms, Old and New Reading Digital Forms Case Study: ‘I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter’ Conclusion References Part 6 AI Interdisciplinarities 20 Computational Literary Studies and AI Computation as Literary Discovery Representational and Performative Ways of Knowing: Some Case Studies Possibilities for Performative CLS References 21 What to Expect When You’re Expecting: On the Creative Potential of Generative AI What to Expect When You’re Expecting ... a Story What to Expect When You’re Expecting ... a Joke How to Expect the Unexpected Case Study: Generating Content for Topic Comic Strips Conclusions: Symbolic Caterpillars and Statistical Butterflies References 22 Electricity and Alchemy: (Un)explainable AI and (Un)explainable Literature Electricity: Watt and Megawatt and XAI Alchemy: Frankenstein and XAI Conclusion References Part 7 AI Narratologies 23 Towards Narrative AI Studies What Is Narrative AI Studies? Case Study: Generative AI-Authored Immigration Narratives Algorithmically Modelling and Analysing Cultural Narrative(s) On Immigration Conclusion and Directions for Further Research: Scope and Limitations Examining Generative AI’s Narrative Affordances Examining Specific Instances of AI-Generated Narratives Examining the Cultural Narratives That Shape Perceptions of AI Examining Cultural Narratives Shaped By AI References 24 Towards an AI Narratology: the Possibilities of LLM Classification for the Quantification of Abstract Narrative Concepts in Literary Studies Why AI Has Expanded the Possibilities of Text Classification for Narratology Fine-tuning BERT for Classification of Literary Description That Activates Reader Social Cognition Conclusion References 25 Post-Digital Narrative Analysis Post-digital Structures Emerge Temporal Structure Order Duration Frequency Spatial Structure Focalisation A Case Study: the Whodunit Narrative Computational Narrative Analysis Data Annotation Model Results and Discussion Further Steps Conclusion References Part 8 AI Co-Creations 26 Co-Creative Multimodal Authorship as Procedural Performance With DALL-E The Attentive Turn in Digital-Born Literature Theorising Human-Machine Co-Creation Mutating Companions: From Word Input to Image Output and Its Poetic Co-Transformation, a Literary Exploration of AI From Digital Writer Jason Nelson Ultra-Large Digital Narrative Images (ULDNIs) Reading/dissecting/living Within an ULDNI Literary Process of Painting, Outwards AI Stitching as Narrative Process Understanding and Misunderstanding Patterns An Added Layer of Alive Conclusion: Digital-Born Narrative in a Transformative Paradigm References 27 Artificial Theatres of the Absurd ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ Dramatron and AI-Generated Plays Improbotics and the Cyborg Challenges The Mechanics of Cyborg Theatre Rosetta Code and the Absurdity of Machine Translation Conclusion References 28 Artificially Funny: Collaborative Play at the Intersection of AI, Literature and Humour Theories of Humour Crafting Prompts Experiments and Insights Reflections On Comedic Creativity and AI Conclusion References 29 Artificial Intelligence, the Poetic Process, and the Critical Editor PART 1 AI Goes in for Open Heart Surgery PART 2 References Postscript 30 Luddites, Literature, and LLMs Index The Routledge Handbook of AI and Literature provides an invaluable resource for those interested in deepening their understanding of the variety of theories and approaches available when AI is studied or deployed in literary contexts. It also illustrates ways in which AI researchers can use literary lenses to better understand the sociotechnical dynamics and cultural imaginaries shaping human interactions with AI.Both AI and literature are understood in their broadest senses here. The book incorporates chapters that deal with Large Language Models, Generative AI, transformer architectures, story generators, and computational analysis. Literary case studies embrace performance, poetry, comics, as well as prose, and span a wide range of historical periods, from the ancient world to contemporary science fiction and Generative AI poetry.This Handbook brings together early career contributors, as well as some of the best-known names in the digital humanities and computational literary studies. It offers a fresh perspective on the past, present, and future of AI and literature that will appeal to students and scholars with relevant interests across a range of subjects, including AI Engineering, Classics, Computing, Digital Humanities, English, Ethics, Film and Television, Law, and Narratology.