Is AI becoming part of young writers’ cultural inheritance before they have a chance to form their own voices? What if a generation’s first editor was a machine? Often, writers use AI not to cheat, but to discover what “good writing” looks like. With millions of English learners in India, there is a huge demand for upward mobility in English. For many such students and young professionals, AI is becoming their tutor, editor, writing coach, and translator.
But what does this mean for originality and creative risk-taking? Over-reliance on AI can result in technically sophisticated but unoriginal writing. Budding writers may learn to avoid the difficult but essential process of developing their own voice and instead imitate versions of large language models that tell them what good writing should sound like. We invite authors, publishers, and artists to join this discussion.
Chiki Sarkar, Publisher, Juggernaut Books
“People come to Ruskin Bond because Ruskin Bond’s voice sounds like them and no one else’s. Or they go to listen to nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar’s voice because she is completely like them in their irony and humour. In general, the writers people read are They have their own way of expressing themselves. So if there are any professional writers, sooner or later they have to develop their own style, if AI, Tolstoy, George Orwell, etc., Khushwant Singh is their first teacher, but what’s the point? AI is perfectly capable of finding your voice…If you don’t have something to attract readers, I can’t imagine it creating a huge readership for you.”
Aanchal Malhotra, author and oral historian
“When I write, my text is extracted from the languages I use every day, as well as from the languages I speak and think, the various cultural influences of those languages, their histories and resistances, their many intonations, unpredictability, and phrasing peculiarities. AI bypasses all the critical thinking that builds my language. It may be able to edit the text, but it cannot recreate the language I have experienced.”
Raghu Karnad, Writer and Co-Founder, The Wire
“In the age of AI, writers have a perverted pleasure. People have been saying for decades that this profession is doomed. Well, now that it turns out that every profession is doomed, we’re all in this together. Either we fight the AI oligarchy to protect our livelihoods, or we fall into the underclass together.” Another consolation is that LLMs can produce persuasive writing, but it’s information, not knowledge. They can’t actually know things, they just say them.”And in the near future there will be areas in human experience where our ability to know and to tell will not be replaced by the LLM’s ability to steal, train, and copy. ”
Kanishka Gupta, literary agent and founder of Writer’s Side
“Recently, we received submissions from authors who openly admitted to using AI in their query letters, proposals, and even complete manuscripts. One author recently withdrew her submission after realizing that she had allowed AI to “hijack” her voice. Another author submitted a well-received AI-generated Marathi translation of his Marathi book and was happy with the results. Authors and their agents have been advocating for some time for publishers to add clauses to their contracts stating that their work will not be used for training purposes. AI is powered by AI models and does not rely on AI-generated cover art or other creative materials. In the wake of these recent controversies, publishers may want to add clauses that allow them to terminate their contracts if it turns out that a book was written using AI. But how do you enforce such a clause when detection tools remain unreliable in identifying texts that are entirely AI-generated as human-authored, and vice versa? ”
Saba Azad, actor, musician
“What kind of dystopian hell are we imagining where something created to put the working class out of work and completely destroy the planet is for the greater good? What attracts my goat is the whole discourse around the inevitability of it all: ‘Join or be left behind.’ It’s the poison dealers. It’s the textbook taunt that those who do and the 0.1% who profit from the sale of that poison have always employed. Inaction/casual use is no longer an option, it’s just use.” We foolish people watched as a few old men set our houses on fire while they built Noah’s Arc National Park for themselves. ”
Mahesh Rao, Author
“I’m not in academia or the corporate world, so I don’t have to read a ton of AI writing every day, so I’m not very good at spotting the common signs of machine writing unless it’s very obvious. But what I can tell is essentially good writing or bad writing. And this is what confused me about the Commonwealth Prize-winning short story that was clearly created by AI. Whether written by or not, it was a very boring story. With clunky or nonsensical metaphors, clichéd characters, and no story development at all, how did it win an award? Was the presence of AI so predominant that even literary award judges suspended all sound judgment? It’s very depressing that some people are using it, but at the same time they seem willing to give up the idea that their work needs to be analyzed or critiqued.
Ayenra Ozkum, Publishing Director, Aleph Book Company
“I think we’ll see more genre novels.” [romances, mysteries, basement-level science fiction and fantasy, and so on] Some readers may welcome such boilerplate suggestions, as they are created by AI and are very competently put together. However, the creation of great literature has inherent value, and I don’t think AI will dramatically change this. If you want to create works of great originality and power, I think it is necessary to become an apprentice to a master. ”(As told by Rosella Stephen)
Karthika VK, Publisher, Westland Books
“Change is inevitable. The full extent of change and its true impact on writing and publishing will soon become clear. We are coming to terms with change, taking advantage of tools that increase efficiency while being careful about misrepresentations of originality. Personally, I hope that change will take hold with a clearer understanding of boundaries, and that the truly original and creative will garner even more value and recognition than it already does.”
(Information provided by Rosella Stephen)
The author’s new book “Water Baby” is scheduled to be published this year.
issued – June 12, 2026 6:30 AM IST
