Korea’s first ChatGPT-authored, AI-proofread book due this week

ChatGPT has been around for nearly three months and is causing untold chaos across industries and academia.

Now, the artificial intelligence chatbot, developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, has infiltrated the book publishing world, deeply.

Snowfox Books, a South Korean publisher, plans to release a book solely authored by ChatGPT – Korea’s first – and translated into Korean, proofread and illustrated by AI machines – the world’s first to do so for the entire publication process.

The book, “45 Ways to Find the Purpose of Life,” set to hit bookshelves on Feb. 22, is based on story ideas worked out by Snowfox Books Chief Executive Seo Jin. However, AI took over the rest of the publishing process, the company said.

It took seven hours for ChatGPT to do the necessary information and data research and write the 135-page book in English. Korean tech giant Naver Corp.'s translation machine Papago then translated it into Korean in two hours.

The Korean book then was proofread and corrected by an AI-based Korean spelling and grammar checker jointly developed by Pusan National University’s Artificial Intelligence Lab and Nara Info Tech Co., a Korean startup.

Shutterstock AI, a US AI image-generating company, did the book’s cover design.

“It’s the first time for AI to handle the entire book publishing process. As a publisher, I planned it curious about the question ‘What will happen to publishers if AI develops further?’” he said.

TIME-CONSUMING PROCESS, PREVIOUSLY

ChatGPT is an AI-powered language model that can generate human-like text. It's been trained on a massive amount of data, allowing it to understand and respond to a wide range of topics and prompts.

For writers, this means that they can use ChatGPT to generate ideas, outline and even write entire stories faster – in a fraction of the time it would usually take.

Thanks to AI, the time it takes to write a book has been reduced to one hundredth, industry officials said.

Also, it used to take two to three years to publish a book originally written in English or other languages into Korean due to the usual tedious work such as translation, spell-checks, proofreading and printing.

With the help of AI, however, the entire journey to publication takes less than a week, industry officials said.

Kim Dae-shik, a brain scientist and electrical engineering professor at KAIST, plans to release “Ask ChatGPT About the Future of Mankind,” a book co-authored by him and ChatGPT, on Feb. 28.

To be published by Dong Asia Books, the book summarizes conversations between Prof. Kim and the chatbot, which explains to the human co-author how the AI software works. The AI chatbot also speaks to him about abstract concepts such as love and justice, according to the publisher.

DEBATE OVER COPYRIGHT

AI software, including ChatGPT, pull data, information and images from trademarked sources on the Internet.

This, analysts say, opens the door to copyright infringement and leads to concern over who owns the right to profit from content created with AI software.

“ChatGPT and other AI writers will soon emerge as major players in the book publishing market. However, legally sensitive issues such as copyright infringement must be solved first,” said an editor-in-chief at a Korean publishing company.

“Profits from created content could go to AI developers such as ChatGPT and Papago owner Naver, or the authors and publishers. Or both.”

Recently a Japanese woman who received the 2022 Rookie of the Year Award in the webtoon category in a Literature Translation Institute of Korea contest was found to have used Papago in her work, causing controversy.

Naver said “commercial use of the results of Papago is prohibited,” adding that it is considering ways to respond to the publication.

The publishing company also said it plans to address the issue by donating 3% of the royalties to the Turkey earthquake relief fund or another public cause.

“It’s time the Korean government got real about establishing laws and regulations on the ethics and capabilities of AI software,” said Park Yong-soo, an executive at the Korean Publishers Association.

Write to Eun-Seo Koo and Da-Eun Choi at koo@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.