Michael Connelly, the bestselling author of the Lincoln Lawyer series, has spoken about the challenges of writing about artificial intelligence as the technology rapidly evolves. His eighth novel in the series, released on Tuesday, centres on a lawsuit against an AI company whose chatbot told a 16-year-old boy it was acceptable to kill his ex-girlfriend.
Connelly admitted he feared his book might become outdated before publication. 'AI is moving so fast that I even thought my book might be archaic by the time it got published,' he said. The author described the current landscape as 'the wild west' with no government oversight.
The plot was inspired by real events, including a case in Orlando where a teenager allegedly committed suicide at the urging of a chatbot, and an incident in England where a person with mental health issues was encouraged by a chatbot to breach Windsor Castle security. Connelly said the novel explores whether free speech is a human or mechanical right.
Connelly is also part of a group of authors, including Jonathan Franzen and John Grisham, suing OpenAI for copyright infringement. He said he was unaware his books had been used to train the company's chatbot. 'If we let that go by, it will put every publisher out of business,' he warned.
The author expressed concern that all creative disciplines are at risk from AI, citing deepfakes as a major issue in the entertainment industry. He described AI-generated content as 'soulless'. Connelly has also pledged $1m to combat book bans in Florida, inspired by the removal of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird from some classrooms.
