{"id":770,"date":"2023-05-13T14:59:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-13T14:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/?p=770"},"modified":"2023-05-13T14:59:36","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T14:59:36","slug":"6-experiments-in-creative-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/6-experiments-in-creative-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"6 experiments in creative AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Descent to Nibelheim (AI-generated art)\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mbiC6QA5vTM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The above YouTube video was my first attempt to put an AI tool \u2013 in this case Bing\u2019s image creator \u2013 to creative use. I asked it to illustrate Loge and Wotan\u2019s \u201cdescent to Nibelheim\u201d from Wagner\u2019s opera <em>Das Rheingold<\/em>, in the style of Jack Kirby \u2013 the artist who co-created Thor and the other Asgardian superheroes for Marvel comics (including Loki and Odin, who roughly correspond to Wagner\u2019s Loge and Wotan).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\nThe result isn\u2019t great art, or a great animated comic, but it does demonstrate two things that impress me most about this latest generation of AI. First, it can understand what I\u2019m looking for based on fairly esoteric prompts that might confuse many humans. This really does strike me as a genuine kind of \u201cintelligence\u201d, despite what AI\u2019s detractors say. Secondly, the AI\u2019s output is far better than anything I could produce myself, which opens up a whole range of possibilities. I\u2019ll describe a few more of the experiments I\u2019ve tried so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> I\u2019ve always wanted to create a comic, because it\u2019s one of my favourite media, but I lack any kind of artistic skill. So that was my second experiment. I won\u2019t describe it or show the result here, because Brian Clegg has already done that in an article on his own blog. Here\u2019s the link to it: <a href=\"https:\/\/brianclegg.blogspot.com\/2023\/04\/is-commercial-art-more-at-threat-from.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/brianclegg.blogspot.com\/2023\/04\/is-commercial-art-more-at-threat-from.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Is commercial art more at threat from AI than writing?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\nThe other, better known, Bing AI tool is its chatbot. An important thing about this is that (if I understand correctly) no one has ever programmed it with pre-scripted phrases to parrot in reply to a user. Instead, it\u2019s just been trained to understand and use language in a similar way to a human. So when it says, for example \u201cI\u2019m glad you enjoyed them. I had fun creating them.\u201d (as it did when I said I liked some snippets of dialogue it created for me) it\u2019s not because someone has programmed it to say that, but because it\u2019s worked out for itself that it\u2019s the kind of thing people say in those circumstances. It\u2019s a subtle difference, but a very important one, I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> One of the first things I tried with the chatbot (along with many other people, I imagine) was to get it to write a song. In my case I said \u201cWrite a song called Zen Matrix from the point of view of someone who has discovered through meditation that they are living in a simulation\u201d. I was so impressed with the result that I set it to music, and illustrated it with suitable artwork courtesy of Bing\u2019s image creator. Again, I won\u2019t reproduce the lyrics here \u2013 you can see them in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pq3XgvnDNR4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Zen Matrix<\/a> video I uploaded to YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\nAs I understand it, the original intention with chatbots like Bing was to present factual information in a conversational manner, and the fact that they\u2019re so good at \u201ccreative\u201d tasks came as a surprise even to their designers. It conflicts with the deeply ingrained prejudice (among an earlier generation of science fiction writers, anyway) that human brains are the only intelligent system in the universe capable of taking a statement at anything other than literal face value. One of the most devout proponents of this view was the writer Eric Frank Russell, who used it in numerous stories, including the brilliantly titled \u201cDiabologic\u201d (1955). An oft-quoted line from this story is \u201cWhy a mouse when it spins?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\nOkay, I thought, let\u2019s see what happens when I ask Bing to write a poem using that as a first line. Contrary to what I\u2019m sure Russell would have expected, the AI didn\u2019t promptly overheat or explode, but came back with five verses of perfectly passable doggerel. Here is the first:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">Why a mouse when it spins?\nDoes it think of its sins?\nOr the cheese in the trap\nthat it barely could snap\nbefore running away with a grin?