Artificial intelligence can help broaden the reach of literature through digitisation, translation and dissemination, but is incapable of replacing human creativity and originality, Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Tuesday.
Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day conclave, “Authorless Horizons: AI, Authorship, and the Emerging Creative Ecosystem”, jointly organised by the India International Centre (IIC) and Sahitya Akademi, Shekhawat said literature remains deeply rooted in human experience, emotions and consciousness.
“A novel is not just a simple incident or a sequence of events or documentation of experiences; it is a deep expression of human desires, challenges, struggles, emotions and lived experiences,” he said.
The minister noted that literary works derive their value from the emotional connection they create between writers and readers.
“When a reader engages with a novel, they do not merely receive information; they emotionally connect with the writer’s world and experience the same joys, pain and conflicts embedded in the story,” he said.
Drawing a distinction between human creativity and machine-generated content, Shekhawat said AI can assist in describing, summarising and distributing literary works, but it cannot replicate the emotional depth that lies at the heart of literature.
“AI can describe or summarise content, but it cannot truly experience or understand the emotional depth and inner journey that the writer has expressed,” he said, adding that technology could support creators but “can never become the creator itself.”
He said advances in digitisation and emerging technologies offer significant opportunities to expand access to literature, strengthen libraries and connect younger generations with literary works. However, originality, imagination and creative expression remain uniquely human qualities, he added.
The two-day conclave will bring together policymakers, scholars, diplomats, writers and technology experts to examine the impact of artificial intelligence on literature, scholarship and knowledge creation.
Opening the event, former Foreign Secretary and President of the India International Centre, Shyam Saran, echoed concerns about the limits of AI in creative expression.
“I think one thing that the minister has reassured all of us is that artificial intelligence, no matter how powerful it would be, will still remain at the surface of humanity and will not embrace humanity,” Saran said.
Over the next two days, participants will deliberate on themes such as “Writing in the Age of AI: Redefining Creativity and Human Expression”, “Co-Creation or Automation? AI’s Role in Shaping Literary Works”, “AI in Information Discovery for Writers and Researchers”, and the future of scholarship in an AI-driven world.
The discussions come amid a growing global debate over the use of generative AI in publishing, authorship rights, intellectual property and the evolving relationship between technology and human creativity.