FEATURED | Blog

ChatGPT and ‘Where the Buffalo Roam’

Give me a home where the buffalo roam” is the refrain from a nostalgic song about the old West. It’s tie-in to ChatGPT is the sense of randomness—that thing that both buffalo and humans share and artificial intelligence lacks.

Fiction is a delicate thing because of what it is not. It is the story, usually of a person or an event, that has the surprise, chaos, beauty and struggle of its characters. Those characters are not the composite of all humans or events—which ChatGPT is really good at—but the sorrow and joy of life itself, which is utterly random. Think of your own life and how it bloomed and blossomed or wilted and nearly died from specific and unknown paths you would never have suspected.

That’s what we do, who we are as humans. That’s what AI can only replicate. Is your life a replication of all lives, a common denominator of lifetimes? I think not. Mine has certainly had its share of griefs and unexpected winnings. That’s why AI will never write an outstanding novel, because by its very definition it is not outstanding. It’s very good and blindingly quick but it will always be composite.

Margarine is not butter. That’s why there will always be those who pay just a bit more for something that comes from the cow.

Like butter, a well-drawn character or memorable story must come directly from the cow.

RECENT POSTS…

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE…

Who Does the CEO or Owner Talk to When They Need Assurance?

Good question. It's certainly not a wife or partner, because they live directly under the  umbrella of protection from rainy days, and it's a mistake to share any clouds on that horizon. Not a member of the Board either, for an almost identical reason. Surely not a VP...

Not Giving a Damn, but with a Smile

My bank has me on hold, playing music I don’t care to hear, and breaking in annoyingly often to tell me how important I am to them. I know exactly how important I am. My social security check comes to them every month by direct deposit and is gone in a flash. Truth...

Evoke

EVOKE explores the near future, where ordinary lives struggle with mind-blowing technology, defying imagination, virtual reality or even today’s artificial intelligence. An implanted chip enables you become someone else, fully immersed in their experiences, thoughts,...

We’re Not So Much Afraid of Failing, As We Are of Being Embarrassed

What makes us look out over an audience of two or three thousand people and feel sweat trickling down our side? We know the presentation cold. The cue cards are before us so we can be extemporaneous, as a good presentation should always be. But what if we stumble?...