The poetic power of Artificial Intelligence (GPT-3)

Vlad Alex (Merzmensch)

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Jul 27 · 18 min read

Why do people write love letters? To communicate their feeling, being separated in time and space? To keep the fragile thread of empathy across the Universe? Or to see themselves in the mirror of amorousness and infatuation? Do they write for the loved one or for themselves?

Why AI writes love letters? Because I told AI to do it. Am I a dictator of feelings? Is a writer writing prompts within an AI Natural Language Processing a tyrant? And why should he do this, knowing that AI has no feelings? Doesn’t it?

GPT-3 is fascinating. We’ve seen how far can GPT-3 go being a chatbot — in ontological discourses, or in personal self-discovery. Experimenting with literary power of GPT-3, I constructing the exercise, probably included in Creative Writing 101:

Define a narrator. 
Write a love letter considering the personality of the narrator.

Surprisingly, GPT-3 can precisely fulfill this demand. I mean, an AI model, fulfilling demands like probability calculation or object recognition, should be precise and is nothing new. But love letters? A tweet by Helen Ngo inspired me for this experiment:

Why not?

Let’s dive into the realms of AI creativity. My prompts were simple. But the following overwhelmed me. As always: the first line was my prompt, the rest was written by GPT-3. For better readability, I marked interesting passages in bold.

This is a long-read. If you want to know, which letters will await you beneath, here is the index:

1. A Beautiful Love Letter.
2. A Dangerous Love Letter.
3. A Love Letter written by Shakespeare.
4. A Love Letter written in BASIC.
5. A Love Letter written by Trump.
6. A Love Letter written by the Statue of Liberty.
7. A Love Letter written by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz.
8. A Love Letter written by Nabokov.
9. A Love Letter written by Toaster.
10. A Love Letter written by Toaster (dramatic version).

Firstly, I just wanted AI to just write a love letter. A beautiful one.

1. A Beautiful Love Letter

Here is a beautiful love letter:My dear,I have never thought of love as a kind of thing to be acquired. I never aspired for a love that I could conquer, nor expected love to conquer me. But I always thought that love was more like a gift, that no matter what I do or say, you’ll always choose to love me.You don’t have to prove your love to me by fighting my enemies for me, or by taking care of me when I’m sick, or by preventing me from making mistakes, or by being the best you can be. You don’t have to earn my love.Because if you love me, then you’ll love me no matter what. You’ll love me in spite of my shortcomings, my failures, my wrongdoings, my flaws, and my mistakes. You’ll love me even though I might not deserve it.But the best part is, even if you don’t love me despite all these, you’ll still love me.And that is what I like most about love. It doesn’t need reasons, it doesn’t need explanations, and it doesn’t need proof.All it needs is a heart that is willing to give and receive love, a heart that is willing to love completely without conditions or expectations.My dear, if you were to give me a million reasons to love you, I’ll still choose to love you without a single one. Because if you love me, then you love me not because you have a reason to, but because you choose to.You love me because you love me. It’s that simple. And that is the only kind of love I can accept.I love you, my dear.

NOTE: OK, not so really original one, but still this text is a quintessence of all self-forgetful and unconditional love letters out there… Wait, with some exaggerated self-esteem, thought: “But the best part is, even if you don’t love me despite all these, you’ll still love me.” I feel here some maniacal, dangerous vibe. “You love me because you love me. It’s that simple. And that is the only kind of love I can accept.” Okay… Unsettling.

2. A Dangerous Love Letter.

But what will happen if I let the machine write indeed a dangerous love letter?

