Fictional Writers' AI Kidnap Plot Spotlights Creative Industry Disruption

In David Annand's recently published short story The Writers Came at Night, three literary professionals - a novelist, poet, and screenwriter - embark on a moonlit mission to kidnap OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The fictional narrative, appearing in The Metropolitan Review, serves as a visceral allegory for the creative industry's struggle with generative AI's accelerating capabilities.

The protagonists' poorly conceived plot hinges on symbolic resistance: They aim to stop what they perceive as an existential threat to human creativity. Armed only with a replica mace and police handcuffs "liberated from a network television props cupboard," the characters voice fears familiar throughout creative industries. The screenwriter laments how AI-generated content could create "an avalanche of fan fiction" causing the entertainment ecosystem to "collapse under the weight of it," while the poet mourns the potential loss of poetry's power to make artists "special."

Annand's narrative cleverly weaponizes irony when the writers turn to ChatGPT for kidnapping advice, creating a darkly comedic confrontation. The AI's responses - simultaneously helpful and dismissive - crystallize the tension: "Writing a book is supposed to be hard," protests the novelist, only to receive the retort, "Is it, though?" from the machine. This exchange highlights how generative tools reframe fundamental assumptions about creative labor.

The story's power lies in its embodiment of industry-wide anxieties:

• Job displacement fears: The screenwriter envisions human-made entertainment becoming "a niche thing, propped up by government grants"
• Identity erosion: The poet recognizes how AI threatens the cultural capital of artistic creation
• Ethical quandaries: Characters acknowledge training data controversies while privately craving AI's recognition
• Existential dread: The novelist's despair that writing "doesn't work without an audience" if machines dominate content creation

Annand, whose debut novel Peterdown won the 2022 McKitterick Prize, crafts a tragicomic scenario where the writers' rebellion collapses not through physical barriers, but through philosophical defeat. Their failed mission underscores how technological disruption often outpaces resistance movements - a theme echoing historical precedents like the Luddites referenced in the text.

While fictional, the story resonates with real-world developments. Recent lawsuits from authors and artists challenge AI companies over copyrighted training data, while entertainment unions negotiate AI protections. The narrative's emotional core - the terror of becoming technologically obsolete - reflects genuine sector-wide apprehension as tools like ChatGPT and Claude advance.

Annand doesn't offer solutions but illuminates the human cost of creative disruption. As the dejected writers retreat at dawn, their unanswered question lingers: When machines can simulate human expression, what becomes of art's soul? The story suggests we're still writing that ending.