Author(s)

Daniel Plate¹, James Hutson²

¹Department of English, Language, and Interdisciplinary Studies, Saint Charles, MO, USA.
²Department of Art History and Visual Culture, Lindenwood University, Saint Charles, MO, USA.

Recent advances have moved natural language processing (NLP) capabilities with artificial intelligence beyond mere grammar and spell-checking functionality. One such new use that has arisen is the ability to suggest new content to writers to inspire new ideas by using “machine-in-the-loop” strategies in creative writing. In order to explore the possibilities of such a strategy, this study provides a model to be adopted in creative writing courses in higher education. An NLP application was created using Python and spaCy and deployed via Streamlit. The AI allowed students to see if their grammar aligned with those principles and techniques taught in class to assist with a deeper understanding of the grammatical aspects of the content and also to improve their creativity as writers. The study at hand seeks to determine the efficacy of a new proprietary NLP on improving understanding of grammar and creativity in student writing. Participants in the study were assessed through surveys and open-ended questions. Findings note that participants agreed the algorithm assisted them in a better understanding of grammar but were not as receptive to assistance in improving their creativity. It should also be noted that the suggestions provided by the algorithm did not necessarily improve the written artifacts submitted in the study. Results indicate that students enjoy using NLP as part of the creative writing process but largely, as with other language processing tools, to assist with grammar and syntax.

Creative Writing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Creativity

Plate, D. and Hutson, J. (2022) Augmented Creativity: Leveraging Natural Language Processing for Creative Writing. Art and Design Review, 10, 376-388. doi: 10.4236/adr.2022.103029.