How Indian online publishers are using AI to tackle writer’s block and save time

An episode that would take 10 days now takes two daysrdquo says Rajeev Tamhankar ldquoand it would be 70 to 80 per cent accuratehellip just needs a little tweakinghellip maybe the characterrsquos eyes are not looking where they are supposed to or the expression is wrongrdquoThe chief content head at Pratilipi Comics is talking about the new Artificial Intelligence AIdriven process they have been using on the online selfpublishing and audiobook portal that publishes content in 11 regional Indian languagesTheyrsquove used the new toolsmdashsome licensed some developed inhousemdashfor 10 different comics they publish in Hindi ldquoTech is always moving aheadrdquo says Ranjeet Pratap Singh CEO and cofounder of Pratilipi ldquoyou can adopt it or fight itrdquo Adopting it they found did not compromise quality or cut down manpower but opened up brain space for writers to work on more projects in parallel and work through writerrsquos blocks with ChatGPTldquoNormally there is a script and a character sheetrdquo explains Singh ldquoIn the latter we feed in profile details of the charactersmdashhow she looks age whether she is usually sad expressions etcrdquo Tamhankar adds that they also feed in episode outline and backgroundmdashsay the protagonist in hisher 30s is standing on the beach at sunset The episodic panels are then generated in accordance with the script which the writer can just review and tweak to perfectionldquoIt doesnrsquot replace the storyteller or graphic artistrdquo Singh clarifies ldquoIt accelerates the processmdashone episode would need 40 to 60 panels which could take an artist one week to 10 days to create Now it takes one to two daysrdquo It also rids them of the tedium of not working on something they donrsquot like ldquoSome artists love drawing backgrounds but not say anatomyrdquo says Tamhankar ldquoIt solves that barrier also that of having someone to bounce ideas off of It enhances speed and qualityrdquoThis development seen against the backdrop of the writersrsquo strike in the USA is intriguing Amidst wage dissatisfaction the Writers Guild of America has also demanded that artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT be used only to help research or facilitate script ideas and not to replace themGraphic novelist and podcaster Vishwajyoti Ghosh while clarifying that he is not familiar with the work at Pratilipi says this is a human reaction to new technologymdashto play with it and see where it goes ldquoAll formsmdashAI and human generatedmdashwill emerge and the reader will chooserdquo he says ldquoThe original practice will not be eroded it will be added to Like how the synthesiser did not replace the flautist or the guitaristrdquoGhosh also points out that the machine is learning against the machine and hence algorithms are fighting to outdo each other every minute yet through human effort ldquoGoogle is already curtailing AIdriven contentrdquo he says referring to the search enginersquos Search Advocate John Mueller saying categorically that content automatically generated with AI writing tools is considered spam according to the search enginersquos webmaster guidelinesRanjeet Pratap Singh Vishwajyoti Ghosh and Rajeev TamhankarTamhankar though is excited He holds a PhD in creative writing from IIT Roorkee has studied narratology and is itching to write AI into the script One of his research topic was Game of Thrones and he talks about how each character had different archetypes The Mountain uses the same story device as Mary Shelleyrsquos Frankensteinrsquos monster Jaime Lannister throws a child out of the window in the first season but his character has a redemption act by the end of the seriesldquoSuch set patterns can be integrated with graphics with the use of AI driven toolsrdquo he says giving examples of feeds such as ldquoIntroverted boy and extroverted girl meet on a train Jab We Met or extroverted boy and introverted girl meet on a train DDLJ to prod AI to develop story arcsrdquo It could help recreate these timeless models and is curious as to how it would infuse emotions which are geography based According to Ghosh this path could create an offshoot of the medium as memes have diverged from cartooningldquoAI is bringing diverse styles on a single platform but thatrsquos nothing new Various filters and apps have been around Artists who are working with even little tech are using it to aid themrdquoThe seed according to him is in the confidence that the algorithm canrsquot get youmdashit can create a mishmash of images taken from a humancreated repository and whitewash it to give the sensibility of a comprehensive image ldquoIt cannot recreate the depth of human effortrdquo says the author who ran an experiment on Instagram when he prompted ChatGPT to write like Rabindranath Tagore ldquoEvery designer feels his best design is yet to be made every writer feels his best book is yet to come As long as therersquos a human urge to create there will be original content Both with or without AIrdquo