Members of the Singapore's literary and publishing community issued a statement on Tuesday, asking for the Singapore's National Library Board (NLB) to exercise greater prudence in adopting generative AI, which is seen by the group as a serious threat to Singapore's literary landscape.

The statement was a released in response to some of the programmes that the NLB has released since Jan 2024, including StoryGen, a generative AI prototype for experiences jointly produced with Amazon Web Services. (AWS)

StoryGen is a new generative AI enabled prototype produced in collaboration with Amazon Web Service. Through the use of generative AI, StoryGen allows library visitors to put their own spin on Singapore folktales and classics like the Little Red Riding Hood.

While this might seem like a very novel and cool new technology, but the literature community in Singapore are worried that the overpromotion of new edge technology and Generative AI might risk permanently damaging Singapore's literary landscape.

The statement expressed concern over NLB's uncritical endorsement of generative AI. The petition originally had a total of 68 signatories, including those of playwrights, publishers, educators, and other cultural workers. But on 8 Jan, the number of signatories increased to 82.

The group's primary concern regarding Generative AI is that it might instill a misconception that the use of this technology can be a substitute for traditional writing skills.

The group also believe that Ai will adversely affect the quality of literature produced and that the technology's environmental costs-composing a single e-mail with ChatGPT has been found to consume over half a litre of water-contradicts the library's sustainability initiatives.

The Statement was addressed to NLB's chairman Lee Seow Hiang, CEO Ng Cher Pong, and Chief librarian Genetan, as well as the Minister of Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, who called for a consultation with members of the literary community to address these issues.

While the group acknowledges the relevance of AI tools and its potential application in the literary arts, but it urges the NLB to remember its role as a national institution and its role to educate the public on how to it is possible to use AI responsibly.

NLB's response to the petition

In response to the petition, an NLB spokesperson reassures the public that it values the trust of writers and the literary community, and it remains committed to supporting authors and helping them reach more readers.

Author Ng Yi-Sheng, one of the organisers of the statement, wrote on Substack:"Chief librarian Gene Tan has already read the letter and initiated dialogue. He has informed me of an official NLB website which is used to educate StoryGen users about the ethical issues of AI. I personally find this insufficient."

Generative AI systems such as ChatGPT has gotten into a lot of controversy recently after it was caught using materials which were taken from authors without their consent or authorisation to train its AI models.

The Authors Guild-including Games of Thrones author George R.R Martin, as well as several Canadian new organisations for the misuse of copyrighted material.

But similar incidents have also happened in Singapore, after Singaporean writers such as novelist Balli Kaur Jaswal, Ovidia Yu and Rachel Heng, as well as the late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew found out that their work has been stolen without their permission to train large language models similar to ChatGPT.

In response to all these concerns, an NLB spokesman said that the library values the trust of the literary community and that its AI prototypes are meant to complement, not replace author's efforts.

NLB also said that it would work more closely with the literary community to address ongoing concerns and create new opportunities for writers and publishers.