A few months ago, the president of prestigious French publishing house Gallimard reported that Meta’s generative AI tool had refused requests to write in the distinctive style of Michel Houellebecq, France’s most famous living novelist. It was deemed too offensive and discriminatory.
Certainly, Houellebecq is known for his darkly satirical, mordantly comedic and unremittingly pessimistic portrayals of contemporary life. He has also been hailed as “the most important novelist to have been publishing not only in France but in all of Europe over the past three decades”, by David Sexton, writing in the Times.
