‘I Like My Big Rat Wife’: Meet the People Using Chatbots to Write Custom Fiction
While the publishing industry frets over how authors are using AI, many readers are taking things into their own hands.
In the realm of artificial intelligence, a growing trend has emerged: people are using chatbots to generate custom fiction. Petra Ferraz de Novaes, a 36-year-old software engineer from Brazil, is one such enthusiast. She has always been passionate about storytelling, but found the process overwhelming with all the creative decisions involved.
To overcome this, she turned to AI in 2024 and has been using a program called SillyTavern to craft stories. Novaes is captivated by the unpredictability of the AI's interpretations, which often lead to unexpected narrative twists. She spends hours building stories, exploring various fantasy worlds from her own imagination and borrowed from popular franchises like Star Wars, Pokémon, and Mass Effect. Some of these stories are standalone works, while others form part of private role-plays.
A recent study by researchers at the University of Washington Information School reveals that a significant portion of AI users engage in fiction generation. Out of over 500,000 prompts analyzed from ChatGPT, more than a third of interactions involve some form of fiction creation, including prose, poetry, fan fiction, erotica, and role-play.
The study estimates that about 7 percent of chatbot users generate fiction, with a subset of "power users" prompting the model to create the same story repeatedly. This dedicated subsection of readers is drawn to the iterative nature of AI models, which allow for rapid story development and the ability to direct actions without the constraints of an author's decisions.
For some, AI offers a unique platform to explore hyper-specific fantasies, such as a "big angry rat wife" or an "eight-foot tall werewolf mommy." However, there are concerns that this ease of generating custom fiction may limit exposure to diverse types of literature. Despite this, it is clear that a committed group of readers are embracing this innovative approach, redefining the boundaries of personal storytelling.
Written by urgent.news from Wired Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
