AI-human duo craft story published in Japanese magazine

Mar 25, 2025 | News On Japan

Mar 25, 2025 (NHK) - A Japanese magazine has published a short story written by artificial intelligence, with some guidance from a literary author.

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A Japanese magazine has published a short story written by artificial intelligence, with some guidance from a literary author.

The work titled "Kage no Ame" or "Rain of Shadow" depicts a world after the human race is extinct. This leaves AI to explore emotions, as it comes in contact with the remnants of human memories and feelings.

The story appears in the Kohkoku magazine on sale from Tuesday. The publisher says ChatGPT wrote 95 percent of the piece.

The remainder came from literary writer Qudan Rie, who offered suggestions and made revisions. The publisher says the story was completed in about two weeks.

Qudan received the Akutagawa literary award last year for her novel "Sympathy Tower Tokyo." She said about 5 percent of that work was written by generative AI.

An advertising agency suggested she produce another story and use AI to do 95 percent of the writing.

Qudan told NHK that she accepted the proposal as a challenge. She said she's satisfied with the result and it helped her to rethink the meaning of fiction writing.

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