Ten Books for Writing with AI

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.  

As we know from our webinar series and our recent MIX conference, writers are living through one of the most transformative periods in literary history. Artificial intelligence is not just changing how we research or edit; it’s fundamentally altering what it means to be a writer. From collaborations with ChatGPT to AI-generated poetry, the boundaries of creative writing are blurring in new, and rapidly developing, ways. 

Whether you are curious, concerned or excited about AI’s potential role across writing and publishing, these ten books may help. Hopefully, they will give you the knowledge to make informed decisions about using AI in your writing and publishing practices, understand the ethical implications and inspire new creative directions. 

1. The Artist in the Machine: The World of AI-Powered Creativity by Arthur I. Miller (MIT Press, 2020) 

This book makes the complex world of AI creativity accessible to a general reader. Miller argues that computers can already match human creativity and will eventually surpass it but this book is not a dystopian prediction. Instead, Miller celebrates the creative possibilities that emerge when humans and machines collaborate. For writers, this book offers a hopeful vision of AI as a creative partner rather than a replacement. 

2. The Routledge Handbook of AI and Literature by Will Slocombe and Genevieve Liveley (Routledge, 2024) 

This comprehensive academic collection spans from ancient literature to contemporary AI-generated poetry. It is particularly valuable for writers interested in how AI is being used in literary analysis and creative practice. The handbook includes case studies spanning performance, poetry, comics and prose, offering practical insights alongside theoretical perspectives. 

3. Literary Theory for Robots: How Computers Learned to Write by Dennis Tenen (W. W. Norton, 2024) 

This book bridges the gap between literary theory and computational systems, examining how machines have learned to process and generate text. It is particularly valuable for writers who want to understand the literary foundations underlying AI text generation. It traces the evolution from early text processing systems to contemporary large language models (LLMs), showing how traditional literary concepts, such as narrative structure and stylistic analysis inform machine learning approaches to writing. 

4. The Black Technical Object: On Machine Learning and the Subject of Blackness by Ramon Amaro (Duke University Press, 2023) 

This book provides a critical examination of how machine learning systems embed and perpetuate racial hierarchies. Amero demonstrates how the technical structures of AI reflects and reinforces anti-Black logics, making this essential reading for writers concerned about the social implications of AI and how the fundamental architecture of machine learning participates in systems of racial oppression. 

5. Does Writing Have a Future? by Vilém Flusser (University of Minnesota Press, 2011) 

Originally written in the 1980s but still relevant today, Flusser’s meditation on the future of writing anticipates many contemporary debates about AI and creativity. He explores how digital technologies might transform not just how we write but what the act of writing means as a human activity. For writers grappling with questions about authenticity and human agency, Flusser provides philosophical frameworks that remain relevant today. 

6. Atlas of AI: Power, Politics and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence by Kate Crawford (Yale University Press, 2021) 

This book exposes the material infrastructure underlying AI systems, from mineral extraction and data centre construction to exploitative labour practices. For writers using AI in their practice, it provides crucial context about the hidden costs of these technologies. Crawford’s work challenges the myth of AI as an immaterial, neutral technology, revealing instead how these systems are deeply embedded in existing power structures and environmental destruction. 

7. Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code by Ruha Benjamin (Polity, 2019) 

This groundbreaking work should be required reading for any writer using AI. Benjamin reveals how algorithms can perpetuate and amplify existing inequalities, often while claiming to be neutral. For writers, this raises crucial questions around whether if you use AI trained on biased datasets you inadvertently excluding diverse voices from your work. 

8. Converging Minds: How AI, Human Consciousness and the Internet Are Reshaping Our Reality by Aleksandra Przegalińska (MIT Press, 2021) 

This book examines how the use of AI is changing human consciousness and social interaction. Przegalińska’s work is particularly relevant for writers interested in how AI might be reshaping not just our writing processes but our fundamental ways of thinking and communicating.  

9. Hallucinate This!: An Authorized Autobotography of ChatGPT  by Mark Marino and ChatGPT (Automated Authors, 2023) 

This is a fictional memoir ‘written’ by ChatGPT in collaboration with digital literature scholar Mark Marino. It is simultaneously funny and profound, exploring questions of authorship, creativity and identity through the lens of AI collaboration. For writers curious about experimental approaches to human-AI collaboration, this book demonstrates what’s possible when you embrace the possibilities of working with AI as a creative partner. 

10. Shimmer, Don’t Shake: How Publishing Can Embrace AI  by Nadim Sadek (Forbes Books, 2023) 

This book offers an optimistic and practical guide for writers and publishers navigating AI’s impact on the publishing industry written by an entrepreneur who’s building AI solutions for book marketing. Sadek addresses the core problem every writer knows (that books can struggle to reach readers) and demonstrates how AI can solve matchmaking issues between authors and audiences through psychological profiling and automated marketing, while still preserving human creativity and artistic merit.  

We are still in the early stages of understanding AI’s impact on creative writing. The field is evolving so rapidly that some books published on the subject become outdated before they are published but we hope that these ten recommendations will provide some of the ideas, knowledge and inspiration you will need to navigate whatever comes next.