Study Finds 36% of Chatbot Interactions Generate Fiction, Driven by 7% of Users
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Sep 14
Study Finds 36% of Chatbot Interactions Generate Fiction, Driven by 7% of Users
1 articles · Updated · WIRED · Sep 14
Summary
More than a third of chatbot interactions in a study of 500,000-plus WildChat prompts involved fiction generation, spanning prose, poetry, fan fiction, erotica and role-play.
Just 7% of users were estimated to generate fiction at all, with a small group of power users producing and repeatedly revising stories thousands of times over months.
Researchers say users are drawn by instant, judgment-free iteration and control over plot, while some erotica users value highly specific, personalized scenarios unavailable in conventional books or porn.
WildChat is not representative of all ChatGPT users because prompts were voluntarily made public; OpenAI and NBER estimated only 1.4% of prompts were fiction-related in a 2025 study.
The findings challenge assumptions that readers reject AI-written stories and suggest improving models could expand a market for personalized AI fiction alongside a smaller niche for human-authored literature.