Voices on the Future of Writing and Publishing 

In this time of rapid technological advancement, the intersection of artificial intelligence and creative practice has become a focal point of academic research within MyWorld, a UKRI-funded project that explores the future of creative technology innovation by pioneering new ideas, products and processes in the West of England. Recognising the importance of this fast-evolving landscape, Bath Spa University’s Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries (CCCI) and the Narrative and Emerging Technologies (NET) Lab commissioned a series of articles exploring the impact of AI on writing and publishing, linked to our recent Writing with Technologies webinar series.  

The nine contributors featured in this collection of articles are all experts in their fields and offer their perspective on what AI means for writers and publishers and offer their visions of the future.  

The New Interface

Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, a Sri Lankan author, data scientist and journalist, challenges our current relationship with AI. He argues that the familiar chat interface, the ‘box that waits for input’, represents one of the most ‘creatively bankrupt ways’ of harnessing AI. Instead, Wijeratne envisions a future where AI becomes invisible infrastructure, deeply embedded within existing creative workflows rather than standing as a replacement collaborator. 

This vision extends beyond writing to encompass music production, game development, and visual arts, where AI would handle technical heavy lifting while creators focus on the ‘more exciting and complex bits.’ It’s an optimistic view that sees AI as augmentation rather than replacement; if we can move beyond what he calls ‘this nightmare hallucination of replacing human labour.’ 

Smash and Grab

James Bradley, an Australian writer and critic presents a far more sobering perspective, framing AI’s impact through the lens of economic disruption and what he terms ‘the largest act of copyright theft in history.’ Drawing parallels to previous tech industry ‘smash and grab’ operations, Bradley argues that generative AI represents an existential threat to creative industries, enabled by the systematic appropriation of creators’ work without compensation. 

His analysis cuts to the heart of a fundamental tension: while AI companies promise to ‘unleash our potential,’ they simultaneously render creative skills economically worthless. Bradley’s stark assessment, that AI is ‘the equivalent of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs’, reflects the fear that ‘close enough’ will prove ‘good enough’ for most consumers, regardless of quality differences. 

My Creative Collaborator

Nadim Sadek, Founder and CEO of Shimmr AI who also writes business and children’s books, provides a detailed account of AI as creative assistant. His examples span conceptualising, researching, logical checking, translation and audiobook production, all while maintaining that ‘I do the writing.’ 

Sadek’s approach attempts to thread the needle between AI utility and creative integrity. He acknowledges his regret surrounding AI’s training methods while arguing for a future system where creators can choose whether their works are available for others to use and negotiate compensation accordingly. 

His practical examples demonstrate AI’s current capabilities while maintaining clear boundaries about creative ownership and human agency in the writing process. 

What AI Can’t Steal From You

Jane Friedman, editor of The Bottom Line publishing industry newsletter with over 25 years in the profession, takes a notably different approach, positioning fear itself as the primary obstacle to productive engagement with AI. Drawing from her experience of having AI-generated books falsely attributed to her, Friedman argues that the technology has become unnecessarily divisive within the writing community. 

Her perspective emphasises practical adaptation over ideological warfare. Friedman encourages writers to move beyond ‘Will it replace me?’ to ‘How can this help me in my purpose?’ She challenges fundamental assumptions about creativity, asking whether we value writing primarily because of the perceived difficulty and suffering involved in its creation. 

Central to her argument is the assertion that AI is ‘not a plagiarism machine’. Instead, she frames current debates as reflecting very human reactions to technological uncertainty. 

Beyond the Binary

Imwen Eke, a play alchemist and creative technologist who has spoken at the UN Geneva Permanent Forum and G20 Rio advocating for the transformative power of play, introduces a different framework, viewing AI through the lens of play and collaborative creativity. Rather than positioning AI as threat or tool, Eke sees it as a ‘mirror and co-creator’ that can teach us new ways of engaging creatively. 

Drawing from her background in game design and interactive experiences, Eke highlights AI’s potential for real-time adaptation and learning. However, she balances this optimism with critical awareness of AI’s embedded biases and the invisible labour that makes these systems possible. Her call to ‘centre play as a method, a mindset and a politics’ offers a unique approach to AI collaboration that emphasises experimentation and discovery. 

AI: Collaborator, Competitor or Cannibal?

Anna Ganley, CEO of the Society of Authors representing over 12,400 writers, illustrators and translators across the UK, frames the discussion in terms of professional sustainability and regulatory necessity. Her perspective highlights the economic pressures already facing authors, for example median incomes for full-time professional authors have fallen by more than 60% since 2006, and positions unregulated generative AI as an accelerant of these trends. 

Ganley’s approach balances recognition of AI’s creative potential with advocacy for stronger copyright protections and industry safeguards. Her vision of hope rests on the belief that ‘humans will still want to connect with other humans’, suggesting that authentic human creativity will retain its value regardless of AI capabilities. 

AI and Symbiotic Creativity

Reham Hosny, an Associate Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, offers a historical perspective, tracing algorithmic creativity from Christopher Strachey’s 1950s love letter generator through contemporary large language models. Her concept of ‘symbiotic creativity’ suggests a more integrated future where human and machine capabilities enhance each other through reciprocal and iterative augmentation. 

This framework moves beyond simple collaboration toward genuine co-evolution, where AI learns from human interactions while humans adapt their creative processes in response to new technological capabilities. Hosny’s academic perspective provides context for understanding current developments as part of a longer trajectory of human-machine creative partnership. 

A Brief History of Writing

Gary Hall and Joanna Zylinska, critical theorists and experimental writers who are founding co-directors of Open Humanities Press, push the conversation furthest from conventional boundaries, arguing that AI’s arrival creates an opportunity to fundamentally re-imagine creative writing and publishing practices. Their critique extends beyond AI to question the liberal humanist assumptions underlying traditional authorship and the romantic genius model of individual creativity. 

Their call for ‘Creative-Writing-As-We-Don’t-Yet-Know-It’ imagines literary forms that transcend current categories, emerging from profound socio-political and technical transitions. This perspective treats AI not as a tool or threat but as a catalyst for entirely new modes of cultural production. 

Themes

Each of our contributors has shared their perspectives on AI’s impact on the future of writing and publishing and we at Bath Spa University have identified several themes that will inform our ongoing research.

The Interface  

Several contributors emphasise that how we interact with AI matters as much as the technology itself. Whether through Wijeratne’s embedded tools, Eke’s play-based approaches or Hall and Zylinska’s radical reimagining, the interface shapes the creative relationship. 

Economic Justice 

Nearly every contributor grapples with questions of compensation, copyright and economic sustainability. Even those most optimistic about AI’s creative potential acknowledge the need for fair systems of recognition, rights and payment. 

Human Agency 

All contributors, regardless of their stance on AI, insist on maintaining human agency in the creative process. The debate centres not on whether humans will remain involved but on how that involvement should be structured and protected. 

Fear or Curiosity? 

The articles reveal a fundamental divide between those who see fear as an obstacle to productive engagement and those who view current concerns as entirely justified. 

Looking Forward 

These perspectives collectively suggest that the impact of AI on writing and publishing is far from settled. Its impact will depend not only on technical developments but on the social, economic and cultural frameworks we construct around it. The most compelling vision may come from synthesising these approaches; embracing AI’s creative potential while building fair systems for protecting authors’ rights; encouraging experimentation while maintaining critical awareness of embedded biases and remaining open to radical new forms of writing while not losing our creativity.