Once upon a time, all stories were written only by humans. Now researchers have found AI can help writers tell a story.
A study suggests that ideas generated by the AI system ChatGPT can help boost the creativity of writers who lack inherent flair—albeit at the expense of variety.
Prof Oliver Hauser, a co-author of the research from the University of Exeter, said the results presented a social dilemma.
“It may be beneficial for you individually to use AI, but as a society if everyone uses AI, we may all lose out on the diversity of unique ideas,” he said. “And, arguably, for creative endeavors we may sometimes need the ‘wild’ and ‘unusual’ ideas.”
The team asked 293 people to name 10 words that were as different from each other as possible, allowing them to examine participants’ inherent creativity.
The researchers then randomly assigned participants one of three topics – an adventure in the jungle, on the open sea or on another planet – and asked them to write an eight-sentence story suitable for teenagers and young adults adults.
While a third of the participants were offered no help, the others were split between those who were allowed to have one starting idea of three sentences pre-generated by ChatGPT, and those who could request five such ideas.
Overall, 82 of 100 participants accepted the offer of a single AI-generated idea, while 93 of 98 participants offered access to five such ideas took at least one—and nearly a quarter requested all five.
A further 600 participants, unaware of whether AI-generated ideas were used, read the resulting stories and rated factors related to novelty and usefulness – such as whether the story was publishable – on a nine-point scale.
The results, published in the journal Science Advancesrevealed access to AI boosted these scores, with greater access associated with a greater effect: people with the option of five AI-generated ideas saw an 8.1% increase, on average, in novelty ratings for their stories compared to people who did not have the option of such assistance, while usability ratings increased by an average of 9%.
“The effect sizes are not very large, but they were statistically significant,” said Dr Anil Doshi, a co-author of the study from University College London.
Human-written stories with the option of AI-generated ideas were also rated as more enjoyable, more likely to have plot twists, and better written.
However, it was writers with low inherent creativity who benefited the most.
“We don’t find that the most inherently creative people’s stories are ‘boosted’ by AI ideas – this group of people is highly creative with and without the use of AI,” said Doshi.
The team also found that participants with access to AI-generated ideas produced stories with greater similarity, something Doshi suggested was due to AI generating relatively predictable story ideas.
Hauser said such studies are important. “Evaluating the use of AI will be essential to make sure we reap the benefits of this potentially transformative technology without falling prey to potential shortcomings,” he said.