The announcement of a forthcoming book written with generative artificial intelligence has renewed debate over the role of AI in literature. Frédéric Martin, head of Robert Laffont, announced the project on October 26, while a literary competition dedicated to the use of AI was created earlier in the month under the name of Pascal, the 17th-century philosopher and mathematician.
In a column published by Le Monde, writer Jean de Saint-Cheron questions the choice of Pascal’s name for the competition. He argues that linking Pascal’s calculating machine, the pascaline, to literary creation confuses calculation with the making of an artistic work. In his view, a machine is a material body and cannot think, making the comparison a confusion between distinct levels of reality.
Saint-Cheron also cites Laurent Thirouin, a specialist in 17th-century French literature, who has argued that a literary text generated even partly by AI contains statements detached from human perception and an author’s intimate experience of truth. From this perspective, the meaning of a literary statement depends not only on its wording but also on the author’s personal recognition of its truth.
The writer describes the use of Pascal’s legacy by the competition as particularly inappropriate because Pascal also identified the limits and apparent deceptions of mechanical intelligence. He suggests that if an AI-generated work were to win the Pascal prize, the name would function ironically rather than as a genuine tribute.
The debate extends beyond the competition itself. During a hearing before the French National Assembly’s Cultural Affairs Committee on October 14, essayist Samuel Fitoussi argued that machines would soon be able to adopt a singular and profound style, making reproducible what is currently regarded as the hallmark of human literary genius. Saint-Cheron presents this position as another example of confusing the technical reproduction of forms with the personal act of creating a work.
Sources: Le Monde Culture.