Reimagining Authorship in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: A Posthuman Study of Contemporary Literature

The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence has transformed the landscape of literary production, challenging traditional notions of authorship, creativity, and textual authority. The integration of AI technologies in literary creation raises fundamental questions about the role of the human author and the evolving relationship between writer, reader, and machine. This paper examines how artificial intelligence reshapes authorship through the lens of posthumanism, digital humanities, and reader-response theory. Drawing on Roland Barthes’ concept of the “Death of the Author,” the study argues that AI-generated texts further decentralize authorial authority and create collaborative modes of storytelling. The article explores the transformation of creativity, algorithmic authorship, and the ethical implications of machine-generated literature. It also analyzes how contemporary literature reflects anxieties and possibilities surrounding artificial intelligence. Ultimately, this study positions AI as a transformative force that does not replace human authors but redefines authorship as a distributed and hybrid process. The paper concludes that the future of literature lies in the collaboration between human creativity and artificial intelligence, marking a shift from individual authorship to posthuman literary production.