Lauren Kay, whose debut novel, We Ship It, releases this June, decided to do what any young writer would and look for feedback on her work. So, she turned to Chat GPT to give her a “legitimately objective assessment” of her writing.


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Posting the experience to her TikTok in a since-deleted video, it was her viewers, not Chat GPT, that gave her a brutally objective assessment of her work.



“Our writer friends love us too much to be as brutally honest as we need them to be,” she said. “But you know who can be brutally honest? A robot.” Fans and fellow writers alike were not on board. “This is, without exaggeration, the worst writing advice I have ever heard,” one Twitter user wrote in response to her video. “Maybe the worst advice about creating any form of art.”


To perform her assessment, Kay asked Chat GPT to evaluate six criteria; writing style, characterization, grammar, dialogue, world-building, and ‘how publishable.’ But before rating her own book, she decided to test it on an established novel.


“First I’m going to ask Chat GPT to rank one of the best books of all time,” she said, “The Fault in Our Stars.”


“Claiming TFIOS as one of the best books of all time is such a bold statement I truly can’t get over it,” one person commented. “Listen, we can all excuse the Chat GPT thing,” someone else wrote, “but we can't sit back and allow you to say that The Fault in Our Stars is the best book of all time.” Ironically, Chat GPT rated both works eight or above in virtually all categories.



After deleting the TikTok, Kay posted a somber apology with the caption, “Why you should not give your writing to Chat GPT.” In that video, she apologizes for suggesting writers use Chat GPT both for its advice and its concerning copyright infringement implications. “I didn’t know the extent to how Chat GPT uses the data that you give it,” she said, “which was really irresponsible of me and I really regret posting it.”




Fortunately, it seems like most fans are willing to forgive her. “This isn’t something you need to apologize for,” one viewer said. “We’re all learning all the time, and we’re only human.” But it may take some more time for anyone to change their minds about The Fault in Our Stars.