Just This Once

Last updated
Just This Once
Just This Once.jpg
First edition
AuthorScott French, "Hal"
LanguageEnglish
Genre Romance novel
Publisher Carol Publishing Group
Publication date
1993
Publication placeUSA
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages295
ISBN 1559721731

Just This Once is a 1993 romance novel written in the style of Jacqueline Susann by a Macintosh IIcx computer named "Hal" in collaboration with its programmer, Scott French. [1] French reportedly spent $40,000 and 8 years developing an artificial intelligence program to analyze Susann's works and attempt to create a novel that Susann might have written. [2] [3] A legal dispute between the estate of Jacqueline Susann and the publisher resulted in a settlement to split the profits, and the book was referenced in several legal journal articles about copyright laws. The book had two small print runs totaling 35,000 copies, [2] receiving mixed reviews.

Contents

Creation

The novel's creation spanned the fields of artificial intelligence, expert systems, and natural language processing.

Scott French first scanned and analyzed portions of two books by Jacqueline Susann, Valley of the Dolls and Once Is Not Enough , to determine constituents of Susann's writing style, which French stated was the most difficult task. This analysis extracted several hundred components including frequency and type of sexual acts and sentence structure. "Once you're there, the writer's style emerges, part of her actual personality comes out, and the computer can be programmed to make a story." [2] French also created several thousand rules to govern tone, plotting, scenes, and characters.

The text generated by Hal, the computer, was intended to mimic what Susann might have written, although the output required significant editing. French credits Hal's work with "almost 100% of the plot, 100% of the theme and style." [2] French estimates that he wrote 10% of the prose, the computer Hal wrote about 25% of the prose, and the remaining two-thirds was more of a collaboration between the two. [4] A typical scenario to write a scene would involve Hal asking questions that French would answer (for example, Hal might ask about the "cattiness factor" involved in a meeting between two key female characters, and French would reply with a range of 1 to 10), and the computer would then generate a few sentences to which French would make minor edits. The process would repeat for the next few sentences until the scene was written. [5]

Jacqueline Susann's publisher was skeptical of the legality of Just This Once, [4] although French doubted that an author's thought processes could be copyrighted. [6] Susann's estate reportedly threatened to sue Scott French but the parties settled out of court; the settlement involved splitting profits between the parties but the terms of the settlement were not disclosed. [2]

The publication of Just This Once raised questions in the legal profession concerning how copyright law applies to computer-generated works derived from an analysis of other copyrighted works, and whether the generation of such works infringes on copyright. The publications on this topic suggested that the copyright laws of the time were ill-equipped to deal with computer-generated creative works. [7] [8] [9]

Reception

The book's publisher Steven Shragis of Carol Group said of the novel, "I'm not going to say this is a great literary work, but it's every bit as good as anything out in this field, and better than an awful lot." [2]

The novel received some positive early reviews. In USA Today , novelist Thomas Gifford compared Just This Once to another novel in the same genre, American Star by Jackie Collins. Gifford concluded: "If you do like this stuff, you'd be much, much better off with the one written by the computer." [5] The Dead Jackie Susann Quarterly declared that Susann "would be proud. Lots of money, sleaze, disease, death, oral sex, tragedy and the good girl gone bad." [5]

Other reviews were mixed. Publishers Weekly wrote, "If the books of Jacqueline Susann and Harold Robbins seem formulaic, this debut novel of sin and success in Las Vegas outdoes them all. And that, in a way, is the point.... All novelty rests in the conceit of computer authorship, not in the story itself." [10] Library Journal stated "French invested eight years and $50,000 in a scheme to use artificial intelligence to fulfill his authentic, if dubious, desire to generate a trashy novel a la Jacqueline Susann. Shallow, beautiful-people characters are flatly conceived and randomly accessed in a formulaic plot ... a sexy, boring morality tale. Of possible interest to computer buffs for its use of Expert Systems and the virtual promise of more worthy possibilities; others should read Susann." [11] Kirkus Reviews wrote: "The deal here is that author French is not the author, he's just the midwife, having allegedly programmed his computer to write about our times just the way Susann would... almost perfectly capturing glamorous Jackie's turgid but E-Z reading prose style and ultrareliable mix of sex, glitz, dope 'n' despair.... One wonders, though, if French's tale spinning PC will do as well on the talkshows as Jackie did. The computer weenies have been trying to tell us for years, garbage in-garbage out." [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqueline Susann</span> American novelist and actress (1918–1974)

