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ChatGPT
vs Professor: Struggling with Fiction and Poetry
The
Vague Prompt
The complicated
prompt wasn't particularly effective. Most instructions it ignored
outright, such as the length and interactions with neighbours,
so I decided to think of the vaguest prompt I could. I settled
on the request for a story, which would give the machine the latitude
to dream up whatever it wanted.
Prompt:
Write a story
Once upon
a time, in a small village nestled among rolling green hills,
there lived a young girl named Lily. She was an adventurous
child who loved to explore the outdoors and play with her
friends. One day, while wandering through the woods, Lily
stumbled upon a hidden clearing that she had never seen before.
In the
center of the clearing stood a magnificent tree unlike any
she had ever seen. Its trunk was thick and gnarled, and its
branches stretched up to the sky like outstretched fingers.
Lily approached the tree with awe and wonder, drawn by its
majestic presence.
As she
drew closer, she noticed something strange about the tree.
Its bark was etched with symbols and markings that she could
not decipher. Lily felt a sudden urge to touch the tree, and
as she reached out her hand, a strange energy flowed through
her body.
Suddenly,
she found herself transported to a magical world beyond her
wildest dreams. The sky was a deep shade of purple, and the
trees were adorned with sparkling jewels that glimmered in
the sunlight. Everywhere she looked, there were wondrous creatures
and magical beings.
Lily explored
this new world with glee, marveling at all the incredible
sights and sounds. She made friends with talking animals,
flew on the back of a giant bird, and even met a wise old
wizard who taught her the secrets of magic.
For what
seemed like days, Lily wandered through this enchanted realm,
but eventually, she realized that it was time to return home.
She made her way back to the tree, and as she touched its
rough bark, she was once again transported back to the real
world.
Breathless
with excitement, Lily ran back to the village to tell her
friends and family about the incredible adventure she had
just experienced. But when she arrived, she found that no
time had passed at all. It was as though she had never left.
Lily knew
that she had discovered something truly special, and from
that day forward, she visited the magical world beyond the
tree as often as she could. She cherished the time she spent
in that wondrous place, but she also appreciated the beauty
and wonder of her own world, knowing that there was magic
to be found in every corner if she looked hard enough.
The "once
upon a time" fairy tale the AI wrote wasn't particular inspired.
It contained the trope of the inquisitive child, the magical forest,
the special tree, magical transport to a land of wonder, and the
ability to return home. This Wizard of Oz lookalike doesn't have
much of a plot, since it only involves the child leaving and returning,
and it skimps on details that a writer would normally fill out.
Normally,
a reader would want to know where Lily lives, what types of characters
are drawn on the back of the magical tree, and what the "strange
energy" feels, looks, and seems like. The new world is equally
vague, although this would be of the utmost interest for the reader.
The sky is purple-that seems arbitrarily different than Earth-and
the trees are covered, rather pointlessly, with jewels. They do
not need to add anything to the trees' survival, and are not meant
to attract beneficial insects. They are merely a feature.
The "wondrous
creatures and magical beings" seem common enough, since they are
"everywhere she looked," but the story doesn't deign to describe
them until a few lines on when it introduces "talking animals,"
which it should probably expand on, a "giant bird," which gives
rides on its back, and a "wise old wizard." This bric-a-brac serves
no more purpose than the bedazzled trees. The talking animals
say nothing in the story, the flying bird doesn't seem to transport
Lily anywhere we might need to know about, and the wise wizard
who teaches her magic does that so vaguely that we will never
know what Lily can do.
Hearing how
her family and friends respond to her story would be a great way
to end the story. An entire series could be spun off as her industrialist
father decides to set up mining equipment to take advantage of
the magical resources from the other planet, or they might all
run away from their autocratic government, taking their village
with them into the never-never land of Lily's dream. They would
never be able to escape their pursuers, unfortunately, for they'd
be waiting for them when they emerged-if they ever did-and their
ability to live in that new world is not certain. Lily never eats
while in her new land, and therefore we know nothing about what
might sustain a colony or either miners or refugees, depending
on what storyline the AI could have pursued.
Lily's friends
and family might have laughed at her as well, or sought out counseling
services to help Lily get over her delusions. That might lead
to a subplot of an entirely different type, in which Lily elicits
the help of her talking animals to overcome her parents' prejudices,
or takes a friend with her, and thus is accused of a kind of contagious
susceptibility to delusions.
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