Playing with AI, Dadang Ari Murtono Writes a Novela

Playing around with AI, ”The Job Search Handbook” was written. This experiment opens up new possibilities for creative writing.

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Visitors choose books with historical themes for sale during the Patjar Merah Festival at Xperia Collaborative Space AJBS in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday (31/10/2022).

Windy Ariestanty (45) is increasingly curious about artificial intelligence or AI when many people talk about it. At that time, around 2022, many concerns emerged. Especially in human creative work which will be replaced by AI.

Instead of worrying, Windy increasingly wanted to know how AI would be able to be used in the world of books. Because, he is part of Patjar Merah, an entity that operates in literacy festivals, book exchanges and bookstores. He is also active in Indonesia Tera, a book publisher.

As someone who is engaged in the world of books, a question arises in their mind: how does the publishing and book industry, including its creative fields, utilize AI?

Further questions arose in Windy's mind at that time: Can AI incorporate the complex human emotional layer through words in fiction? To prove it, an idea was born to create a project of writing a fiction book combined with AI capabilities.

Windy then had a discussion with one of the editors at Indonesia Tera at that time, Raihan Robby (24). The discussion focused on the name Dadang Ari Murtono, a poet and prosaist from Mojokerto who currently lives in Samarinda City, East Kalimantan. Dadang was chosen because a number of his literary works were born from long research.

"That very localized research is hard to replace. What if he writes or plays with AI?" said Windy when contacted from Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, on Friday (April 26, 2024).

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Robby enthusiastically welcomed and followed up on the idea. He then conducted personal research and experiments using ChatGPT, Sudowrite, and Bing AI. In the initial phase, Robby communicated extensively with Dadang on how to write fiction patterns with AI.

Initially, Dadang drafted the story and then asked AI to continue it. Robby said that Dadang was unsure about this project. Because, the story continuation provided by AI tends to be normative, full of moral messages like a preacher, and even resembling existing popular stories.

AFP/JOSEP LAGO

A visitor observes an AI (artificial intelligence) sign on an animated screen at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecommunications industry's largest annual gathering, in Barcelona.

Dadang felt that he could not converse with the machine in writing fiction. To deal with this, the following pattern was finally agreed upon: Dadang writes a draft of the story, then sends it to Robby, and Robby processes it using AI.

Afterwards, Robby sent AI story recommendations to Dadang. In this way, at least Dadang felt like he was conversing with a human Robby, not a machine.

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Regarding the AI's story recommendation that did not meet Dadang's expectations, later on Windy, Robby, and Dadang agreed that Dadang does not have to fully accept the AI's recommendation.

”Not completely taken, keep going back and forth. "It's still being torn apart," said Robby.

Think otherwise

KOMPAS/SUCIPTO

Dadang Ari Murtono (on the right) acted as the discussion initiator in a forum held at a café in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, on Monday (13/3/2023).

The work on the novel began in March 2023. Despite his initial doubts about taking on this writing project, Dadang Ari Murtono eventually became confident that he could complete the novel he was working on. Dadang only responded to the input from AI without blindly accepting it.

He can take a small part of it, edit it, think differently, or reject it altogether. With this way of working, Dadang can write more freely.

Also read: Artificial Intelligence is Increasingly Unstoppable

The initial idea for this novel was taken from Dadang's short story about pirates who kidnapped a woman in a city center swimming pool. At the beginning of writing the novel, Dadang did not know how the work would end up.

He doesn't know what kind of characters will come up, doesn't know what the plot will be like, and doesn't think about the title of the novella he's working on. In the midst of playing around with AI, surprises and creative ideas from Dadang emerge in response to the AI.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Illustration: Visitors try to type words that will be directly displayed on the interactive light-emitting diode wall during the opening of an exhibition and activation of the Kalcer movement word of our city in MBloc Space, South Jakarta, on Wednesday (18/10/2023).

For example, AI suspects that the woman was kidnapped by pirates because she is the daughter of a king on an island. Another AI suspects that the woman was abducted because she is a key figure in a treasure hunt. Even more, AI links the abduction scene as part of a global conspiracy.

Dadang cannot accept such a proposal for a fantasy story. However, he found a way for several AI assumptions to be incorporated into the story. He then introduced a character who works as a "consultant for the worst possibilities."

The character conveys the assumptions recommended by the AI. Of course, after selecting, editing and sorting.

"That then made the direction of this novella move towards its own title, namely Handbook for Looking for Work," said Dadang.

Control in the art of writing novels with AI lies with us, humans or authors.

DOKUMENTASI INDONESIA TERA

The novella entitled Handbook for Looking for Work was written by Dadang Ari Murtono by playing with artificial intelligence (AI). This book is published by Indonesia Tera and will be published in April 2024.

He explained that AI also has a role in incorporating a scene. For example, AI answered Dadang's question about what someone can do when they have a lot on their mind or even stress. Of the many things that AI conveyed, one of them was to scream underwater. The scene was captured and edited by Dadang.

Playing with AI has resulted in a draft of at least 17,000 words for the initial novel. After that, Dadang wrote without talking to the AI until the novel was complete, consisting of around 27,000 words.

Novela was then re-read by Indonesian editor Tera and writer Yusi Avianto Pareanom. There were many inputs regarding the plot, supporting characters, and other necessary improvements.

During the process in 2023, Windy who initiated this project felt that AI has not been able to compete with human creativity in writing fiction. Nevertheless, the experiment led Windy to discover interesting things.

He concluded that superior technology is because humans can adapt and use it. In the context of writing fiction with AI, according to Windy, AI will have meaning and yield something when humans can respond to it creatively--not just accepting AI recommendations blindly.

"Control in the art of writing novels with AI lies with us, humans or authors," said Windy.

As an author, Dadang feels that the creative power of AI cannot be used raw in writing fiction. Nevertheless, Dadang has found a method that may be used by many in writing.

Also read: Artificial Intelligence Enters Dynamics in Everyday Life

"When we get stuck writing, we can use AI recommendations. "One way is to think otherwise or distort AI recommendations," said Dadang.

The novela published by Indonesia Tera, which Dadang wrote with AI, has been offered at a number of markets under the title Handbook for Looking for Work. It was released in April 2024.

Hearing the story of Dadang and the supporters of this novela project, at least AI has not been able to fully replace the creative work of humans. It would be meaningful if someone could respond to it creatively and critically.