I do not think AI is a threat to human creativity: Meru Gokhale

Former editor-in-chief at Penguin Random House says her AI-assisted editing tool Editrix makes quality book editing accessible and affordable.

Creator Meru Gokhale says the response to Editrix has been largely positive. | Photo Credit: By Special Arrangement

“It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly,” said the American speculative fiction writer C.J. Cherryh. But, is that not the struggle? An editor helps shape stray words into a book. Sadly, with the lack of good editing programmes and the low pay incentives in the profession, the clan of editors is becoming rare in India and is inaccessible to many, even if they are available.

Meru Gokhale—who has worked with Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Sudha Murty, and Paolo Coelho in her years as the editor-in-chief of Penguin Random House, which she left in 2022—has repeatedly seen writers being held back by the scarcity of good editors. So, she created Editrix, an AI tool to solve the problem. Editrix can help you write a synopsis, proofread, catch repetitions, make writing plans, and even prompt you on what to write next—all for a fee, of course. It is offered in two packages. One enables you to self-edit, and the second, called “Done for You”, allows Gokhale’s team of experienced human editors to assume control of your edit with assistance from Editrix. Frontline spoke to Gokhale about her new editing tool, which was released in May 2024. Excerpts:

How did you come up with the idea of developing an editing tool empowered by AI?

I have always been open to new ways of doing things. Before ChatGPT-3 came out, I had been playing around with its earlier research versions. As an editor, the one thing you constantly pay close attention to is language. So, when I first saw a large language model (LLM) [an AI program that can recognise and generate text, among other functions], I wanted to understand how it predicts language, the clichés it uses, and so on.

Gradually, my curiosity shifted to wanting to know more about how the AI program can make the job easier for editors. Few young people want to be editors today. And quite rightly so, since editing partly means spending two weeks looking for a serial comma in a hundred thousand-word manuscript.

The idea of Editrix came to me in October 2022, and I started working on it from May 2023. By then, the context sizes of LLMs had increased and so had their capabilities. I created Editrix because I wanted it myself as an editor. I could see what pain points it could ease based on my own 20 years of experience as an editor.

How does Editrix help editors?

I initially wanted to take some of the drudgery out of editorial work. There are very few trained editors in India, and many are cognitively burnt out from performing duller tasks like manually changing British to American spellings or finding repetition. I wanted to free up time for editors so that they could use that mental space for bringing in good taste, judgment, reason, and their own human experiences—things that authors really want from their editors.

There’s no website where you can easily find an editor, and then, the search is fraught with uncertainty about quality, price, what to expect, timelines, etc. Good editors are very hard to find. Traditionally, people were trained on the job. But this method, where knowledge is passed down from experienced editors to newcomers within publishing companies, has been disrupted by the shift to hybrid work environments.

Also, the barriers to entering the publishing industry are especially high for individuals from less affluent backgrounds. The industry’s well documented lack of diversity can create a sense of alienation in those from working-class or minority backgrounds. I envisioned Editrix as a solution to all these challenges. It is a unique product that not only assists writers and editors in their editing tasks but also provides active training to aspiring editors.

Freelance editing is very poorly paid. Most freelance editors can usually take on two manuscripts at a time. But with a tool like Editrix, which supports all kinds of editing—line, copy, structural, and developmental—besides proofreading, freelancers can take on, say, five manuscripts in a month, improving their earning potential.

Although you are tech-savvy, you do not have a background in technology, so how did you go about building the AI tool from scratch?

I started building Editrix in May 2023. I did this by watching and learning from others. There were so many people on X doing amazing stuff, and I could talk to and learn from them. I reached out to engineers at Aceternity [a web design and development studio that builds websites for business]. Whatever I didn’t understand, I would ask AI to explain. I learnt a lot that way.

I mastered prompt engineering through trial and error to make sure the responses were right. It was like learning to use language, but differently. I made sure that on Editrix, you will get responses that go way beyond what you get on chatGPT or other platforms if you give the prompt, “Edit my book”.

Editrix can help you write a synopsis, proofread, catch repetitions, make writing plans, and even prompt you on what to write next—all for a fee, of course. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/ iStock

AI is seen as a threat to human creativity, if not existence. Was it ethically conflicting for you to build an AI-based tool?

I do not think AI is a threat to human creativity or existence. I have yet to see any proof of this. The product is not there to write for you. Editrix is exactly its tagline, “A fresh pair of eyes”. The machine helps the editor implement their choices superfast and get feedback. This is made for humans and they are at its centre.

“Should I use AI?” is something I keep hearing all the time. If you ask me, if you are using, say, a Google phone, an iPhone, or Google Maps or WhatsApp, you are already using AI. The demarcation is blurry. I am not saying everybody should use AI. However, it is a fact that 90 per cent of writers in the world don’t have access to editors.

People should be able to write what they want to write right where they are living. Why should somebody who is not sitting in London, New York, or New Delhi not have access to sound editorial feedback? If it helps improve their work, they should use it. If you can get that kind of feedback from a publishing house, go for it. But, I can assure you, you will not get it from them unless you are already signed up, with a contract with them.

How has the response to Editrix been?

At the Jaipur Literature Festival, I had the opportunity to discuss Editrix. The response was quite positive, which was a pleasant surprise, given the polarising views around AI. When I showed it to an editor friend of mine in London, she said: “You gave me my mental health back.” That was very encouraging.

Some other responses I have had from editors include, “Editrix’s suggestions were in line with what I thought about the book or what I would have said. Of course, I don’t always agree with what it says, but then, I get suggestions that I didn’t even think of.” That is exactly the effect I wanted Editrix to have.

Beyond individuals, several major publishers and literary think tanks in India have also expressed a strong interest in Editrix.

How does Editrix adapt to Indian English or to the many different musicalities with which authors write? Say, if Sudha Murty approaches the tool, how would it edit her work?

A core principle behind Editrix is that editing needs to have a highly customised and not a one-size-fits-all templated approach. Editrix is designed to deeply understand an author’s unique voice, style, and goals for their work. If someone like Murty were to use Editrix, the tool would carefully analyse the writing patterns, narrative structures, and language choices that make her work distinctively her own.

Can Editrix edit books in the Indian regional languages?

As soon as other regional language models become available, I will adopt them. I would love Hindi-language publishing to have access to Editrix since Hindi proofreaders and editors are tough to find these days. I will make Editrix adopt languages from anywhere in the world rather than just from India, as and when they become available.

Kanika Sharma is an independent books and culture journalist. Her words are in several national publications.