Polish Nobel Prize-winning author Olga Tokarczuk revealed at the Impact’26 conference in Poznań on June 14 that she uses advanced AI language models to aid her creative process, primarily for brainstorming, idea development, preliminary research, and fact-checking [1, 2]. She purchased the highest-tier version of the AI software to support her work.
Tokarczuk gave examples of how she interacts with the AI, saying, “When writing my latest novel… I asked this advanced model what kind of songs my protagonists would be listening to at a dance, a few dozen years ago, and AI gave me a few titles” [1]. She also admitted the AI can produce errors or "hallucinations," adding, “Often I just ask the machine, ‘darling, how could we develop this beautifully?’ Even though I know about hallucinations and many factual errors in the algorithms... in literary fiction this technology is an advantage of unbelievable proportion” [1].
However, Tokarczuk stressed that she does not write her novels with AI, and her forthcoming novel is fully authored by her [1, 2]. Following her remarks at the conference, a backlash emerged online on June 15 from some Polish writers and commentators critical of AI's role in literature [2]. Novelist Szczepan Twardoch criticized her approach sharply, saying, “I would have to 'lose my mind' to use a language model for literature. Compared entering into a relationship with a language model to 'marrying a vibrator'” [2].
Tokarczuk also announced that her current project could be her last literary work, citing a belief that readers are losing interest in complex literary fiction [1].
On June 15, Tokarczuk issued a clarification reiterating that AI was used only for research and brainstorming and denied that AI authored her next novel [1, 2].
Tokarczuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2018 [2]. Her comments this week mark a rare prominent endorsement of AI's creative potential in literary fiction alongside strong criticism from peers.
The controversy remains active after Tokarczuk’s recent statements. The author has not announced any further publications beyond the potentially final novel she is currently working on [1].
