“We” are not wondering whether AI can write “a beautifully written novel.” Yes, some people are.
Other people know a novel cannot be written by a machine— because a novel is human by definition, and AI is not human, by definition.
It’s like wondering if a machine can express heartfelt condolences. Certainly a machine can string words together that humans associate with other humans who express heartfelt condolences, but when AI does this they are NOT condolences. Plagiarized emotional phrases do not indicate the presence of feeling, just the presence of bullshit.
I thought a novel was just a decent length fiction book?
The purpose of fiction at least isn't to express true feeling, it's to instill feeling in the reader. To that end it doesn't matter the process that produces the words.
Is AI going to win the Pulitzer any time soon? Nah.
Is AI going to be able to produce novel length works of fiction that are good enough for at least some people in the near future? Most likely.
I mean, 50 Shades was a bestseller, despite being poorly written Twilight fanfic with no editor. (And I say this as a fan of niche smut novels.) ChatGPT was trained on the entire contents of AO3, imitating mediocre fanfic is entirely within its capabilities now, given suitable herding.
Welcome to the new world. What was once bloody obvious now have to be spelled out: A random set of 50,000 dictionary words is by your definition a novel. It's fictional, also badly written and utterly incoherent. By my definition, it is not a novel. Also, you've ignored Altman's qualifier of "beautifully written."
Anything is good enough if your standards are low.
Can a human who is a sociopath express heartfelt condolences? Perhaps they can mimic words and phrases they know are the appropriate words for the occasion but lack the true emotion.
Other people know a novel cannot be written by a machine— because a novel is human by definition, and AI is not human, by definition.
It’s like wondering if a machine can express heartfelt condolences. Certainly a machine can string words together that humans associate with other humans who express heartfelt condolences, but when AI does this they are NOT condolences. Plagiarized emotional phrases do not indicate the presence of feeling, just the presence of bullshit.