A Pusan National University study explores the meaning of creativity in AI in the novel Ada
The article suggests traditional and new forms of creativity, distinguishing humans and machines
image: The novel explores the concept of creativity and human-AI gaps. This work elucidates these themes through the lens of powerful thinkers.
Credit: Ji Eun Hong from Pusan National University
Ada by Antoine Bello is a science fiction novel that explores the meaning of creativity in the context of machines through the lens of Ada, an artificial intelligence (AI) character capable of writing literary works. Authored by the former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, the novel was published in 2016, a time of revolutionary strides in the field of AI. Notably, that year, DeepMind’s AlphaGo remarkably outsmarted the world Go champion, Lee Sedol, showcasing the potential of AI to learn, innovate, and perform complex tasks just like a human.
Over the last decade, AI has come a long way, especially in the domains of content generation and language processing. In this era of the growing role of AI in creative industries, it is thus necessary to ask the question: can a machine ever replace the deeply human, introspective journey behind artistic creation?
Posing and addressing such and similar questions, Assistant Professor Ji Eun Hong from Pusan National University has analyzed Ada to explore the concept of creativity and its forms. Her work was made available online on January 24, 2025, and is published in French Forum, Volume 50, Issue 1, in September 2025. This work was launched on French Forum on June 24, 2026.
Dr. Hong explains that the novel Ada raises a fascinating point about whether artificial intelligence can truly be creative. The AI character, Ada, writes literary works so convincingly that she even wins a Pulitzer Prize, which challenges our assumptions about what makes creativity 'authentic.' As Dr. Hong states, "My work dives into how Ada starts by mimicking existing styles—what Aristotle called mimesis—and then begins to create seemingly original works at a rapid speed."
“But is originality just remixing old ideas in new ways?” she asks further.
Dr. Hong approaches this question by considering the perspectives of powerful thinkers. According to Walter Benjamin, “technical reproducibility” can lead to a loss of aura in mechanically produced works. Furthermore, Ada’s work faces criticism for lacking historical context and subversion and play on meaning in the novel. Notably, while Henri Bergson emphasizes the continuous and introspective nature of human creativity, Jacques Derrida shows that all creation is intertextual through his concept of différance.
Nevertheless, the AI character in Ada manages to add humor and combines existing works innovatively and coherently, a trademark of “association theory” in AI. This reveals a confrontation between traditional and new creativity like Ancients vs Moderns.
In this way, this research helps us think critically about the growing role of AI in creative industries. “As AI becomes a more common ‘creator,’ we may find ourselves redefining what counts as ‘human’ creativity. My research suggests we might be drawn to art not just for its technical brilliance, but for the story behind its creation.” concludes Dr. Hong.
Reference
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/frf.2025.a992962
About Pusan National University
Pusan National University, located in Busan, South Korea, was founded in 1946 and is now the No. 1 national university of South Korea in research and educational competency. The multi-campus university also has other smaller campuses in Yangsan, Miryang, and Ami. The university prides itself on the principles of truth, freedom, and service and has approximately 30,000 students, 1,200 professors, and 750 faculty members. The university comprises 14 colleges (schools) and one independent division, with 103 departments in all.
Website: https://www.pusan.ac.kr/eng/Main.do
About the author
Ji Eun Hong is an Assistant Professor at Pusan National University in South Korea. A specialist in 19th-century French literature, she earned her Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. degrees from the Sorbonne University in Paris. Her research examines the intersections of literature, culture, art, and science from the 19th century to the present. Her work has appeared in leading academic journals, including Romantisme (Sorbonne), French Review (Johns Hopkins), Nineteenth-Century French Studies (University of Nebraska), and Romanistische Zeitschrift für Literaturgeschichte (Heidelberg). She also devotes herself to writing fiction—earning her the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition award in 2020 in the US—and runs the Naver Audio Clip channel for French literature (lecture en français), followed by over 4,000 subscribers.