That Book You Read on the Subway That Somehow Knew You? AI Might’ve Helped Write It

So here’s the thing. You’re wedged into a corner seat on Line 2, earbuds in, flipping pages on your phone because it’s the only time you get to read these days. And suddenly, this sentence just… guts you. Feels too close. Like someone’s been following you around the city, collecting your quiet thoughts.

Then you find out—yeah, part of that book was co-written with artificial intelligence.

Weird? Yeah. But also? Kind of makes sense. This is Toronto, after all.

This City Is Fast Loud Brilliant and Exhausting

Trying to write a novel in Toronto is like trying to meditate in Dundas Square. Between the hustle, the noise, and the cost of absolutely everything, creative energy comes at a premium.

So some writers—musicians in Parkdale, new moms in Scarborough, students in North York—are leaning into AI tools like Sudowrite or ChatGPT. Not to take over the story. But to keep them from burning out on the first draft.

Because in this city? You gotta move fast. And if AI helps you get out of your own way and finish the thing? You take it.

Nobody’s Pretending This Is the Old Way

Toronto’s never been about nostalgia for its own sake. We’re always reinventing. Adapting. Throwing the past and future into the same espresso-stained notebook.

Writers here aren’t using AI to become less creative. They’re using it to stay creative when the rent’s late and the Wi-Fi’s down again.

A guy in the Junction told me he used AI to draft filler scenes between his main plot points. “It gave me space to focus on the stuff I actually care about,” he said. “The scenes with heart. With edge.”

How People Are Actually Using AI Around the City

Let’s be clear. This isn’t a handover. It’s a tag team.

• Outlining tricky chapters while riding the 504
• Rewriting flat scenes that just won’t land
• Brainstorming side characters that don’t feel like filler
• Finishing drafts in time for local writing groups
• Prepping manuscripts for self-publishing with AI on a budget

It’s scrappy. It’s imperfect. It’s very Toronto.

Still Our Voices Still Our Stories

There’s something stubborn and tender about a Toronto story. It’s layered. Fast-talking. A little defensive, a little wounded, but full of hope. And AI? It doesn’t invent that voice. It just nudges the writer to keep going.

A poet I met in East York told me, “AI didn’t give me the story. It gave me time. It gave me the chance to finish what I started before life got in the way again.”

The City’s Changing but the Stories Stay Personal

Sure, we’ve got questions. About ownership. Originality. Authenticity. But this city? It’s always been a bit of a collage anyway. Culture, chaos, beauty, brokenness—it all lives side by side.

So if AI-written books 2025 are helping someone tell the truth a little faster, a little louder, or maybe just at all?

Then honestly… maybe that’s enough.