Negotiating Authorship and Creativity in AI-Assisted Poetry: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary Literary Debates
DOI: https://doi.org/10.65840/jllcd.v2i3.46
artificial intelligence, AI-assisted poetry, authorship, creativity, literary legitimacy, posthumanism, reader reception, digital literature
Abstract
The rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has generated significant debate regarding the future of literary creativity, authorship, and artistic legitimacy. While AI-assisted poetry has attracted increasing scholarly attention, fundamental questions concerning who creates literary texts, how creativity should be defined, and under what conditions AI-generated works can be recognized as literature remain unresolved. This study examines the evolving relationship between authorship and creativity in AI-assisted poetry through a qualitative analysis of contemporary scholarly debates and emerging theoretical perspectives. Drawing upon theories of authorship, reception aesthetics, and posthumanism, the study synthesizes recent research on generative AI and literary production to identify dominant conceptual transformations within the field. The findings reveal a transition from singular authorship toward distributed forms of creative agency, a shift from originality-centered creativity to generative co-creation, and the emergence of an Authenticity Paradox in which readers simultaneously question the authenticity of AI-generated poetry while recognizing its aesthetic value. The study further proposes the Authorship Continuum Model and a Negotiated Literary Legitimacy Framework to explain how literary value is increasingly constructed through interactions among writers, AI systems, readers, and cultural institutions. These findings suggest that AI-assisted poetry is reshaping foundational literary concepts and contributing to the emergence of new forms of creative and interpretive practice in the digital age.
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