Question 1

How does National Novel Writing Month work?

Accepted Answer

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, began in 1999 as a 30-day literary challenge in which entrants tried to write 50,000 words of a novel — roughly the length of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” “Hundreds of thousands of people around the world” now participate each November, the organization says, with the goal of finishing the month with a first draft of a novel in any genre. Anyone age 13 and older can take part, including professional and hobbyist writers. “NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel,” the nonprofit says. The NaNoWriMo organization provides resources for writers, virtual events, chat forums and offers from sponsors. When the event is over, writers may choose to revise their manuscripts, publish traditionally or self-publish, or simply share their stories with friends and family.

Question 2

What did NaNoWriMo say about AI?

Accepted Answer

The furor began last weekend, when NaNoWriMo posted a statement on its website saying that the organization “does not explicitly support any specific approach to writing, nor does it explicitly condemn any approach, including the use of AI.” NaNoWriMo said it would “recognize and respect writers who believe that AI tools are right for them. We recognize that some members of our community stand staunchly against AI for themselves, and that’s perfectly fine. As individuals, we have the freedom to make our own decisions.” To condemn AI, the organization said, “would be to ignore classist and ableist issues surrounding the use of the technology,” noting that issues around the use of AI “tie to questions around privilege.” The group argued that “not all writers have the financial ability to hire humans to help at certain phases of their writing,” and that for some writers, AI is a practical solution, rather than ideological. “Not all brains have same abilities and not all writers function at the same level of education or proficiency in the language in which they are writing,” NaNoWriMo wrote. “Some brains and ability levels require outside help or accommodations to achieve certain goals.” The statement goes a step further than last year’s comment on the topic, in which NaNoWriMo said writers were welcome to use artificial intelligence to “assist your creative process” but that utilizing AI to “write your entire novel would defeat the purpose of the challenge.”

Question 3

How are people reacting?

Accepted Answer

NaNoWriMo’s openness to writers using AI has sparked discontent among some authors and writers associated with the organization. At least a few members have said they would no longer participate in the annual challenge. Fantasy and young adult fiction writer Daniel José Older stepped down from the NaNoWriMo Writers Board on Tuesday because, he said in a statement, NaNoWriMo “has taken a wild and ridiculous stand in favor of Generative AI.” He said the decision was “unconscionable” and “harming writers” as he urged others to also resign. Older also noted that NaNoWriMo is sponsored by ProWritingAid, an AI-powered writing assistant. ProWritingAid’s founder, Chris Banks, confirmed to The Washington Post on Wednesday that the company has long supported NaNoWriMo. He said his organization was “committed to supporting human creativity, not undermining it.” “We fundamentally disagree with the sentiment that criticism of AI tools is inherently ableist or classist. We believe that writers’ concerns about the role of AI are valid and deserve thoughtful consideration,” Banks wrote in an email. NaNoWriMo did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post. Maureen Johnson, an author of young adult novels, posted on X that she would step down from the board of NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program because of the AI statement. “I want nothing to do with your organization from this point forward,” she wrote. Novelist and essayist Roxane Gay said on social media that she was “embarrassed” for NaNoWriMo. Ellipsus, a collaborative writing software company, said in a statement Tuesday that it had decided to end its sponsorship of the group on the grounds that “we strongly disagree with NaNoWriMo’s recent statements regarding generative AI.” Ellipsus said AI was responsible for “the wholesale theft of authors’ works, and a lack of respect for the craft of writing.” One writer, Laura Elliott, reacted strongly to NaNoWriMo’s assertion that opposing the use of AI would be ableist. She wrote on X that as a “disabled writer,” she was “furious.” “Disabled writers do not need the immoral theft machine to write because we lack the ability to be creative without plagiarism — encouraging AI is a slap in the face to all writers and this excuse is appallingly ableist,” Elliott wrote.

Question 4

How has NaNoWriMo responded to the backlash?

Accepted Answer

After writers began to respond negatively to NaNoWriMo’s position, the group updated its online statement “to reflect our acknowledgment that there are bad actors in the AI space who are doing harm to writers and who are acting unethically.” The group said that although it found the “categorical condemnation for AI to be problematic,” it was “troubled by situational abuse of AI, and that certain situational abuses clearly conflict with our values.” AI’s complexity, the organization said, made it “simply too big to categorically endorse or not endorse.” “We see value in sharing resources and information about AI and any emerging technology, issue, or discussion that is relevant to the writing community as a whole,” NaNoWriMo said. “It’s healthy for writers to be curious about what’s new and forthcoming, and what might impact their career space or their pursuit of the craft.”

Question 5

How have other creative industries approached AI?

Accepted Answer

AI systems are usually “trained” on huge datasets of published material. The systems eventually recognize patterns in arrangements of words and pixels, which they can then draw on to put together prose and images in response to prompts. Some novelists have said they are flattered that their work is being used to train AI programs, while others have called for better legal protections of their intellectual property rights. AI companies argue that what they’re doing should be considered “fair use” because their models significantly change the original material. In the media industry, the New York Times filed a federal lawsuit this year against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that they illegally used “millions” of copyrighted Times articles to help develop the AI models behind tools such as ChatGPT and Bing. Other news outlets have struck arrangements with AI firms over the use of their contents. OpenAI has agreed to pay German media conglomerate Axel Springer, which publishes Business Insider and Politico, to show parts of articles in ChatGPT responses. OpenAI also reached a deal with the Associated Press for access to the news service’s archives. The Post employs some of its own AI tools and has signaled that it is keeping its options open around artificial intelligence. This summer, record companies including Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records, sued two artificial intelligence music start-ups, alleging that they used copyrighted songs to train their tools.

National Novel Writing Month faces backlash over allowing AI: What to know

Authors are criticizing NaNoWriMo for not objecting to the use of artificial intelligence in its annual event challenging people to write a novel in a month.