KUALA LUMPUR: Embracing the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in literature research is transforming the literary studies landscape, says Prof Nie Zhenzhao (pic) of Zhejiang University.
He believes that authors should accept AI’s transformative impact on literary theory, accelerate the reconstruction of scientifically-based literary theories, and tackle the challenges that literature currently faces.
The emergence of AI-written literature had begun to challenge current theories, potentially prompting changes in literary research concepts, he said.
He added that literary theory needed to move beyond old frameworks and undertake a scientific reconstruction, especially emphasising the study of literary principles.Prof Nie highlighted the inaugural release in AI literature, Microsoft’s 2017 poetry collection, The Sunlight That Lost The Glass Window.
According to him, this groundbreaking work was created by Microsoft’s AI, Xiaoice, an AI system that studied the works of 519 poets from the last century in just 100 hours.
“Achieving this would only be possible for accomplished human poets
“Just like a gifted young poet, Xiaoice can understand emotions and convey her insights through poetry even more efficiently than some human poets.
“Will Xiaoice replace poets? Will poets become redundant, and authors too? We cannot ignore these questions,” he said during a panel discussion on “The Scientific Turn in Literary Studies and AI” at the international conference on the “Development and Future of Sinology in the 21st Century”.
Prof Nie also cited the example of ChatGPT, which could outperform some human poets, potentially up to the college or graduate level.
These advanced AI systems, he said, could analyse large volumes of data to learn and create poetry in novel and innovative ways.
“Subjective emotions do not influence AI’s creativity. It perceives poetry differently, free from personal bias,” he said.
Prof Nie recommended an approach to address the impending challenges in literature, in which adopting technology could provide substantial benefits in investigating the basic tenets of literary theories.
This strategy involved employing versatile research methods, fostering interplay between literary studies and its associated fields, which could lead to innovative reinterpretations and a restructuring of the literary theory framework, he added.