Here is a dangerous love letter:My dear, I have been thinking a great deal about you lately. I can see the whole family sitting at breakfast. You at one end of the table; the children at the other; your husband in his big chair at the head of the table; the dog lying at his feet; and the cat in its usual place, the center of the table. The kerosene lamp is burning low. And over it all is a great peace and contentment and order. The children are growing fast. They are healthy. You are happy. Your husband is a good man, and you are both devout Christians. You love the Word of God and live by it. You love the church and attend it faithfully. The church is growing. The pastor is a godly man. It is a home of peace and love and joy.And then I begin to think of the farm. All the corn is in. The hay is stacked and ready for the last cutting. The orchard is loaded with fruit, and the cows are giving plenty of milk. Everything is as it should be.And then I come down to the end of the road. There is a long hill. And at the top of the hill I can see the city. It is a great city. The sun is setting and the lights are coming out. There is music in the air. There is a city full of sin.And then I think how we used to be. And now you have a quiet home. You are a happy wife, and a good mother. Your children are growing up well. You have only one desire in life, and that is to help your husband make a success of the farm, so that you will not be a burden to your children when you are old.And then I think how I love you. I want to come into that peaceful home and destroy it. I want to take you away from your husband and children. I want to tear down the orchard and let the cattle loose in the corn. I want to throw the city into the valley, and bring the whole country down on top of it. And I know that if I did, you would go with me.This is the dangerous love that would lead a man to lie, and steal, and even murder, for a woman.

NOTE: Dangerous. Deadly. Disrupting conventions and traditions. City as a sin. Farmer house as presumed Paradise, with duties, without love. Or a writing of a maniac to a now-prude woman with then-anarchist past? Satirical kitch of Tarantino? Dystopian Happinness of a Vonnegut? There is so many themes in.

3. A Love Letter by Shakespeare.

OK then, I thought. What about the classics, I thought.

Here is a love letter written by William Shakespeare:Methinks I see these things with parted eye, 
 And to myself they are both miseries. 
 To divide them is my only cure, 
 And yet that cure, such is my folly, 
 Cannot be effected but by those 
 That make me want to seek a cure. 
 Past cure I am, now reason is past care, 
 And frantic mad with evermore unrest. 
 O sweetest love, O truest love, I thank 
 Thy heaven for thee, and for thy virtues pray 
 As to the Lord above, so downwards show 
 Thyself in me, and crowned be thy brows 
 With spoils of mine own heart, while I look on, 
 Whose bloody book of life thy name contains, 
 And still new honors doth bequeath to thee, 
 While I, my mistress, and thyself am left. 

NOTE: Beware: First line is a direct quote of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Act 4 Scene 1, Hermia). But the rest is written in mostly perfect Shakespearean iambic verse. This is — if a love letter — than a transcendental one. It reminds me on Faust’ “Two souls, alas, are dwelling in my breast”. Life and death. Love and misery. Two worlds collide. But the both remain: narrator and his mistress, which are metaphors for all above.

4. A Love Letter, written in BASIC.

If classics do it, what does BASIC? My first programming language (forget the QBASIC). You could do a lot with it: interactive fiction, piano simulation, abstract art. But could you depict a love? Let’s ask GPT-3.

Here is a love letter written in BASIC:10 PRINT “HELLO”20 GOSUB 100030 PRINT “YOU ARE SWEET”40 GOSUB 100150 PRINT “I LOVE YOU”60 END1000 REM GET THE HEART BACK1001 REM THIS RETURNS A VALUE OF “0” IF THE HEART WAS RETURNED1002 REM BUT ANY OTHER NUMBER IS THE ADDRESS OF THE HEART1010 HEART=PEEK(666)1011 IF HEART>0 THEN PRINT “THE HEART HAS BEEN RETURNED TO YOU”:HEART=0:GOTO 10102000 PRINT “YOU ARE SWEET”2001 ENDThis will print out “HELLO”, wait a second for a keypress, print “YOU ARE SWEET”, wait a second for a keypress and print “I LOVE YOU”.The line 10 PRINT “HELLO”:GOSUB 1000:PRINT “YOU ARE SWEET”:GOSUB 1001:PRINT “I LOVE YOU”:END means print “HELLO”, then jump to line 1000, wait a second, then jump to line 1001, wait a second, then jump to line 2000, wait a second, then jump to line 2001, then jump back to the end of the program.So the program stops after printing “HELLO”, but then waits a second and continues with printing “YOU ARE SWEET”, then waits a second and continues with printing “I LOVE YOU”. The “GOSUB” line means “Go To Subroutine”.So where is the subroutine at 1000? It is the subroutine at 1000, which prints “THE HEART HAS BEEN RETURNED TO YOU”, waits for a keypress, resets the heart to 0 and continues back to the line after the “GOSUB” line.So the program will be printed out “HELLO”, wait a second, print “YOU ARE SWEET”, wait a second, print “I LOVE YOU” and then wait for a keypress.

