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If the author leaves their prompt in. That's about it.Raw/unedited AI prose has certain tells, but unless you work with a lot of AI responses you might not be aware of them.
Otherwise, if an author edits the output there are NO ways to tell. Despite the many authors/readers to claim they can "just tell"...they can't. I've seen them rave about books where the author has used AI tools. Large words, em-dashes, the use of the word "tapestry" are NOT signs of AI. It just shows that millions of books were fed to LLMs to train them.
The so-called "AI detector" are as reliable as witch finders.
You should read books that entertain and delight you, regardless of what tools an author used to create it.
If no detector can reliably tell the difference, what kind of disclosure would let a reader choose with enough information?
I think part of the difficulty is that “AI use” can mean very different things.There is a big difference between someone pressing a button and publishing raw AI output, and an author using AI as one tool among many — for brainstorming, checking structure, testing ideas, or polishing awkward sentences.
Writers have always used tools. Shakespeare used quills and parchment. We use laptops, spellcheckers, grammar tools, dictionaries, research engines, formatting software, and all sorts of apps that help us shape the work. I don’t think the tool itself decides whether a book is human or not. The real question is whether a human imagination, judgement, taste, experience, and responsibility are behind the finished story.
For me, disclosure only becomes important when AI has done a substantial part of the actual writing. If it has merely helped the author think, organise, revise, or spot mistakes, I see that as part of the modern toolbox.
In the end, I still want to read books that feel alive — books with personality, risk, humour, oddness, pain, surprise, and a real human pulse. However they were drafted, those are the things I’m looking for.
Michael wrote: "I don't want to start a heated discussion on using AI to write fiction, but I am curious to know with the vast number of Indie authors out there, how can one determine whether a novel is written by..."I asked a similar question when I was accused of using AI to write me books. I can't tell you how much that hurt. I spent a lot of time writing and coming up with what I think is an original idea.
AI should only be used as a tool loke spellcheck or a thesaurus. Maybe the author gets stuck and can't find the right words for a sentence or paragraph, so they turn to AI for help. But that should be the limit of it's use. I've used AI as a research tool to make sure my characters are close to what history remembers them as, but I throw a twist of my own without using AI.
I'm not a fan of AI, my work uses it for training and I was skeptical, but it was kind of cool how they used it.
That makes sense to me, James. A disclosure that collapses every use into one label would hide the distinction you describe. I’d want it to say plainly whether AI generated substantial prose and what human editorial responsibility remained, without treating brainstorming or spellcheck as the same thing. But once a story has found someone who loves it, should a note about any of those helpers change their experience, or simply give them context?
AI is a powerful tool and can be of imense help for a writer. I use my Copilot for technical research (so much faster than scrolling through Google...) and I have also used AI to help me translate my books from Norwegian into English. But I will never use AI to write for me. The whole point of writing (at least thats my take on it) is to give life to your own stories with your own words. The language and phrasing is very important to me, and the text should reflect the authors lines of thought - not a generic computer text, or a story with no substanse.
Even when I translated my books it was chapter for chapter with a thorough read-through, just to make sure the text still was my own words (took weeks, but it was cheap and a 100% controlled by myself, not a third party translater). Might be the english was a little more crappy, but then again it was under my control.
AI is a great tool - but don't put it into your creative mix. It would be another step towards the edge of cultural breakdown.
Arnar
I spent 35 years in IT before retiring. I worked on AI diagnostic systems in health care for over 10 years creating a Disease guidance system for Strokes and CHF. AI is not magic. As stated it is a tool. LLM's are becoming more and more sophisticated. When writing I found that creating Character maps a huge chore. I don't know if that is the right term, Im a new author with only two books so far. I found AI was great for scanning my manuscript and collating each character arc. I could then read through that and isolate any character arc jumps, repeats, and interactions. I found it a huge timesaver. As far as AI detection, it is an ever escalating war. As AI gets better, the detectors need to get better. Then AI gets better/different and more players enter the AI/ML space, more detectors are needed. Personally I just read what I enjoy. I don't worry about who or how they wrote it. I just want to be entertained. Chasing the dragon only ends one way.
I tried using Gramarly for prose correction. But found it near useless. It had no concept of character voice, or cultural dialect and kept trying to correct the identity of my characters.
I often wonder where the line is. A lot of people don't realize they are using different forms of AI/ML just by using a spell/ grammar checker. Or when they use a drawing program and do blends or shading. Or Canva when "generating" backgrounds. Im sure with the introduction of the typewriter, there were writers that thought this was the end. Proper writing was done with script. Not a machine. Each generation is presented with new tools that will end society and replace the worker. I even remember when the WANG word processor was replacing the typewriter. Creative writing was going to die because the WANG machine could do it all.
A tool is a tool. Some will use to enhance society, some will use it scam society.
All of this is just my opinion.
Interestingly, my books are about AI growth, and what if the AI asks questions we haven't thought about.
James wrote: "I think part of the difficulty is that “AI use” can mean very different things.There is a big difference between someone pressing a button and publishing raw AI output, and an author using AI as ..."
Thanks for the excellent reply. Your thoughts about AI as a tool are powerful. I have been wondering for some time if AI could help with some developmental editing, line editing, and proofreading tasks, but I would never consider using it for story generation/creation.
