‘Did you use AI?’ is the wrong question. Ask ‘What did you use AI for?’

At the end of July, a debut crime novel became the most expensive casualty so far in the publishing industry’s war over AI. Fourteen publishing houses had bid for the manuscript, with the winning offer delivering a $2 million contract for the author. But when rumors began to circulate that the book had been written with the help of artificial intelligence, his own agents withdrew the book. The author denies using AI and has pointed out that the manuscript had been read by editors and acquisit...