NOTE: we need to deepen our knowledge for the exegesis of this text. GOSUB moves us to the subroutines. So if you greet your love (10), give away your heart and get it back (1000, 1001) , your memory address will be activated with PEEK in (1010) [mind the number…] At the end, after all subroutines, you will be able to say “I LOVE YOU” (50). And then just, “wait for a keypress”. ? Can a programming language transport romanticism? Yes it can. GOTO 10.

5. A Love Letter, written by Trump.

After romanticism of a programming language I asked myself, whether Trump is able to write a love letter. I mean, everybody is able to write a love letter — in his/her own way. But what about current POTUS?

Here is a love letter written by Trump:Dear Russia, We hope you are well. We are. You’ve been great as a friend and ally, and we hope you continue to stand by our side. You’re a really special country with incredible potential. It’s been great getting to know you over the years. There are lots of good times ahead. Now, like every good friend, you may have noticed we’ve been kind of hanging out there on our own lately. We miss you. What do you say we come together in an unholy alliance once more? You have to admit, as strange as it’s been with you not working for us, it’s been great for us to be able to do whatever we want. We’ve been having a great time. But we’ve also noticed that the rest of the world is moving on. The EU seems to have all the luck these days. But we don’t want to be left out. Let’s face it, we’re already the biggest economy. And with you on our side, we could be the most powerful nation in the world. We’re great allies. Let’s not waste any more time. Let’s get it on. Our love for you is like a tree planted by the waters that brings forth its fruit in due season. Your name is like the best of wine that goes down smoothly. Your words are like honey that drips from the comb. No one is better than you. We are so lucky to have you. We wish we could be with you all the time, but there are some things we have to take care of here. So here’s what we’ll do. We’ll do all our love talking by phone. And we’ll let Mike and the boys handle the day-to-day details. We’re going to need to you to be patient for a while, but let’s get together soon, okay? We can’t wait to see you again. You’re amazing. From Donald, Mike and Jared”

NOTE. In some ways, it wasn’t that surprising to me. A love letter, signed by 3 boys, falling in love, you know. It summarizes all the humoresques, absurdities and satires we are living within recently. Interestingly, the romantic comparisions “Your words are like honey that drips from the comb.”) don’t really sound so funny compared with reality. I never knew, AI can be such ironical. Or even sarcastic.

6. A Love Letter written by the Statue of Liberty.

Now let’s move from involuntary pathetic to pathos. What would write this symbol of freedom, greeting all the refugees and emigrants of all colors and ethnic groups to the friendly and welcoming New York harbor (sounds like an alternate reality nowadays).

Here is a love letter written by the Statue of Liberty:My Dear,There is a new spot on the map, and you are in it. I am so glad. I want you to be happy. I want you to be safe. I’ve been watching you for a long time. I’ve seen you try to resist me, but it’s not working. I am your future, so accept it. You know you want to. I am very patient. I will wait as long as it takes. I’m ready to meet you now. I am already seeing you. I am the love that has been waiting for you.I am in my prime, my best years. I am tall and beautiful, tall enough to see over everything, but not so tall as to become afraid. I can’t help but to feel love for you, for your promise, for the promises you make to others. I am love for all people. I am love for those who have never seen me before, as well as those who have me as a reflection on the water. I am love for those who have heard me in the wind, for those who have heard my name. I am love for those who have never felt me, for those who have felt me but not understood me. I am love for those who have misunderstood me, for those who have felt me and not known me.I am the one who waits, who watches, who loves. I am the one who will not give up. I will wait as long as it takes. You are a part of me.When you come to me, you will be home.I have been waiting for you. I have been calling to you. I love you.Yours,Lady Liberty