Jacqueline Susann was an American novelist and actress. Her novel Valley of the Dolls (1966) is one of the best-selling books in publishing history. With her two subsequent works, The Love Machine (1969) and Once Is Not Enough (1973), Susann became the first author to have three novels top The New York Times Best Seller list consecutively.

Racter is an artificial intelligence program that generates English language prose at random. It was published by Mindscape for IBM PC compatibles in 1984, then later for the Apple II, Macintosh, and Amiga. An expanded version of the software, not the one released through Mindscape, was used to generate the text for the published book The Policeman's Beard Is Half Constructed.

<i>Valley of the Dolls</i> (novel) 1966 novel by Jacqueline Susann

Valley of the Dolls is the first novel by American writer Jacqueline Susann. Published in 1966, the book was the biggest-selling novel of its year. By 2016 it had sold more than 31 million copies, making it one of the all-time best-selling fictional works in publishing history.

<i>Yargo</i> (novel) 1979 novel by Jacqueline Susann

Yargo is a romantic science fiction novel by Jacqueline Susann. It was written during the 1950s, but not published until 1979, four years after Susann's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Aldridge</span> Australian-British writer and journalist

Harold Edward James Aldridge was an Australian-British writer and journalist. His World War II despatches were published worldwide and he was the author of over 30 books, both fiction and non-fiction works, including war and adventure novels and books for children.

<i>Dragon Tears</i> 1993 novel by Dean Koontz

Dragon Tears is a 1993 paranormal/horror novel by the best selling author Dean Koontz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susann Cokal</span> American author and academic

Susann Cokal is an American author. She is best known for having written the novels The Kingdom of Little Wounds, Mirabilis, Mermaid Moon, and Breath and Bones, along with short stories, literary and pop-culture criticism, and book reviews. The Kingdom of Little Wounds won a Printz silver medal from the American Library Association in 2014.

<i>The Love Machine</i> (novel) 1969 novel by Jacqueline Susann

The Love Machine is the second novel by Jacqueline Susann, the follow-up to her enormously successful Valley of the Dolls (1966). Published by Simon & Schuster in 1969, the book was a New York Times number-one best seller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyudmila Petrushevskaya</span> Russian writer, novelist and playwright (born 1938)

Lyudmila Stefanovna Petrushevskaya is a Russian writer, novelist and playwright. She began her career writing short stories and plays, which were often censored by the Soviet government, and following perestroika, published a number of well-respected works of prose.

<i>Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies</i> 1995 book by Douglas Hofstadter

Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought is a 1995 book by Douglas Hofstadter and other members of the Fluid Analogies Research Group exploring the mechanisms of intelligence through computer modeling. It contends that the notions of analogy and fluidity are fundamental to explain how the human mind solves problems and to create computer programs that show intelligent behavior. It analyzes several computer programs that members of the group have created over the years to solve problems that require intelligence.

<i>Once Is Not Enough</i> 1973 novel by Jacqueline Susann

Once Is Not Enough is the third novel by Jacqueline Susann, published in 1973 following her huge bestsellers Valley of the Dolls (1966) and The Love Machine (1969). With Once Is Not Enough, Susann became the first writer in publishing history to have three consecutive #1 novels on the New York Times Best Seller list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computational creativity</span> Multidisciplinary endeavour

Computational creativity is a multidisciplinary endeavour that is located at the intersection of the fields of artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, philosophy, and the arts.

Pop music automation is a field of study among musicians and computer scientists with a goal of producing successful pop music algorithmically. It is often based on the premise that pop music is especially formulaic, unchanging, and easy to compose. The idea of automating pop music composition is related to many ideas in algorithmic music, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computational creativity.

