Authorship in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
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Organization: World Literature Studies (journal)
Authorship in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
World Literature Studies 3/2027 (https://wls.sav.sk/)
Call for Proposals
Josef Hrdli?ka (josef.hrdlicka@ff.cuni.cz), Eva Krásová (eva.krasova@ff.cuni.cz)
From antiquity to the present day, the concept of authorship has taken many forms in
European history, carried various meanings, and often represented an important reference
point for understanding literature. As a theoretical framework with its implications and
consequences, it has long been investigated by several different disciplines and approaches,
emphasizing literary, historical, sociological, or legal contexts. In 20th-century literary theory
and history, the concepts of the “death” or “disappearance” of the author have set the ground,
followed by a number of other, mainly text-oriented, approaches.
The function of the author has been associated with the theory of the subject, the problem of
the relationship between the author and tradition has been examined, and Bruno Latour’s
actor–network theory has offered a more complex perspective. The authorial function relates
to the question of authority (the author as auctoritas), i.e. the guarantee of different types of
relevance (truthfulness, authenticity, validity, seriousness or artistic value).
The advent of large language models (LLMs) and artificial intelligence (AI) has changed, and
continues to change, a large number of human activities, including the field of literature. AI is
becoming an important link in the literary process at all stages. It naturally asserts itself at the
stage of creating literary texts, whether it generates texts based on human instructions or
serves as an assistant to the human. This new situation naturally calls for a new theoretical
reflection on authorship and a reconsideration of some basic concepts.
Our interest at the moment is not to explore new authorial practices involving AI, but rather to
consider how the presence of AI is transforming existing concepts and ideas of authorship.
Our initial assumption is that a factor such as AI in the literary process, while its “newness”
may also be questioned, opens up a context in which older conceptions of authorship may be
perceived differently.
Structural and text-based conceptions of literature typically conceive of the author as
a function of the literary text, as a feature of texture or as a landmark in the (re)construction of
meaning. Even sociologically or materially oriented research on the nature of literature
develops its interest on the ground outlined by the “death of the author” and approaches the
author from the side of the text. With such a theoretical starting point, the use of AI may seem
like a “dream come true” of structural analysis (Robert Kolár). The previously unthinkable
possibility that the author of a literary text could be a “thinking machine” (Roman Jakobson)
has suddenly become a reality.
However, many members of the literary community find it difficult to accept a similar thesis
about the authorial role of AI and raise a number of objections. Can we continue to hold to
a textual definition of literary work if it means depriving humans of the privilege of being the
creator? Or does such a privilege appear to be a construction, and will it need to be
reconsidered based on, among other things, Latourian conceptions of networks?
Depending on our theoretical and conceptual foundation, as well as our understanding of
LLM and AI, we can answer the question of authorship in the age of AI in many different
ways. We can welcome the new authorial practices and see AI as a form of mechanical
assistance in the creative process. Or we can see the contribution of AI as an authorial
achievement in its own right and reduce the role of the human author to one of many stimuli.
We can also rely on the problem of copyright law in addressing authorship and, in a simplistic
way, give credit primarily to the developer of the AI tool in question.
We welcome proposals/abstracts for articles for a special issue of World Literature Studies,
up to 300 words in length, by June 30, 2026. Authors will be notified of acceptance by
August 31, 2026, along with details on the format of the texts.
Articles should be up to 36,000 characters in length, including spaces. The deadline for
submitting completed articles is January 31, 2027. The WLS issue should be published by
the end of September 2027.
Please send the proposals to the editors and the journal to: josef.hrdlicka@ff.cuni.cz;
eva.krasova@ff.cuni.cz; and in copy to usvlwlit@savba.
For more details, see here: https://usvl.sav.sk/wp/wp-content/uploads/Call-WLS-Authorship-in-the-Age-of-AI.pdf.
https://usvl.sav.sk/wp/wp-content/uploads/Call-WLS-Authorship-in-the-Age-of-AI.pdf
Josef Hrdli?ka