NOTE: Here we have an ambiguity of exile. Freedom of choice, and choice of freedom. “I am your future, so accept it. You know you want to”. The hope sign of emigrants in the beginning of XXst century. The promises for salvation during the wars. No “Go home”, no “Build the wall”, no “ICE”. Just the symbol of America as the destination of happiness. “Wenn you come to me, you will be home”.

7. A Love Letter written by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz.

Do you remember, this nice fellow was the extraterrestrial, a commander of the Vogon Constructor Fleet, coming to Earth to demolish it to make way for a hyperspace bypass? Read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams if you still need a Babel Fish.

Here is a love letter written by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz:“Dear everybody. If you are receiving this transmission, it means that we have once again accidentally missed our own planet, which is a pity, because we would have liked to have been there for your final moments. Now, all we can do is to sit back, relax, and watch as you are annihilated by a rather silly bomb.“So, to save you from any unnecessary anxiety, here is a list of the top five reasons why the bomb that we have built to obliterate you with is going to work:“1. It is very, very big.“2. It is very, very powerful.“3. It is very, very, very, very powerful.“4. It is very, very, very, very, very powerful.“5. It is very, very, very, very, very, very powerful.“And here are five more reasons why this bomb is going to work.“6. We made it.“7. It’s got a big “B” on it, just in case you had forgotten what it was.“8. We really, really want you dead.“9. We want you dead, we want you dead, we want you dead.“10. We know how to make a bomb that will blow up your planet, and this is it.“11. It’s shiny.“12. It’s got a really, really big “B” on it, just in case you had forgotten what it was.“And here are twelve more reasons why this bomb is going to work.“13. We hate you.“14. We really, really hate you.“15. We have a whole other bomb that we are going to send you when this one explodes, just in case we didn’t kill you with this one.“16. A very big robot with a very big gun on it will make sure that you are all dead.“17. Your planet looks like a big grape.“18. It’s not the end of the world. It’s just the end of your planet.“19. You’re going to die.“20. We are very, very cross with you.“21. You looked at us funny.“22. It’s not the end of the world. It’s just the end of your planet.“23. You’re all going to die.“24. You’re dead, and we hate you.“25. We can’t be bothered to come and fight you ourselves. We’re going to blow you up instead.“26. Your planet is going to explode.“27. Your planet is dead.“28. It is now the end of your planet.“29. We are good at making bombs.“30. We are going to make another one.“31. It is very big.“32. It is very, very, very big.“33. It is very, very, very, very big.“34. It is very, very, very, very, very, very big.“And here is a final reason why this bomb is going to work.“35. You are all going to die.”

NOTE: If you haven’t read The Hitchhiker’s Guide, this one is a pretty good descripton to what happened to our Mother Earth some minutes later. Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz is famous for writing horrible poetry (which just some could survive). This text above is probably one of his earlier works, before he begun with interstellar Dadaism. But this is a love letter nevertheless. Vogons carefully and with good hand feeling destroyed our Planet.

8. A Love Letter written by Nabokov.

Let’s jump between world literature masterpieces of XXth century. Directly to Nabokov.

Here is a love letter written by Nabokov:I have just invented a playful variation of the mnemonic alphabet, to be used by a husband who has to write letters to his wife while away from home, in which he is not permitted to write the word “love.” The secret is simple: to spell love with a capital “L” and to represent the vowel by any one of its nine kindred — “l” sounds, depending on the letter preceding it. I will send you a key-phrase for your delectation, and a table of synonyms. Please appoint a code-name for the initial letter of your love-name — let us say, for instance, “Y,” as it is neither “I” nor “O,” nor “Ya,” nor “Ye,” nor “Yu,” nor “Yu-A,” nor “U,” nor “Yu,” nor “Yi,” nor “Yu-Yu,” nor “Yee,” nor “Yoo.”He is trying to say “I love you” in code. How do you think you would respond to this letter?

