No goddess in this machine
I’ve been wondering a lot lately about how artificial intelligence is going to mimic the essence of the human behind the words of a story. Our voices, even in text, are kind of like fingerprints. They’re unique. Not only in the ways we place one word after another, but in the ideas and energy that drive those words and seek to communicate their meaning to others.
I wondered, can ChatGPT mimic some essence of me? So, I asked it to write a story ‘in the style of Kim Kelly’. And this is what it came up with…
Sunlight and Shadows
In the sleepy town of Gundaroo, nestled amidst the rolling hills of New South Wales, there existed a world of stories waiting to be told. It was a place where time moved slowly, where the whispers of the past lingered in the air like the scent of eucalyptus after a summer rain. And in the heart of this picturesque landscape, there lived a woman named Matilda Evans.
Matilda was a woman of quiet strength and unwavering determination, her spirit as resilient as the ironbark trees that lined the road leading to her farmhouse. Widowed at a young age, she had carved out a life for herself amidst the sun-drenched fields and the endless blue skies, her days spent tending to her land with a tenderness born of love.
But beneath her stoic exterior lay a heart that longed for something more – a connection, a purpose, a reason to believe that life held more than just the mundane routines of day-to-day existence. And so it was that one fateful day, as the sun dipped below the horizon and the stars began to twinkle in the vast expanse of the night sky, Matilda found herself drawn to the town’s local bookstore.
The shop was a quaint little establishment, its shelves filled with dusty tomes and well-worn classics, its windows adorned with lace curtains that fluttered gently in the evening breeze. And there, amidst the musty scent of old paper and ink, Matilda discovered a world of wonder waiting to be explored.
It was in the dimly lit aisles of that bookstore that Matilda met a woman named Lily, a kindred spirit whose passion for literature mirrored her own. Together, they would spend hours lost in the pages of novels and poetry, their minds transported to distant lands and bygone eras, their hearts touched by the power of words.
But amidst the solace of their newfound friendship, shadows lurked on the periphery, threatening to engulf them in darkness. For Gundaroo was a town haunted by its past, its streets echoing with the whispers of secrets long buried beneath the red earth.
As the days turned to weeks and the weeks to months, Matilda and Lily found themselves embroiled in a mystery that would test the limits of their courage and their resolve. For Gundaroo held secrets that some would kill to protect, and the truth, once uncovered, threatened to tear the fabric of their small community apart.
But amidst the turmoil and the chaos, Matilda and Lily discovered something precious – a bond forged in the crucible of adversity, a friendship that transcended the boundaries of time and space. And as they stood together beneath the harsh Australian sun, their hands clasped in silent solidarity, they knew that no matter what the future held, they would face it together, sunlight and shadows alike.
Ha! Gundaroo – who knew? And what a random tiny-town pick.
This ‘Kim Kelly’ story reads like a mash of book blurbs, crammed with Australiana cliches. I’m kind of impressed that it recognised my name as Australian at all and picked up the themes of friendship and words that are important to me. But the rest is so generic it could have been written by, well, a machine.
Will readers come to love this machine writing? I can’t imagine how – at least when it comes to stories that are meant to touch or transport us.
Being told a story is a creative experience, where teller and receiver meet to make something together, something new and like no other. A soul-to-soul connection. And what is a soul? What is the tangle of electricity that makes you, you, and me, me? It’s a mystery.
Maybe one day artificial intelligence will solve all mysteries of the universe in a mind-blowing quantum crunch that no-one’s yet imagined. Maybe the machine will finally introduce us to God, or Gaia, or the Great Whoever. Until then, I hope the magic of our stories is safe – with us.
What do you think?
Image: Christopher Campbell, Unsplash, (manipulated)
Kim Kelly 
you’ve nothing to worry about 👍🏻
Too funny, Ash! ❤
I feed something I wrote into ChatGPT instructed it to’ improve’ I read it back and though ‘Hmm not toooo shabby !’ ?!@ Other than a few punctuation changes I realized it had feed me back my own work???!!! Operator error I suspect! 🙂 Good to hear your voice Kim
Ha! That is so interesting, Cheryl. And lovely to connect with you here 🙂
Hi Kim Hmmm, I found that particularly wordy and too much descriptive narrative. Whilst it was good that it picked up that you were an Australian author, I could tell it was not written by you the person.
I do not think AI will be able to write books, like creative authors who have done hours of research into their books. Maybe stories for predictable endings, but from a reader’s point of view, unless you just want a ‘predictable’ story, I think I will stay with the creativity, imagination, hours of research and the individual flair of my favourite authors.
Agree, Alison! I did wonder if it might be useful for some as a writing prompt, but as you say, it tends to come up with the predictable. XX
i think that was terrible , it read more like a blurb than an actual story and each chapter made me think I’d already read several books that made up this blurb, all by different authors.
Why can’t they make useful AI like housecleaning robots.
i won’t ever knowingly read, listen or buy any art by AI.
I’m with you on all counts, Claire!! XX