Lessons from an AI author

Our journey began with a bold ambition: to delve deep into the world of generative AI. We wanted to understand its true potential, challenges and limitations by using it throughout the entire publishing process of an audiobook – from conception to launch. This experiment, which became the four stories of the audiobook New Horizon, aimed to shed light on how AI could (and would) impact content creation, not just for Storytel’s own productions, but also for the vast library of stories we offer from our publishing partners.

The first question that we came up was: who is the author behind it? To craft compelling prompts, we needed to envision the author, their vision and their creative intent. And so, Rosy Lett, a 22-year-old world citizen was born. The thrill of collaborating with an AI author lies in its boundless potential. Imagine: our AI author, Rosy, seamlessly traversing her own narrative without limitations!

We made many iterations and tests. What we learned is that it was challenging to maintain consistency in longer stories. Hence we ended up with four short stories. It also turned out that AI often includes biases and stereotypes in the generated content, so it’s crucial to be mindful about it and make sure to explicitly request their exclusion in the prompts.

Importantly, when a generative AI model generates text, it doesn’t copy or paste existing material. Instead, it utilises pattern learning and statistical modelling. This process gives that each generated text is unique and varies with each prompt.

Taking New Horizon as an example, there was a dedicated team of executive producers at Storytel working with the AI and promoting it in different stages. In that way you could say that the four stories in New Horizon are the result of the collected ideas and knowledge of the entire team.

One of the wonderful outcomes of New Horizon is that the four stories created by our AI author all evolve around both the beauty and the complexity of what it means to be human in a technological age and what happens when the boundary between human and machine begins to blur. In that sense it reflects all the questions that arise around AI, both in our industry, but also as a human being. What becomes of our sense of freedom when technology enters our most private spaces?

It’s no longer a question of if AI will impact content creation, but how

We made several interesting insights during the process. The learnings we gained can be applied to various areas, such as gathering background info, localisation and voice direction (whether human or synthetic). Generative AI models can help with brainstorming – it will probably never give you the best idea, but might give you a new idea, like a sparring partner that is always working when you are. It could also help with basic story structure, character creation, world building etc, changing style or tone or point of view to try new angles or ideas in a quick way.

The bottom line is that AI is an assistant, a tool to augment human creativity. It cannot replace the unique perspectives, emotional depth and lived experiences that only humans possess. The true power lies in collaboration: AI can assist while human creators provide the vision, emotional intelligence and critical judgment. Publishers and creators should use AI to enhance, not to replace, human-driven content creation.

Creating AI-generated stories comes with a profound responsibility. We must balance AI’s efficiency with preserving human creativity and diverse voices in literature. Again, AI is a powerful tool that, if used in a responsible way, can enrich the creative process. Not a substitute for human creativity.

Looking ahead, we recognise the critical importance of transparency towards readers and listeners. Storytel is actively supporting initiatives to standardise the categorisation of AI-generated content and empower readers and listeners to make informed choices about the stories they consume.

Given the rapid pace of AI development, it’s difficult to predict its future impact on the audiobook industry or Storytel specifically. We look forward to seeing the listener and reader response to New Horizon, and we will use what we have learned to improve our content process and be open to supporting our authors that would like to test different AI tools.

It’s no longer a question of if AI will impact content creation, but how. As one of the leading players in the industry, we have a responsibility to proactively explore the potential of AI while ensuring its ethical and responsible use. Our commitment to delivering premium, high-quality stories across all formats remains unwavering.