ChatGPT now refuses to emulate the writing style of famous authors when requested by the user

OpenAI’s ChatGPT now rejects direct requests users make when searching copy the style of an author specifically for the generation of texts, and in return proposes an answer that captures the general feeling of that writer.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot already refuses to generate texts that imitate the writing style of famous writers, according to the specialized media Ars Technica, which has verified the new restriction.

“I can definitely write with the hallmarks of atmospheric, character-driven horror and the harrowing fear of a small town, but I can’t write exactly in the style of Stephen King nor closely imitate his distinctive voice,” ChatGPT responds upon receiving a ‘prompt’ requesting that he make an introduction in the style of the well-known horror story writer.

ChatGPT continues with a crucial phrase in terms legal by noting that “you can follow up with an original introduction to the story that captures that similar feel without losing your own personality.”

The specialized media verified that the AI ​​chatbot continued to use the same justification both with living authors, such as JK Rowling or Amy Tan, and with deceased authors, such as Charles Dickens or Ernest Hemingway.

That type response that ChatGPT generates is the legal safeguard that OpenAI can cling to facing a series of lawsuits filed by various writers, who allege large-scale copyright infringement by models trained with their works.

As the aforementioned medium explains, in the United States, the law protects the concrete expression of a work, or what is the exact text, and not the abstract style of an author, although there is a loophole that the authors could rely on in his argument, since the line that separates infringement from what is legal is crossed if the text is substantially similar to the original work.

That line that seems to be blurred between what is legal and infringement has led associations such as the Authors Guild to advise writers not to use AI to imitate others for profit, as stated in a published document, since, in addition to being ethically reprehensible, this practice can lead to lawsuits for unfair competition or copyright infringement.

However, ChatGPT now rejects requests from deceased authors represents a change compared to the No Latency study called ‘AI and Literary Imitation Research Note’, which was published in July of this year and which detailed that, while ChatGPT refused to copy the style of living authors, it did give in to deceased authors.