How Much “Human” Does Poetry Need”?
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Tag Archives: ai
AI and Society
An interesting and thought provoking post on the impact of artificial intelligence (both positive and negative) on society, including on the creative industries https://rlpastore.com/2024/07/01/ai-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/.
As a blind student in my twenties, I used a machine called a Kurzweil. It was roughly the size of a photocopier and the user would open the lid, place printed material on the scanner, press a button and have the material (book, letter or whatever) read aloud to them.
The above mentioned technology cost thousands of pounds, while today software can be downloaded onto any modern computer/laptop and (with the help of a Twain compatible scanner) printed material can be read aloud at a fraction of the cost of that in my youth.
On my iPhone I have an app called Be My Eyes. As a visually impaired person I can point my phone’s camera at a food packet, tin Etc and have the label read to me which means no longer having to ask sighted people for assistance (well in most instances). In those instances where the app fails, there is the option for the user to connect with a human volunteer who, with the aid of the phone’s camera can assist the visually impaired enquirer.
Turning to the potential negative impacts of AI, from the evidence I’ve seen thus far I am not convinced that the massive job losses predicted by some are coming any time soon (if at all). Ai can, for example, enable lawyers to retrieve information much faster. However, it can not (and I can never see it) replacing a highly trained lawyer in a court of law. Likewise, AI can hoover up vast amounts of data enabling it to create writing, including stories and poetry. However, it does not, in my experience possess the creativity of humans.
In 2023, I published a collection entitled “More Poetic Meanderings”. The greater part of the book is comprised of poems composed by me. However, a shorter section contains poetry written with the assistance of AI, including a couple of my original poems (published at an earlier date) updated with the aid of artificial intelligence.
You can find “More Poetic Meanderings” on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats More Poetic Meanderings eBook : Morris, K : Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store.
As ever I’d be interested in the views of my readers.
There Once Was a Lonely Young Guy
There once was a lonely young guy
Who said, “I’ll create a female AI!”.
She was extremely pretty
And so very witty,
And she married a girl called Sky!
Guy Who Works in AI
I met a young man named Guy
Who works in the field of AI.
His programme writes verse
Which grows steadily worse.
But some say its written by Guy!
My Friend’s Robot Girlfriend
I am very surprised that my friend
Has gone and bought a robot girlfriend.
She is extremely pretty
And really quite witty,
So she is quite unlike my friend!
The Future of the Audio Book
An interesting article on the future of audio books, https://goodereader.com/blog/audiobooks/audiobooks-ai-and-humans-where-do-they-stand.
Will AI (artificial intelligence) replace human narrators as the technology grows ever more human-like? AI is much cheaper than employing a human narrator.
The author of the article speculates that books narrated by humans may become a more expensive niche market while the majority of audio titles are narrated by artificial intelligence.
As a registered blind reader, I listen to a large number of audio books, most of which are produced by audible.co.uk (a sister company of Amazon). All of these titles are narrated by humans. In addition, I listen to books on Amazon’s Kindle using the text to speech facility which relays the contents of a book audibly to the reader.
Whilst the news or other factual material usually works well when voiced by AI or screen reading software, poetry does not, nor does fiction.
Several of my books (“The Writer’s Pen” and “My Old Clock I Wind”) are available as downloads from audible.co.uk. Both titles are voiced by human narrators and I can not imagine AI being able to put the emotion into reading which good human narrators do.
Having written the above, if one becomes engrossed in a book read by an electronic voice (for example by text to speech on a Kindle) one can sometimes become so engrossed in the plot/storyline that it is possible to forget one is listening to an artificial voice.
In conclusion, I can’t see human narrators disappearing any time soon at least where poetry and other works requiring expressiveness are concerned.
Writing Robots
“As the demand for internet content increases steadily, AI content bots become more crucial. That’s because of the sheer demand for information and constant
updates. To stay on top of the search engine results page and remain SEO-focused, bloggers and webmasters need to produce new content consistently — and
not all of it needs to be empathetic, prose-like or high quality”.
It’s the words “and not all of it needs to be empathetic, prose-like or high quality”, (particularly those 2 words “high quality” which give me most cause for concern. This is well worth reading, (https://www.mostlyblogging.com/articoolo-writing-robots/).
The People VS Tech: How The Internet Is Destroying Democracy
Recently the Centre for Policy Studies, a centre-right think tank based in London, hosted a discussion on the subject “Is The Internet Destroying Democracy”? Jamie Bartlett, the author of “The People VS Tech: How The Internet Is Killing Democracy” debated the impact of technological advancement with Robert Colvile of CapX, an offshoot of the CPS. The discussion is an interesting one and can be found here, https://capx.co/free-exchange-is-the-internet-destroying-democracy/
My Dark Mistress
Below is a Youtube clip of me reading my poem “Dark Angel””:
K Morris - Poet 