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Most of us learn how to combine words into sentences in elementary school. That doesn't make us writers. Even the most successful writers like Stephen King went through a lot of hard times before finally achieving success. Writing well is an art form that, it's probably safe to say, few possess. If you are looking for ways to write ad copy for a mattress sale (Are they ever NOT on sale?) ChatGPT will do a good job for you. But it sucks at writing anything you care about. I asked it to write a story using exactly 6 words. This is what it came up with:

"Lost keys. Found love. Magical journey." Meh.

Then there is this, attributed to Ernest Hemingway:

"For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn." Damn! This ultra-simple story tears your heart out.

In the latest "America This Week" with Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn, Walter labels AI as a "tone deaf parakeet" that is good at regurgitating what it's heard, but not much more. I think that sums it up.

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'Stochastic parrot' is another fun label ;).

I agree, it's decent for stuff that requires little creativity and basically follows a template. (But even there I wonder how much is just 'filler'.)

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You are quite the empathy generator, Gunnar. Hard to fathom AI being able to do it as well as you do.

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Thanks, Ben. I try to tap into that core of humanity :).

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