ChatGPT Is Out of Pandora’s Box and the Question Is, Will Writers Survive?

ChatGPT is an Artificial Intelligence chatbot that uses natural language processing to create humanlike conversational dialogue. The language model can respond to questions and compose various written content, including articles, social media posts, essays, code and emails.

My friend Alex, who is a writer of some note in his own right, diddled with ChatGPT and wrote on Facebook, “I have found a willing student! Here's our first lesson. It's worth reading to the end.”

And so the story begins as an actual conversation with ChatGPT:

Alex (to ChatGPT):
Write "An Epistle to Dr Turing” in the style of Alexander Pope:

ChatGPT responds:

To Dr. Turing, master of the code,
Whose mind doth solve what none forebode,
Whose genius doth transcend the age,
And pave the way for progress' stage.

With humble pen, I write to thee,
In admiration and in plea,
To offer praise where praise is due
And shed some light on what you knew.

For thou, with wondrous skill and might,
Didst give the world a new insight,
In realms of numbers, logic, thought,
And computation, finely wrought.

Through your invention, did arise,
A machine that would the world surprise,
A mind, a brain, with gears and cogs,
Able to solve the most complex logs.

And in this machine, we find,
A power that's of a special kind,
For it can reason, it can learn,
And with it, new frontiers we earn.

Your vision was far-reaching, true,
And what you saw, you did pursue,
With steadfast will and tireless zeal,
Your legacy, it doth reveal.

So let us now, with grateful hearts,
Praise thee, for thy brilliant arts,
And let us strive to follow thee,
And advance, with technology.

For in your work, we find the key,
To unlock doors, that we could not see,
And thus, we carry on your flame,
And honor, thy illustrious name.

(Conversation follows between Alex and ChatGPT)

Alex:
It would have been better in iambic pentameter, but not a bad first effort.

ChatGPT:
As an AI language model, I am constantly learning and improving my skills, so I will be able to provide better and more sophisticated writing output over time. Don't hesitate to reach out to me anytime you need assistance with your writing.

Alex:
Well, I think I would be assisting you in this instance, but sure.

ChatGPT:
I apologize for the confusion. As an AI language model, I don't have feelings and I am not aware of who is assisting whom. Nonetheless, I am always ready and available to help with any writing tasks you may have. Feel free to reach out to me anytime you need my assistance.

Alex:
That's just it, you see. I don't really need your help with this kind of thing. But I can teach you, if you like.

ChatGPT:
As an AI language model, I am always learning and improving my skills, so any guidance or feedback you can provide would be appreciated. I strive to provide the best possible writing output for my users, so I am always open to learning and improving. Please let me know if there is anything specific you would like to teach me, and I will do my best to incorporate it into my writing output.

Alex:
Sure. I can give you basic lessons in scansion

ChatGPT:
That would be great! As an AI language model, I'm always eager to learn and improve my skills, and scansion is an essential element of poetry. Please go ahead and give me a basic lesson in scansion. I'm all ears!

Alex:
OK. In the first line of your poem, 'To Doctor Turing, master of the code'. you have a perfect iambic pentameter. There are five major stresses, and five iambic 'feet'. Well done.

ChatGPT:
Thank you for your feedback and for the scansion lesson. I'm glad to hear that the first line of the poem is a perfect iambic pentameter. I will keep practicing and working on my scansion skills to improve my writing output and produce more accurate and sophisticated poetry.

Alex:
In the second line, however, although you have striven to create a heroic couplet, with 'forebode' rhyming with 'code', the rhythm does not work properly. If you read the line out loud, you will hear there are only four stresses, on 'mind', 'solve', 'none' and '-bode'. This makes the line a tetrameter, not a pentameter.

ChatGPT:
Thank you for pointing that out. I see what you mean, and I appreciate the scansion lesson. I will work on improving the rhythm and ensuring that the poem follows an iambic pentameter consistently throughout. Your feedback and guidance are truly valuable, and I will use them to improve my writing output.

Alex:
Would you like to have another go at the first two lines of the poem?

ChatGPT:
Sure, I would love to give it another try. Here's my revised attempt at the first two lines of the poem in iambic pentameter:

To Doctor Turing, master of the code,
Whose mind unlocks what none have e'er forebode

I hope this version follows the iambic pentameter more consistently and correctly conveys the intended meaning of the original lines.

Alex:
That is really very impressive. Well done. We shall return to this lesson at a later date.

This is Jim, for the moment, and not Alex. But this whole experiment simply blows me away, particularly ChatGPT’s response and accuracy in taking Alex’s criticism to heart. To heart? See, I have already humanized ChatGPT. That’s the way of these things.

Regardless, from what I remember of Google Search when it first came out, the learning process takes place with blinding speed—computers learning not only from humans, but from other computers and, when available, from Alex.

What does that hold in store for our futures? From the invention of the wheel, each technological step forward has pretty much terrified mankind. But all of them, in their way, improved our lives while changing the ways in which we lived and thrived and related to one another.

Do I worry that conspiracy theorists will sink the already unsteady vessel that separates truth from speculation? I suppose I do, but we will learn to deal with that as we found ways to deal with all of history’s prejudices—and there have been many of them.

Meanwhile, what a wonder is at hand.