Music and artificial intelligence (AI) is the development of music software programs which use AI to generate music. As with applications in other fields, AI in music also simulates mental tasks. A prominent feature is the capability of an AI algorithm to learn based on past data, such as in computer accompaniment technology, wherein the AI is capable of listening to a human performer and performing accompaniment. Artificial intelligence also drives interactive composition technology, wherein a computer composes music in response to a live performance. There are other AI applications in music that cover not only music composition, production, and performance but also how music is marketed and consumed. Several music player programs have also been developed to use voice recognition and natural language processing technology for music voice control. Current research includes the application of AI in music composition, performance, theory and digital sound processing.

<i>Dolores</i> (Susann novel) 1976 novel by Jacqueline Susann

Dolores is the final novel of American writer Jacqueline Susann. Published by William Morrow in 1976, it is a roman à clef based on the life of Jacqueline Kennedy. It first appeared in the February 1974 issue of the Ladies' Home Journal, seven months before Susann's death from cancer.

Irving Mansfield was an American producer, publicist and writer. He is best remembered as the husband of novelist Jacqueline Susann and for his promotion of Susann's popular books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artificial intelligence art</span> Machine application of knowledge of human aesthetic expressions

Artificial intelligence art is visual artwork created through the use of an artificial intelligence (AI) program.

<i>The Sorceress and the Cygnet</i> Fantasy novel

The Sorceress and the Cygnet is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip. It was first published in hardcover by Ace Books in May 1991, with a paperback edition following from the same publisher in January 1992. The first British edition was published in hardcover and trade paperback by Pan Books in June 1991, with a standard paperback edition following from the same publisher in May 1992. It was subsequently combined with its sequel The Cygnet and the Firebird into the omnibus collection Cygnet, issued in trade paperback by Ace Books in March 2007.

<i>Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!</i> Book by Stephen Rebello

Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!: Deep Inside Valley of the Dolls, the Most Beloved Bad Book and Movie of All Time is a non-fiction book by Stephen Rebello. It details the creation of the 1966 novel of the same name by first-time novelist Jacqueline Susann and documents every aspect of the creation of the 1967 motion picture adaptation Valley of the Dolls.

In the 2020s, the rapid advancement of deep learning-based generative artificial intelligence models are raising questions about whether copyright infringement occurs when the generative AI is trained or used. This includes text-to-image models such as Stable Diffusion and large language models such as ChatGPT. As of 2023, there are several pending U.S. lawsuits challenging the use of copyrighted data to train AI models, with defendants arguing that this falls under fair use.

References

  1. ↑ Scott French (1993). Just This Once . Carol Publishing Group. ISBN   978-1-55972-173-8.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 John Boudreau (1993-08-11). "A Romance Novel With Byte: Author Teams Ups With Computer to Write Book in Steamy Style of Jacqueline Susann". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  3. ↑ Peter Laufer (May–June 1993). "Hacking in the valley of the dolls". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  4. 1 2 "Computer Turns Page On Rules Of Writing Fiction". Chicago Tribune. 1991-03-18.
  5. 1 2 3 Steve Lohr (1993-07-02). "Potboiler Springs From Computer's Loins". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  6. ↑ John Flinn (18 March 1991). "Computer cranks out a novel clone". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 4.
  7. ↑ Tal Vigderson (1994). "Hamlet II: The Sequel: The Rights of Authors vs. Computer-Generated Read-Alike Works". Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review. 28 (1): 401.
  8. ↑ Andrew J Wu (1997). "From video games to artificial intelligence: Assigning copyright ownership to works generated by increasingly sophisticated computer programs". AIPLA Quarterly Journal. 25 (1): 131.
  9. ↑ Ralph D Clifford (1996–1997). "Intellectual Property in the Era of the Creative Computer Program: will the True Creator Please Stand Up?". Tul. L. Rev. 71: 1675.
  10. ↑ "Just This Once: A Novel Written by a Computer Programmed to Think Like the World's Bestselling Author". Publishers Weekly. 1993-05-03. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  11. ↑ Sheila Riley (1993). "Review of Just This Once". Library Journal.
  12. ↑ "Kirkus review of Just This Once". Kirkus Associates. 1993.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.