Writers, artists and broadcasters

Margaret Atwood

Canadian novelist and poet, author of The Handmaid's Tale

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Portrait source: Collision Conf, CC BY 2.0

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Once fully trained, the bot may be given a command—“Write a Margaret Atwood novel”—and the thing will glurp forth 50,000 words, like soft ice cream spiraling out of its dispenser, that will be indistinguishable from something I might grind out. (But minus the typos.) I myself can then be dispensed with—murdered by my replica, as it were—because, to quote a vulgar saying of my youth, who needs the cow when the milk’s free?

Margaret Atwood

Canadian novelist and poet, author of The Handmaid's Tale

In an August 2023 Atlantic essay, Margaret Atwood wrote that once a bot has been fully trained on her books it may be commanded to write a Margaret Atwood novel and produce 50,000 words indistinguishable from her own work, and that she herself could then be dispensed with.

Canadian poet, short-story writer, and novelistAugust 26, 2023Murdered by My Replica?

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Surrounding words

… in mind for me, at least in my capacity as an author. (The sex and the housekeeping can be done by other functionaries, I assume.) Apparently, 33 of my books have been used as training material for their wordsmithing computer programs. Once fully trained, the bot may be given a command—“Write a Margaret Atwood novel”—and the thing will glurp forth 50,000 words, like soft ice cream spiraling out of its dispenser, that will be indistinguishable from something I might grind out. (But minus the typos.) I myself can then be dispensed with—murdered by my replica, as it were—because, to quote a vulgar saying of my youth, who needs the cow when the milk’s free? To add insult to injury, the bot is being trained on pirated copies of my books. Now, really! How cheap is that? Would it kill these companies to shell out the measly price of 33 books?

What this quote does not say

The passage is a forecast framed with 'may' and 'can,' not a claim that replacement had already occurred.
The phrase 'dispensed with' concerns Atwood in her capacity as an author, not physical harm.

How this was checked

Quote matched character-for-character against the captured page.

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an AI reviewer that read the whole source · an automatic character-by-character check

If you mean writers of ad copies, I think they should be worried. If people are still even writing ad copy and not just making pictures. Ads used to be very verbal and now it's, it is really billboards a lot, without many words on them at all. So those kinds of writers have already been expelled from their ad copy jobs. Or if you're thinking of newspaper writers, people writing stuff up, I think they might be worried.

Exact quote, beginning

Margaret Atwood

Canadian novelist and poet, author of The Handmaid's Tale

In a TED podcast interview published in December 2025, Margaret Atwood said writers of ad copy should be worried about AI and newspaper writers might be, but that people are still interested in hearing personal points of view from real people.

AuthorPublished December 16, 2025 · date of remarks not establishedReThinking with Adam Grant

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Surrounding words

Adam Grant: I'm curious about what that means for the future of creative careers in your view. It sounds like you don't think writers should be worried. Margaret Atwood: Depends what kinds of writers we're talking about. If you mean writers of ad copies, I think they should be worried. If people are still even writing ad copy and not just making pictures. Ads used to be very verbal and now it's, it is really billboards a lot, without many words on them at all. So those kinds of writers have already been expelled from their ad copy jobs. Or if you're thinking of newspaper writers, people writing stuff up, I think they might be worried. But you know, I think people are still interested in hearing personal points of view from real people. You could, of course, invent a person who was the purported writer. I think the Nancy Drew books were written that way, but not by AI, by ghost writers. And there have, of course been a lot of ghost writers.

What this quote does not say

TED warns that its transcript may differ slightly from the final audio.
The statement that ad-copy writers 'have already been expelled' may refer partly to visual advertising trends rather than AI alone; the preceding question supplies the AI context.

How this was checked

Quote matched character-for-character against the captured page.

Reviewed by

an AI reviewer that read the whole source · an automatic character-by-character check