My Next Book

I think my next book will be totally A.I. generated poems. And I will title it From the very depths of my heart and soul.

We are getting overrun with A.I. generated poems and reviews...The Humanness of this special genre of poetry

is being decapitated. The heart of writing has gone missing in so many instances.

So many writing this way or not writing this way surely have that creative gene in them. If only they would give it 

more of a chance to bloom.

I think a few others on here might agree. I hope we can save our fading genre.

j.

Reviews

[Beccy]

In the same way as a microwave oven, ai is a useful tool and has a place; but no matter the complexity of the algorithm, the clue is in the word artificial and if you feed ai a lie disguised as data, it will doubtless feast to it's hearts content. As for ai writing any kind of meaningful poetry; I'd rather put my faith in the infinite monkey theorem.

A friend of mine has a truly lovely home, which she has populated with the most beautifully designed artifical flowers; but they have no fragrance and to me they are entirely insentient.

Wisely, I have chosen not to apprise my friend of my thoughts. :))

Beccy.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

You mean you would not be the first to read my new book and write a rave review of it?
I was hoping to become an A.I. laureat poet.
You were talking about your friend and her artificial flowers...reminds me how I long for the old days when I was a kid and we always had REAL Christmas trees....and that smell of pine.
thanks for the visit, always good to see you again...
j.

[Beccy]

For interest only I inputted three of my poem titles onto an ai poetry writing site. Quite bizarre results I have to say; and absolutely so way off the mark and meaning. They can mimic 'til the cows come home, but it will never be the same as word culled from the human heart and soul.

[Ms claws]

Wise words from such a small tyke! (smiles) Is AI capable of emotion? example: Your words touch me so deeply I am paralyzed to the point I can not respond.

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

I hate anything Ai and long for the 70s.
Now ai can even change your voice to sing write tunes write books poems take drs notes in hospitals operate on patients. But they have no soul no heart no brain
I’ll never succumb to ai in writing or any of the above mentioned

Good points Jacob and I know and we all know you will never either succumb to it

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I know, it is frustrating, Julie...Thank you for your words.
j.

[Stella Armour]

It's soul destroying really, maybe the beginning of a robotic world which i am glad i will not see.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I feel the same way as you, Stella.
j.

[Laz K.]

to a creative mind, their own creation, no matter how flawed or amateurish, will be more valuable than the polished response of a machine. so, as long as there are people who want to be creators and not just consumers, art will live.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, Laz. Stephen King talks about it in his book called On Writing...the best time is when you have just created a writing and you look it over for the first time. But if it is A.I. generated, what is the joy in that?

[Deco]

I am not a poet, but I agree with this sentiment. It is just the same, if not worse, where prose is concerned. There’s nothing visibly/ intellectually striking about most novels being written today. Just badly plotted books driven by overrun tropes and cliches, and the persistent recurrence of, basically, erotica across the many genres these days. I don’t exclude NYTBS either, unfortunately. It’s disheartening.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, Deco. Only a once-in-a-while author who floats a reader's boat. But tapping the creative gene is such a high...and that is often missing nowadays. Thank you for your response.
j.

[Emunah June.]

One time, I had written a poem I was unsure of, and I brought it to a friend for a review. She waved me off, rather dismissively, and told me to just "run it through ChatGPT, it'll tell you what you need to fix," and I found the notion so odd, but I tried it anyway. I copy and pasted the entire poem in ChatGPT and asked it to critique it, and what happened was fascinating: not only did it critique my art, but it ALSO sent me a version of my poem "if it had written it", and it was ASTOUNDING to me how human it was able to pass itself off as. It made my work feel so ... strange. It was the oddest sensation: seeing my work run through a filter and turned into something it wasnt. I pondered this for awhile, and quickly slammed my laptop shut. It was a rather anxiety inducing feeling! To know that the craft I stumbled my way through to get to where I am now could be spat out by a machine was not only disheartening, but the implications were extremely terrifying. What did this mean for me? What did this mean for the site? What did it mean for humanity in general, if we were able to take the soul out of art??

I wont lie to you, AI frightens me. It has so much potential to be so helpful, but all the more potential to be domineering in nature. I fear about what this will mean for me and creation as we know it. I am scared of the enmeshment process of human and AI works, and how one day, it'll become so indistinguishable that we will not be able to tell one from the other.

But I take this piece as a call to arms. And with shaking hands, I shall answer.
I feel it is time to exorcise the ghost in the machine.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Somehow, I don't see that happening....where we can't tell human from A.I....maybe because I have been teaching writing for 30 plus years...I find it pretty easy to spot. But I understand your anxiety. I took two of my titles and put them into A.I. and in ten seconds I had two poems. Scary, but yes, they were poems and they had rhyme and rhythm...but no heart and not soul...they were just cold.
I wish we could exorcise that ghost.
thank you, Emunah.
j.

[John Sullivan]

We will. Save the genre, that is. Poetry is one of the ancient art forms. It's always been there, and it will always be there. AI... is... either the future of everything, or a... fad. It isn't as good as people. Not yet, and I have my doubts it will be any time soon. In any application I've ever read of. Naw, I've been away from this site for a year or so, and I see all the very real new people. Makes me happy. Kids will always scribble in their notebook margins... they always have, and they always will. We'll be alright, I think.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Absolutely not as good as people...thank you for that, John.
j.

[redzone]

YESSSSSSSSS!! Too many people think and act like being lazy, not being creative, relying on AI tears all of us down. Art is one of the 'natures' we humans have and distinguishes us not only from other species, as well as, AI. Art, all form of aesthetics, cannot be taught. You can teach form, or how art is created, but you cannot teach the whys or the way it feels. If AI does write you such a book, Jacob, you might want to change the title to 'Ha! I tricked you from the very depths of my heart and soul." I know, not as subtle as your title, but then there is nothing subtle and disgusting as the direction of our society and its culture.

Curt

[jacob erin-cilberto]

To me, there is nothing like reading a piece I just created, knowing I just created it...me, the little human poet.
Thanks, Curt.
j.

[Arundass TP]

Oh! AI is more powerful than William Shakespeare or Wordsworth. Good writing

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Isn't that a scary thought, Arundass?
thank you.
j.

[Arundass TP]

Sure friend. I am thinking beyond AI

[.]

:(. That's just heartbreaking... Seeing arts being soulless is a desperate thing. I should confess that I can't understand the differences anymore, sorry. Because most AIs just *stealing* from real poems and make it a way... It's not an human experience at all, it's understandable when you speak like that way but for a foreign writer I can't see the differences. In my native language, it's better. I'd like to know is there anyone you talk about here because I probably missed. And you are a teacher, it must be hard to see this. Thank god I graduated a little earlier than these to avoid seeing people giving homeworks with AI. I did try to use a few times to check what they will say about what I write, and they totally didn't understand my simple words and changed it... But for the younger generation they are destroying the most beautiful thing they can ever have, their creativity, their healer... Thank you for sharing you thoughts.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, Beren. That is the worst of it, creativity being destroyed.
My first poems were pathetic, but they were my voice trying to find itself...My voice, not some damn machine.
j.