Thread

1. lelanthran · 1790924879 · focus · HN ↗

   I am more interested in the 18 people who replied "yes" to "An AI wrote an entire coherent book".

   Maybe they mean a non-fiction "Learn Javascript in 21 Days" type of book? If not, I really want to read a novel-length (or even novelletee - 80k words or so) book written by an AI to see for myself if the results are comparable to non-self-published authors.

   1. wongarsu · 1790942480 · focus · HN ↗

      I played around with getting AI to write stories, on and off over the last couple months, and I would say this statement is true. You would need a good skill file and the ability to use subagents and scratch files.

      But a standard coding harness and a good agent that isn't too narrowed in to coding (Gemini or Grok work) with a good skill file and a short prompt can get you a coherent book, with reasonably thought-out story arc, multiple characters, internally consistent world, etc. The pacing will suck, and there will be some misunderstandings about the physical world that read like plot holes.

      I would say AI can currently write coherent, but not compelling books. The "good writing" claim isn't really true yet imho. But just like with code you can bring it from 80% there to 95% there with a little hand-holding and guidance along the way.

      Not that I think good writing skills are even enough to make AI books compelling over human-written books

      1. lelanthran · 1790942684 · focus · HN ↗

         > I played around with getting AI to write stories, on and off over the last couple months, and I would say this statement is true. You would need a good skill file and the ability to use subagents and scratch files.

         Would you consider it a one-shot event, or something you have got to prompt carefully until it gets the 80k wordcount?

         1. wongarsu · 1790954068 · focus · HN ↗

            You need some amount of bigger-picture planning to happen before the AI starts with the text of the individual chapters. And preferably some preamble in front of each chapter to plan it out, and some notes about each chapter to keep things consistent (like where were certain items left, etc)

            But AI can run through those steps on its own if you don't want to give input in between. You have to give it a guideline of what steps it should take, but that's likely just because there is lots of reinforcement learning being done on the steps to produce good code, and basically none on the steps to write a complex story

            1. r721 · 1790968017 · focus · HN ↗

               >some notes about each chapter to keep things consistent (like where were certain items left, etc)

               This sounds like a "continuity supervisor" job in movie industry:

               >A script supervisor (also called continuity supervisor or script) is a member of a film crew who oversees the continuity of the motion picture including dialogue and action during a scene. The script supervisor may also be called upon to ensure wardrobe, props, set dressing, hair, and makeup are consistent from scene to scene. The script supervisor keeps detailed notes on each take of the scene being filmed.

               <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Script_supervisor" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Script_supervisor

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