At this year’s Beijing International Book Fair, a forum on writers’ perceptions of artificial intelligence (AI) saw Chinese author Mai Jia make a gentle but firm stand.

Dressed in a light beige jacket, the celebrated novelist sat alongside three other panellists as he offered an unusually personal and philosophical take on AI and human creativity.

A recipient of the prestigious Mao Dun Literature Prize, Mai Jia is best known for his espionage fiction. His reflections touched on a deeper unease shared by writers and artists around the world: where human creativity stands in a time when machines are learning to imitate – and even threatening to outpace – human imagination.