Culture | Write on

Authors are collaborating with AI—and each other

A new novel by Margaret Atwood and others points to an exciting trend

An drawing of two people holding hands and dancing on a computer keyboard.
Illustration: Ben Hickey

Imagine living in a rundown apartment building on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. When covid-19 hits in 2020, you do not have the money to escape to a second home in the Hamptons or the Hudson Valley. Instead, in the evening you make your way up to the rooftop of your building, where, to your surprise, other tenants have come, too. You do not know most of them, but after some awkwardness, everyone starts meeting nightly, drinks in hand, to share stories about family, music, September 11th, love and, equally—inevitably—death.

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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Write on”

From the February 3rd 2024 edition

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