Artificial banality

 If you haven't checked out ChatGPT, you might want to. (You'll need to give them your phone number but  it's only for 2-factor authentication.) I think it's important to understand what this is and what it can do. I asked it to "Write a story about a peasant girl who discovers she has magical powers and must fight an evil sorcerer." This is what I got -- commentary follows.

Once upon a time, in a small village nestled in the heart of a vast kingdom, lived a young peasant girl named Isadora. She lived with her parents and siblings in a small cottage and worked hard every day to help provide for her family. Despite the hardships of her life, Isadora was kind, curious, and full of wonder.

One day, as she was tending to the chickens in the coop, Isadora noticed something strange. Every time she thought about a chicken laying an egg, one would suddenly appear in the nest. She tried it with a few other things, and to her amazement, she discovered she had the ability to make things happen just by thinking about them.

Isadora was frightened by her newfound powers, but as she experimented with them, she learned that they could also be used for good. She used her magic to heal her sick mother, and to help her family in small ways. But as she learned more about her abilities, she also discovered that there was an evil sorcerer who ruled the kingdom with an iron fist.

The sorcerer was feared by all, for he had the power to control the minds of those around him and to cast spells of darkness and destruction. Isadora knew that she had to do something to stop him. She didn't want anyone else to suffer under his rule, but she was just a simple peasant girl, how could she possibly stand against such a powerful foe?

Despite her fears, Isadora decided to seek out the help of a wise wizard who lived on the outskirts of the kingdom. The wizard listened to her story and recognized the potential in her powers. He agreed to teach her everything he knew about magic, and to help her on her quest to defeat the evil sorcerer.

Isadora trained for many months, honing her skills and learning the ways of magic. She grew stronger every day, both in body and in spirit. Finally, the day came when she was ready to face the sorcerer and put an end to his reign of terror.

She made her way to the sorcerer's castle, determined to face him. When she arrived, she found the sorcerer waiting for her, his dark eyes gleaming with malevolence. But Isadora stood her ground, and with a flash of her wand, she cast a spell that shattered the sorcerer's powers and released the minds of those he had controlled.

The battle was long and difficult, but in the end, Isadora emerged victorious. The kingdom was free from the sorcerer's tyranny, and Isadora was hailed as a hero. She had started out as just a simple peasant girl, but with her courage and her powers, she had defeated the greatest evil the kingdom had ever known.

And so, Isadora lived out the rest of her life in peace, using her powers for the good of her people and serving as an inspiration to all who knew her. She was remembered as the peasant girl who discovered she had magic powers and fought to defeat an evil sorcerer, and her story was told for generations to come.

It's hard to believe this was generated by a machine, to be sure. It somehow recognized that the concept was a fairly tale and started with Once upon a time. The plot is coherent and follows a standard fairly tale arc with a happily ever after ending. The machine gives her a name, and ascribes a couple of appropriate qualities to her -- "Despite the hardships of her life, Isadora was kind, curious, and full of wonder." It even invents a specific magical power for her, although it is not further developed..

 

But, as human literary output this would be decidedly inferior. There is no specificity about Isadora's character, relationships or inner life, nor any dramatic tension. Why does she need to be courageous? What obstacles or dangers does she actually face? The text is just a long string of cliches and banalities. This might be just okay for a twelve year old of no great imagination, but is entirely superficial, it has not deeper meaning.

Still, if you were looking to write a fairly tale, you might take this as a plot outline. I asked the bot a couple of substantive questions about public health and it responded with lists of bullet points which were basically accurate and could provide the outline for an essay -- but it could lead me astray if I didn't already have expertise in the subject, since the bullet points are of highly variable importance. I understand that it sometimes makes more serious factual blunders.

Honestly though, it's a tool I will probably use when I'm stuck for inspiration. It won't do my writing for me, but it might give me a push. I don't know that it will have as much impact on the world as some people seem to hope or fear, but it does force us to think about the nature of creativity. The machine doesn't have most of what matters about us, but it has a foundation of sorts. Can it ever take the next step?