Alaska poet and writer Don Rearden has been experimenting with artificial intelligence. He assigned the machine a writing task. The result, a poem in the style of Rearden was both awe-inspiring and shocked him. Anchorage Public Media’s Liz Ruskin talked to him about the project.
Listen here:
This is a light edited version of what took place during the time Liz Ruskin and Don Rearden met in a studio for radio. Find out what made the experience more exciting than she anticipated.
Liz Ruskin: So, Don you participated recently in an experiment that was quite different. You gave a selection poetry to an AI program which analyzed your voice and style, and then created a brand new poem that reflects your voice. How did this happen?
Don Rearden: It was a pleasant surprise in fact. I was approached by an employee of Microsoft Bing who said they were conducting a research project to create poetry with AI. The researchers asked me whether would be interested in submitting certain poems I wrote for input into their program. I was intrigued and curious I accepted.
Liz Ruskin: And what do you think about the outcome? Did the AI record your voice?
Don Rearden: Well, it was definitely an interesting experience. The poem that AI wrote AI created was not something I would have composed by myself, however it had elements that resembled my writing style as well as ideas. It was quite strange to hear something that sounded similar to me, but wasn’t.
Liz Ruskin Could you please share this poem?
Don Rearden It’s there here.
The Final Salmon
I’m able to recall my last salmon
I was caught by my grandfather
The Kuskokwim river
Prior to his death, he was HTML0.
I learned from him how to get rid of it
With a sharp knife and a steady hand
How do you smoke it on alder wood
It can be stored in the winter months
I heard stories from his childhood
The fishing was plentiful, and fatty
The river was clear and clean
The people were healthy and happy.
He notified me of the changes
The was coming fast and extremely hard
Dams, mines, the pipelines
The drug addiction, the diseases and the violence
He said that we would have fighting for the land we grew up on.
Our language, culture and our way of living
He told us that we needed be respectful of the salmon
These were the names of our siblings and brothers
He said that we needed to be able to recall who we are.
Where did we come from, and what we are
He told us that we needed to stay together.
We were more powerful as one
I am able to recall the last words he spoke to me.
He handed me his knife, he smiled and said “Hi!”
“Take very good care of the salmon son”
“It may be the last time you see it”
Liz Ruskin says Wow! That’s an impressive piece of writing. It’s like something you’d write.
Don Rearden: Yes it has some of the same characteristics as my work. I write a lot on Alaska and its culture, history, and the environment.
Liz Ruskin Would you like to know if AI is able to be innovative?
Don Rearden: It’s a difficult problem to tackle. I believe that AI may be able to replicate human creativity to an degree however, I’m not sure it will substitute it. There is something distinctive and irreplaceable in human creativity that is rooted in our experiences, emotions and beliefs. AI is able to take lessons from humans, however it won’t be us.
Liz Ruskin: Thank You for sharing the thoughts of poetry with us Don. It was an honor to talk with you.
Don Rearden: Thanks for inviting you, Liz. It was great talking with you as well.
Liz Ruskin Now Don I think it’s time for us both to speak truthfully with listeners.
Don Rearden Well, I think it’s. Just before the interview began, I contacted Microsoft Bing to write our interview for us. This way, we could you know, finish and have a cup of coffee or something else.
Don Rearden This is the truth: The whole interview — including everything in italics – was written by Bing. Rearden demanded Bing to create an interview with journalists Liz Ruskin and Alaska writer Don Rearden. These topics Artificial Liz was asked similar to what I was planning to ask, so we looked over the script Bing wrote for us.
We then engaged in a real discussion. Now we’re just talking about our own thoughts.
At least, I believed this was the way we were going.
Liz Ruskin Is there a part in you that feel that Bing is an author who is better than you?
Don Rearden This is likely to earn more than what I’ve made writing. (Laughs) But I do not believe it’s true. I’m thinking there’s the human element. It’s also slightly scary about the intro material Bing composed – that is how I feel about it. I feel that it isn’t able to substitute for us. It’s not as heart-felt that we have.
…
Liz Ruskin The following makes me ache: The real Don Rearden claims that AI will not replace us, but he’s using artificial Don since he believes AI could have said it better.
We’re not sure if we’re ready the replacements have arrived.