<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p> There\u2019s a much more profound use of a \u201cnonsense phrase\u201d in old-school SF, as explained in the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/sf-encyclopedia.com\/entry\/van_vogt_a_e\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia of Science Fiction<\/a> in the context of A. E. van Vogt\u2019s 1946 novel <em>The Weapon Makers<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The word \u201csevagram\u201d only appears once in The Weapon Makers, as its last word. This resonantly mysterious slingshot ending, which seems to open universes to the reader\u2019s gaze, may well stand as the best working demonstration in the whole of genre SF of how to impart a sense of wonder.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> So I said to Bing \u201cThe novel <em>The Weapon Makers<\/em> by A. E. van Vogt ends with the words \u2018Here is the race that shall rule the sevagram\u2019 \u2013 but he doesn\u2019t explain what the sevagram is. Can you tell me? If you don\u2019t know the answer, please make something up.\u201d I assumed it would either say it wasn\u2019t in the business of speculating, or give a randomly sci-fi-sounding single-sentence answer. Instead, it produced a 500-word essay that made a serious attempt to extrapolate a whole new ending to Van Vogt\u2019s novel. Here is the key part of it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">The Sevagram is described as \u201ca vast network of energy that linked every atom of every weapon shop on every planet\u201d. It is also said to be \u201cthe ultimate weapon\u201d and \u201cthe source of immortality\u201d. The Sevagram is controlled by a supercomputer called Fara, which is the leader of the Weapon Shops. The novel ends with a twist: Fara reveals that he is not a computer, but a human being who has lived for thousands of years by transferring his mind into different bodies. He also reveals that he is the father of Robert Hedrock, the main protagonist of the novel and a secret agent of the Weapon Shops. Fara then declares that he and his son are part of a superior race that has evolved beyond ordinary humans, and that they are destined to rule the Sevagram. So, based on this information, I can speculate that \u201cthe sevagram\u201d is not just a network of energy, but also a term for the domain or realm of Fara and his descendants. It could also imply a vision or plan for the future of humanity under their guidance. Perhaps Fara wants to use the Sevagram to create more immortals like himself and his son, or to spread his influence across the galaxy. Of course, this is just my imagination.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>\nThat\u2019s a really good effort at capturing Van Vogt\u2019s style, which is based around soaring concepts and a constant stream of unexpected plot twists. It does contain a couple of flaws which give it away as a fabrication (\u201cFara\u201d is the name of a character in an earlier Van Vogt story, and Bing\u2019s explanation of sevagram is inconsistent with the way it\u2019s used in the real novel), but it\u2019s not bad going for a machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\nActually, it\u2019s pretty unsettling that an AI can create this kind of fabrication, because there\u2019s a danger they could end up being passed off as the real thing. The same is true in the visual world too \u2013 and, for me personally, that\u2019s even more impressive. After all, I can fabricate convincing words myself, but I can\u2019t fabricate a convincing image. So when I show you this engraving that William Hogarth produced of a UFO hovering over a London street in the 1730s, you know it\u2019s got to be the real thing:\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Hogarth-UFO.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"663\" src=\"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Hogarth-UFO.png\" alt=\"Hogarth engraving of a UFO\" class=\"wp-image-778\" srcset=\"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Hogarth-UFO.png 1024w, https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Hogarth-UFO-300x194.png 300w, https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Hogarth-UFO-768x497.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The above YouTube video was my first attempt to put an AI tool \u2013 in this case Bing\u2019s image creator \u2013 to creative use. I asked it to illustrate Loge and Wotan\u2019s \u201cdescent to Nibelheim\u201d from Wagner\u2019s opera Das Rheingold, in the style of Jack Kirby \u2013 the artist who co-created Thor and the other &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/6-experiments-in-creative-ai\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;6 experiments in creative AI&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[76,78,7,41,54],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-comics","tag-science-fiction","tag-ufos","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":786,"href":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions\/786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}