Can AI Write a Book? Cambodian Authors Say Something Essential Is Missing

PHNOM PENH – As artificial intelligence reshapes industries around the world, a new question is quietly reaching Cambodia’s literary circles: can a machine truly help write a book — or even replace the writer behind it?

For many Cambodian authors, the answer is clear. AI can assist the process, but it cannot replace the human heart at the center of storytelling.

Writers say the technology can help polish sentences, organize ideas and speed up research. But when it comes to emotion — the pain, joy and reflection that give stories life—they insist that still belongs to the author.

Across different genres, Cambodian writers share a similar view: AI can be useful, but its role should remain limited. They say the technology still struggles to capture emotional depth in the Khmer language, leaving the creative core of writing firmly in human hands.

Among them is Meyson Sotheary, a fiction and nonfiction writer with more than three decades of experience. Sotheary said that when a book relies entirely on AI, something essential disappears.

“The reader cannot feel the emotions,” she said.

She experimented with AI in 2023, asking it to generate a story. The result, she recalled, felt technically correct but emotionally hollow.

“AI can write words correctly, without repetition and without looking dull,” she said. “But the sentences are breathless. They have no emotion, unlike real writers who transmit their feelings when readers open their books.”

For Chansothida, a novelist and film scriptwriter who has been writing for six years, the experience was similar.

Curious about its potential, she once asked AI to build a story based on several ideas she outlined. The result, she said, lacked the emotional depth needed to draw readers in.

“It felt like the story had no soul,” she said.

Self-development writer Puthy, who has been publishing for nearly four years, encountered the same problem.

He said the text generated by AI lacked the unique voice that defines an author’s work.

“We cannot focus only on meaningful content and then sell it,” he said. “Without the writer behind it, the book has no soul.”

For him, authenticity matters beyond the page. When readers meet the author, he hopes they recognize the same voice they encountered in the book.

 

AI as a Modern Tool to Boost Productivity

Despite their concerns, the writers do not dismiss AI entirely. They describe writing as a long process built on personal experience, reading, research and reflection — practices that strengthen both creativity and critical thinking over time.

Within that process, they see AI as a tool that can save time.

Sotheary said AI can help restructure messy storylines, check grammar and quickly gather information that would otherwise require hours of research.

“It can help writers find details for scenes they have never experienced themselves,” she said, citing examples such as courtroom trials or laboratory settings.

By handling those technical tasks, she added, writers can focus more energy on shaping the emotional core of their stories.

Puthy agrees that AI can help organize ideas more clearly — but insists the writer must remain in control.

“I am still the director,” he said. “AI only helps arrange the ideas.”

 

The Risk of Falling Into an AI Trap

At the same time, writers warn that relying too heavily on AI could come at a cost.

They describe the technology as a double-edged sword: capable of boosting productivity, but also capable of weakening the very skills writers depend on.

Sotheary said authors who allow AI to generate their stories risk losing their identity — and eventually their credibility.

“AI is like a modern pen,” she said. “No matter how good the pen is, the person holding it must decide the direction of the story.”

Chansothida added that readers can often sense when a piece of writing lacks a human voice.

“If AI is used too much, the quality of the story suffers,” she said. “Readers can notice.”

Puthy worries that excessive dependence on AI could also weaken a writer’s intellectual growth.

If writers stop reading, researching and reflecting because AI can generate answers instantly, he said, their knowledge may stagnate.

“Their speech will show it,” he said. “When they are invited to discussions or public talks, they will have nothing to share.”

For him, AI should remain a limited tool — not a shortcut.

“Depending too much on it does not mean a writer will improve faster,” he said.

 

Protecting Writers in the Age of AI

For now, the writers say AI-generated content has not yet become a direct threat to Cambodian authors. Readers still turn to books because they trust the voice and experience of the person who wrote them.

Sotheary believes writers must focus on developing their own identity rather than imitating others — or relying on machines.

“If you depend on AI and think it will turn you into a real writer,” she said, “you will suffer from that dependence later.”

Puthy encourages aspiring authors to trust the slower, more personal path of writing.

“I write when I am curious,” he said. “When I discover solutions to problems in life, I can explain them through my books.”

Chansothida believes AI’s capabilities will continue to grow rapidly — perhaps faster than many people expect. Because of that, she hopes stronger legal protections will eventually be introduced to protect writers’ rights.

Kok Ros, head of the Department of Book and Reading at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, also described AI as a technology that must be used carefully.

“AI is a double-edged sword,” he said. “If we use it well, it brings benefits. If we use it wrongly, it brings drawbacks.”

For now, he said, the ministry has not introduced specific measures on AI in publishing. Because the issue is closely tied to digital technology, it may fall under discussions led by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications.

Cambodianess contacted So Visothy, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, for comment, but he did not respond.