By Max Miller
Publication Date: 2026-08-11 18:24:00
In the spring of 2022, Google began reaching out to a series of writers, including award-winning science-fiction authors and New York Times bestsellers, for feedback on an experimental writing tool. Four years later, their participation has corners of the literary world up in arms.
Google researchers knew at the time that they were approaching a breakthrough point with large language models (LLMs). DeepMind, the company’s AI division, was internally testing a natural language generation model called LaMDA which had demonstrated emergent writing capabilities. That model would eventually form the basis for Google Gemini. An internal study was launched to determine whether AI could serve as a brainstorming assistant, researcher or writing collaborator for professional writers.
DeepMind was among other things the incubation site for Magenta, an arts-focused research project for open-source machine learning tools, mostly known for…
