Bartosz Lutostański
ORCID: 0000-0001-6345-3275
A b s t r a k t
This article explores the ontological status of AI-generated fiction through a comparative reading of fictionality theory (Gorman 2005; Nielsen, Phelan and Walsh 2015) and Baudrillard’s simulation theory (1981, 1983). Analysing a corpus of short stories generated by Claude AI, it argues that these texts simulate fiction rather than produce it. The article proposes that traditional narratological categories fail to capture the epistemic rupture introduced by LLMs, and that a new hermeneutic of simulated fiction is required.