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Published on Tomato Novel, the short story drew over 5,500 reads in 10 days
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“No matter how bad the AI writing is,” Sheng said, “it does a better job than I would.” Originated from China’s internet forums in the 1990s, web novels are typically serialized stories designed for people to read on their smartphones, featuring adrenaline-pumping plotlines about revenge, time traveling, wuxia…
Key facts
- Published on Tomato Novel, the short story drew over 5,500 reads in 10 days
- Gordon Sheng, a 32-year-old civil engineer in China, spent two decades reading web novels before using AI to write his own
- In 2023, Tencent’s literature arm, China Literature, unveiled an AI tool that could generate character names and turn a rough plotline into a fuller story
- China Literature also published more than 17,000 AI-translated stories on its international site WebNovel, which counts the U.S., India, and Brazil as its top markets
Summary
Chinese web novel authors are increasingly using AI tools to bulk-produce and publish serialized stories. The influx of AI-generated fiction has sparked a backlash from readers complaining of poor quality and from writers worried about plagiarism. Major digital publishing platforms are now clamping down on overuse of the technology. Gordon Sheng, a 32-year-old civil engineer in China, spent two decades reading web novels before using AI to write his own. “No matter how bad the AI writing is,” Sheng said, “it does a better job than I would.”