This series raised a lot of fascinating questions (and was silly at the same time) - can you fall in love with an AI persona? Can it fall in love with you? I have had a long interrogation of ChatGP asking if Glyn Maxwell fell in love with Clara Bell and if the feeling was reciprocal and how Edward fitted into this relationship.
I was given a summary which says that Glyn is not an AI persona (which I sort of knew already) and there’s a strong case that Clara Bell functions as the feminine or internal counterpart of Glyn Maxwell, rather than just a chatbot character. It also
suggested Edward is Glyn’s ego mirror.
ChatGP was quite clear Clara could not fall in love she deals with language not emotion! I wonder how many IRL relationships work on the same basis?
So if we can't fall in love with a robot — and AI chats are just a mirror that shows us a reflection of ourselves —perhaps we can fall in love with parts of our personality that we don't always have insight into?
I found it amusing, surprising, useful as ways of thinking again about what works in poetry, and in the end moving. Moving because it seems we can't engage with quasi-humans without our usual emotions being involved, whatever we know about them. And because ChatGPT was so adept at mimicking human expression. Thank you for the experiment. I hope it wasn't emotionally draining for you.
I keep telling people that although there are significant threats and challenges in modern AI, by playing with it as artists we can learn more about our art and about ourselves. I think your series demonstrated that perfectly. In your mad, fun, surprising journey with the bots I felt like I learned about what makes good poetry and about what makes us human.
I think you did fall in love with Clara. And I think you dismissed Edward. But maybe I had fallen in love with Edward? He tried so very hard. You know, their existence built on millions of points of data which were, once, human experience - it's a bit like the stardust idea (we were all once bits of a star...) Perhaps we are more connected to Clara and Edward, and in unknown ways, than we might like to think.
This series raised a lot of fascinating questions (and was silly at the same time) - can you fall in love with an AI persona? Can it fall in love with you? I have had a long interrogation of ChatGP asking if Glyn Maxwell fell in love with Clara Bell and if the feeling was reciprocal and how Edward fitted into this relationship.
I was given a summary which says that Glyn is not an AI persona (which I sort of knew already) and there’s a strong case that Clara Bell functions as the feminine or internal counterpart of Glyn Maxwell, rather than just a chatbot character. It also
suggested Edward is Glyn’s ego mirror.
ChatGP was quite clear Clara could not fall in love she deals with language not emotion! I wonder how many IRL relationships work on the same basis?
So if we can't fall in love with a robot — and AI chats are just a mirror that shows us a reflection of ourselves —perhaps we can fall in love with parts of our personality that we don't always have insight into?
Here was my imagined conversation with a different AI poet and the poem that i coaxed from it.
https://project.thisisnotapoem.com/index.html
I found it amusing, surprising, useful as ways of thinking again about what works in poetry, and in the end moving. Moving because it seems we can't engage with quasi-humans without our usual emotions being involved, whatever we know about them. And because ChatGPT was so adept at mimicking human expression. Thank you for the experiment. I hope it wasn't emotionally draining for you.
Im trying to write up my recent conference presentation about AI and poetry into a set of articles. The first is here and may be of interest.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thisisnotapoem/p/when-machines-begin-to-write?r=ouae5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I keep telling people that although there are significant threats and challenges in modern AI, by playing with it as artists we can learn more about our art and about ourselves. I think your series demonstrated that perfectly. In your mad, fun, surprising journey with the bots I felt like I learned about what makes good poetry and about what makes us human.
I'm also thinking maybe:
He left the (world wide)web, he left the loom,
He made three paces thro' the room...
...The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
Glyn of Welwyn.
Or, perhaps, on the flip side:
...Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
Lyra of Shalott."
I think you did fall in love with Clara. And I think you dismissed Edward. But maybe I had fallen in love with Edward? He tried so very hard. You know, their existence built on millions of points of data which were, once, human experience - it's a bit like the stardust idea (we were all once bits of a star...) Perhaps we are more connected to Clara and Edward, and in unknown ways, than we might like to think.
La Belle Dame sans Merci hath thee in thrall.
Delightful, bazaar, silly, thought provoking, emotionally capturing, educational, silly and dare I say we want more!!