Humans copied art way before ChatGPT: Ken Liu

Before generative artificial intelligence (AI) software like ChatGPT endangered the writer’s craft by devouring swathes of texts and churning copies in seconds, there were the 15th-century scribes hand-copying mediaeval manuscripts.

- Shawn Hoo

Their trade, too, was then threatened by the newly invented Gutenberg press.

The art of copying, said acclaimed American science-fiction and fantasy writer Ken Liu on Nov 8 at his Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) keynote lecture, has always been central to the history of art.

To truly understand AI’s impact on art, he said, requires a careful distinction between human and machine copying.

The Hugo and Nebula award-winning writer, whose latest sci-fi thriller All That We See Or Seem (2025) deals with similar themes, laid out nuanced scenarios of how artists should respond to the leaps in AI technology. Neither techno-optimist nor doomsayer, the 49-year-old painted a picture of culture at a familiar crossroad.

The former software engineer and technology rights lawyer admitted outright: “I don’t think anyone knows what’s going to happen to AI art. We're all just speculating - the future is unknowable.”

He spoke to the anxieties of a rapt audience in the close-to-filled 614-seater Victoria Theatre, at a festival in which the acronym “AI” felt inescapable even at unlikely events about food writing.