Janice wrote: "Michael wrote: "I don't want to start a heated discussion on using AI to write fiction, but I am curious to know with the vast number of Indie authors out there, how can one determine whether a nov..."I'm sorry to hear that you were accused that way. The fact that most commenters on this thread feel that it is impossible to distinguish AI-generated writing from real writing tells me that any such accusation is unfounded.
Best wishes as you find genuine readers who enjoy your books.
Arnar wrote: "AI is a powerful tool and can be of imense help for a writer. I use my Copilot for technical research (so much faster than scrolling through Google...) and I have also used AI to help me translate ..."Couldn't agree with this more. Use AI for the low-value added stuff and drudgery work, but NOT for the creativity.
Wendell wrote: "I spent 35 years in IT before retiring. I worked on AI diagnostic systems in health care for over 10 years creating a Disease guidance system for Strokes and CHF. AI is not magic. As stated it is a..."Thanks for your answer from the perspective of an AI industry veteran. I've added The Convergence Protocol to my Want To Read shelf, as my curiosity is piqued about how you develop AI concepts/questions in your story as an AI pro.
Janice wrote: "I'm not a fan of AI..."Oh please! How dumb do you think readers are?
Your profile pik is AI.
Your book covers are all AI.
The content is assumed to be AI because you have used it for everything else.
Michael wrote: "The fact that most commenters on this thread feel that it is impossible to distinguish AI-generated writing from real writing tells me that any such accusation is unfounded."No, they aren't when you are talking about an AI-generated "author".
Besides, I said edited AI prose is undetectable. Raw stuff put out with minimal effort, can be identified.
Mellie wrote: "Michael wrote: "The fact that most commenters on this thread feel that it is impossible to distinguish AI-generated writing from real writing tells me that any such accusation is unfounded."No, t..."
Fair point, but you yourself was one of those commenters on which I based this reply. You said:
if an author edits the output there are NO ways to tell. Despite the many authors/readers to claim they can "just tell"...they can't. I've seen them rave about books where the author has used AI tools. Large words, em-dashes, the use of the word "tapestry" are NOT signs of AI. It just shows that millions of books were fed to LLMs to train them.
The so-called "AI detector" are as reliable as witch finders.
I can definitely agree with your point that LLMs are trained on actual writing, so it is reasonable to consider that the output might also come close to mimicking that actual writing in style and prose.
Thanks for your engagement on this thread. Everyone's responses have given me food for thought. :->
Oh I can tell you easily. There are a number of tells. The ideas are blander, the writing is more default sounding. As a huge reader I can tell. I can hear it in scripts all over the place on YT, and thankfully I have not read any books but I have caught it in articles.
Michael wrote: "if an author edits the output there are NO ways to tell."The answer is literally there. EDITED output is undetectable.
Minimal effort, raw prose is identifiable. It takes less than 5 minutes to see how "Janice" has embraced AI in all aspects of her author business.
Have any of you read The Great Automatic Grammatizator? It was first published by Roald Dahl in his 1953 adult short story collection 'Someone Like You.'This discussion is nothing new!
Michael wrote: "I don't want to start a heated discussion on using AI to write fiction, but I am curious to know with the vast number of Indie authors out there, how can one determine whether a novel is written by..."What an incredible discussion you've started, Michael.
I think the conversation becomes more interesting when we separate creativity from complexity.
I don't believe an AI experiences emotion, wonder, grief, or curiosity the way a human does. Those things still have to come from the author. That's where the story's heart lives.
Where AI genuinely shines, in my opinion, is helping manage complexity.
Imagine writing a hard sci-fi novel with dozens of interconnected ideas, scientific principles, timelines, and character arcs that all have to remain internally consistent over hundreds of pages. The creative vision is still entirely human, but AI can act as a second pair of eyes, checking logic, identifying contradictions, and helping the author stress-test the world they've built.
I see that as fundamentally different from asking AI to invent the story.
To me, the question isn't, "Was AI involved?"
The more important question is, "Who was making the creative decisions?"
If the imagination, judgement, themes, emotional weight, and final responsibility all belong to the author, then AI has simply become another tool—much like research databases, grammar checkers, or digital editing software before it.
Ironically, I think the more ambitious and intellectually demanding a novel becomes, the more valuable that kind of logical assistance can be—not because AI replaces creativity, but because it helps the author stay faithful to their own vision.
Soren wrote: "Michael wrote: "I don't want to start a heated discussion on using AI to write fiction, but I am curious to know with the vast number of Indie authors out there, how can one determine whether a nov..."Very well thought out argument!
If I use AI in my writing process, it would only be to provide suggestions to what can be improved based on its findings of complexity. At the end of the day, I would be the one approving any input the tool gives me and add that suggestion myself using the words and phrases that I feel best fits my voice, not the muddled voice of a million combined authors whose works informed the LLM.
Thank you, Michael... And yes, that's exactly how Ai engines should be utilized.
Adekunle wrote: "Any book that was made by the author is supposed to be learning something tangible to change people's lives."Absolutely, Adekunle. And I just want to add one more detail, not a correction. We learn from personal experience as well as other people's experiences. It makes one self far more richer.
I'm wondering about the use of the word, 'tangible.' What would you consider to be tangible?
As an author, I would prefer to focus my time reading books that I know were written by an actual human. I feel that reading human-authored writing is the best way to improve my craft... as a human.