Thanks to the artificial intelligence of Sudowrite, my story of a reluctant and reclusive Dark Lord turned into an instant romantasy.

Sudowrite, the original Artificial Intelligence writing assistant, has picked up new tricks since last I tested it. The most impressive is the ability to import manuscripts in common formats like text, rich text format, or Microsoft Word format. (Not yet PDF, unfortunately.) While importing the text, it will create an outline and populate its “story bible” (a collection of the places, people, and key events mentioned in the manuscript). It even tries to make notes about the local culture and religion, if given enough information, and about magic if writing fantasy. This extraction of information is pretty impressive. You can see that artificial intelligence has become more capable.

All the more disappointing, then, that it fails miserably at the next logical steps in the process. Letting it do any heavy lifting in the writing process will inevitably lead to a parody of the book one would reasonably expect to read.

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For instance, I imported the first three chapters of a fantasy novel in which an introverted and cynical young atheist is transported to a fantasy world, where he gains dark powers patterned on those in City of Heroes. (The comparison to the game is not mentioned in the text.) Like in the game, these powers are not inherently evil and are mainly used for defense, though they will damage enemies that come too close. There was some fantasy worldbuilding, like dungeons and magical rifts leaking magic and monsters into the world. Sudowrite correctly read through the manuscript and created entries for the places, people, and powers (although I think naming the unnamed town “Crack Town” was going a bit too far…)

Unfortunately, Sudowrite decided to complete the story by adding three more chapters which deviated greatly from the original text in both tone and style. The two supporting characters disappeared without a trace; instead, we got a rapidly budding romance with the young woman he rescued from the dungeon. His introversion and wariness around people were replaced with a longing for acceptance and the normalcy of family life. A hurried magical confrontation with the minor bad guy (now a supervillain) led the book toward its premature conclusion.

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Don’t get me wrong, I was amused the whole time. The highest quality writing available from Sudowrite (so far) is good for a barrel of laughs, although if you don’t drink beer (as I don’t) you may want to read it late at night to get the most out of the involuntary comedy.

Artificial Intelligence may be a threat to some professional artists and musicians. But as long as Sudowrite is the closest we come to automating the writing process, I think writers can feel safe for a couple of years yet. If I live and find the time, I shall try to keep you updated.