Artificial Intelligence: The New Author?

Artificial Intelligence has taken huge steps in the past decade, removing the need for lots of jobs. Are authors next?

Welcome to lillie with an ie! To kick off this blog, I wanted to talk about something that’s been on my mind a lot recently. Artificial Intelligence and its effect on literature.

A couple weeks ago, I had a conversation with a professor and a few peers about the increasing use of ChatGPT. For those of you who are unfamiliar, ChatGPT is a question-and-answer AI bot that you can ask anything to. From my understanding, the bot is able to gather information from the internet to provide an answer. It gets smarter every time it's used.

ChatGPT is capable of answering math equations, writing decent code, and reciting history facts. Students have even used it to write academic essays, but that’s a blog post for another time. The point is, ChatGPT is smart. And it’s only getting smarter.

But is ChatGPT capable of creating literature?

Well, it’s been done. Using AI, people have created children’s books with basic plot points and characters. But deeper literature, such as novels and poetry, are complex creations full of creativity and human emotion. The question is: can ChatGPT create a level of intimacy between reader and writer?

In a fun experiment, my professor asked ChatGPT to recreate a poem by William Wordsworth, “My Heart Leaps Up”.

Here’s the example: 

“My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;

So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!

The Child is father of the Man;

And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.”

- William Wordsworth

She gave the AI bot the following prompt: 

“Write a 9 line poem about a man whose heart leaps up when he sees a rainbow in the sky. It makes him think of when his life began and how he has the same reaction now as an adult. He says he hopes it will be the same when he is old or he might as well die. He expresses the belief that the child is the father of the man and hopes that all of his days will blend into each other and be bound by natural piety.”

This is what ChatGPT created: 

“When a rainbow arcs across the sky,

My heart leaps up, I can't deny,

It takes me back to days of youth,

To when my life was fresh and new.

But still, as an adult I feel,

The same sense of wonder and zeal,

I hope when I am old and gray,

This rainbow joy will always stay.

For the child within us all,

Is the father of the man, and so I call,

Upon nature's piety to bind,

All my days, in heart and mind.”

- ChatGPT

While it was able to create something, it wasn’t very impressive. It was also incapable of not rhyming, even when asked not to. 

Here’s a second example: 

The prompt my professor provided:

“Write a 150 word description of an old woman who lives in the mountains by herself. She knows everything there is to know about herbs and the healing arts, but because she is different, those who live around her suspect her of being a witch.”

And here's what it returned:

“The old woman who lives in the mountains by herself is a striking figure. She is small and wiry, with piercing eyes that seem to hold the wisdom of the ages. Her skin is deeply lined, etched with the creases of a lifetime spent under the sun and stars. She moves with a grace that belies her age, each step sure and deliberate.

But though she is a master of the healing arts, the people who live in the valleys below suspect her of being a witch. They whisper behind her back and avoid her gaze when they pass her on the road. And yet, they come to her in secret when they are sick or injured, knowing that she knows more about the properties of herbs than anyone else in the area.

The old woman pays them no mind. She knows the value of her knowledge, and the truth of her intentions. She will continue to live in the mountains, surrounded by the beauty of nature and the mysteries of the universe, content in her solitude and her own understanding of the world.”

- ChatGPT

ChatGPT hasn’t quite mastered the ‘show don’t tell’ of storytelling. It doesn’t seem to be great at engaging the reader eiher. 

So, for now, ChatGPT might not be capable of creating any piece of art with human emotion and creativity behind it. Yet, could AI literature be our future? If AI learns to mimic authors' writing styles, will authors have to write? Could we use AI to create cover art and book outlines? And is that ethical? 

While I find it unethical (and frankly, quite disturbing), I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. I’ll definitely be covering the subject more in depth another time, so stay tuned! 

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