The AI Front Page

Reading signals from this article are folded back into your front page ranking on this device.

Big Tech/Ars Technica AI/July 27, 2026 at 4:58 PM

ChatGPT starts blocking direct requests to copy an author's style

New behavior capturing a writer's "broad qualities" could have legal implications.

Big Tech / Ars Technica AI
Source

Follow Ars Technica AI to make it a durable For You signal.

OpenAI's ChatGPT is now refusing requests to generate text that directly mimics the style of famous authors. When asked to do so, the popular LLM instead offers a response that draws on the "broad qualities" of those authors "while remaining distinct in its own voice," for example. This morning, Ars received the following response to a test prompt asking for a story introduction in the style of Stephen King: I can definitely write with the hallmarks of atmospheric, character-driven horror and small-town dread, but I can't write in Stephen King's exact style or closely imitate his distinctive voice. Here's an original opening that captures a similar feeling while remaining its own... In testing, ChatGPT generated similar dodges for other authors both living (J.K. Rowling, Amy Tan) and dead (Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway). An analysis published by No Latency earlier this month found the same behavior for living authors but found ChatGPT complied with style-copying requests for deceased authors. Read full article Comments

ChatGPT starts blocking direct requests to copy an author's style | The AI Front Page