Are readers generating fiction with AI models?

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[Submitted on 22 Jun 2026 (v1), last revised 23 Jun 2026 (this version, v2)]

Title:AI Fiction in the Wild

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Abstract:Some professional authors are beginning to use AI tools to help produce their fiction writing. Are readers using AI to generate fiction, too? Drawing on over 500,000 anonymized, English-language ChatGPT-user conversations (arXiv:2405.01470), we find that more than one third of the conversations involve some form of fiction generation -- including original stories, roleplay, fanfiction, and erotica. This AI-generated fiction is notably dominated by power users. We identify common fiction generation patterns and profiles among these users, including what we call "infinite story demanders," who repeatedly request and revise variations of the same or similar narratives over extended periods of time. We show that users especially gravitate toward fanfiction and erotica, and that they are broadly drawn to generic forms, repetition, immediacy, and niche combinations of story elements. Our findings motivate two theoretical provocations. First, we argue that AI technologies may lead to a shift in the conventional relationship between the author and reader, potentially producing what we call a "solipsistic reader-writer," who both generates and consumes fiction within a closed conversational loop, interacting with a machine rather than a human other. Second, we note that LLMs enable interactivity, play, and permutation in ways that are seemingly pleasurable for users, raising questions about where AI will fit into contemporary storytelling and entertainment ecosystems. We situate these developments within broader transformations in literature and media, including self-publishing, fanfiction, and pornography, and suggest that AI-generated fiction shares structural affinities with on-demand, personalized, and repetitive cultural forms.

Comments: Presented at the MFS Cultural AI Conference, Purdue University, September 19, 2025. This essay is provisionally forthcoming in MFS: Modern Fiction Studies

Subjects:

Computation and Language (cs.CL); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Computers and Society (cs.CY)

Cite as: arXiv:2606.22748 [cs.CL]

(or arXiv:2606.22748v2 [cs.CL] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.22748

arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite

Submission history

From: Melanie Walsh [view email] [v1] Mon, 22 Jun 2026 01:29:16 UTC (10,176 KB)

[v2] Tue, 23 Jun 2026 04:29:22 UTC (10,176 KB)

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