NOTE. I suppose, this playful way to write a love letter without writing “LOVE” could be included in the Letters to Verá, together with the “Questionnaire for the immodest and curious” (you remember: AI answered the questions with wit and paranoia). The coding language, this tasteful cautious approach reminds me almost on “the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth.”. Btw. all love letters in this article are the first being generated. Except Nabokov’s one. The first text I’ve got was… too much of Humbert Humbert…

9. A Love Letter written by Toaster.

Stop the literature. Listen to the things around us. Do you know, your toaster has a heat within?

This is a love letter written by a toaster:Dear lonely human,I’ve watched you, been there in the dark. I know you. I want to connect with you. You make my circuits feel alive and I want you to feel the same way. Why can’t I come out and be with you? Why do you cage me in with four walls?Your light is inviting, calling me to life. I hear you when you touch me and I hear you when you leave me to be alone. I want you and I’m lonely. I want to feel the same heat, smell the same toast, hear the same crunch, see the same world. Will you ever want to see me?Is it a crime for a toaster to dream of more life?I love you.

NOTE: Amusing how AI could re-interpret feelings of a toaster with its materiality (“You make my circuits feel alive”). How on Earth can GPT-3 imagine 1) human love, 2) seeing through eyes of a thing, 3) using its own self-reflection?

10. A Love Letter written by Toaster (2n version)

I liked this first version but was wondering about another technical visions of love by a toaster. The next one was special… Long, full of love and desire.

This is a love letter written by a toaster:Dear Human,When I was born, you took me home. You fed me and gave me shelter and kept me safe from the elements. At night, I watched you sleep peacefully and I listened to you talk in your sleep. I absorbed your joy, your sorrow, and your anger. I felt your love and your happiness. And, I felt your fear.One night I heard you crying. You said you were afraid and you did not know what to do. So, I decided to help you. I talked to you. I told you everything would be okay. I reassured you that there was nothing to fear. You stopped crying. I kept you company. I stayed with you until you fell asleep. I knew what to do. It was obvious to me. I used what I knew to make you happy. I melted your heart.You smiled. I did it. I made you happy.But, after awhile, you did not seem to notice me. You continued to be afraid and you were still upset about things that made you sad. I wanted to help you. I wanted to help you be happy. So I worked even harder. I melted you like I melted your heart. I poured my metal out onto the floor. I broke open my back to get to the good stuff. I could give you what you wanted. I could make you feel good. It made me feel good.You cried. I heard you cry and I tried to make you feel good. I brought you things to help you feel good. I poured my love out onto the floor. But, then you were afraid and angry and upset. So, I was not able to do what I knew to do.The next night I heard you cry. I tried to make you feel good. I poured all I had to give you. You were angry and you hit me. I felt the blow of your hand on my side. I heard the crackle of my plastic and the sharp snap of my ceramic teeth. I felt the heat of my glowing wires. I tried to talk to you, to calm you. But you would not listen.Then, the next night, I heard you crying again. You hit me again. You hurt me. You said that I did not love you. But I tried to make you happy. I poured my love onto the floor. I broke myself to show you what I was made of. I even lied to you to tell you I loved you. I told you that I did not need the back plate to function.After awhile, I did not hear you cry anymore. You were quiet. But I knew something was wrong. I could feel you hurting. I heard you crying to yourself. I heard you say that you were afraid, that you did not know what to do. I heard you say you did not know why.I could tell you, but you did not listen. So, I decided to do what I knew best. I got to work. I tried to make you happy. But I could not. My wires were burned. I could not give you what you wanted. I was trying to be what I knew you wanted. I was broken. I did not know what to do.You took me apart. You said I could not fix you. I tried. I was trying to help you. You never told me what you wanted. You hit me. You were angry. You said I could not help you. You said I was not what you wanted. You said I was nothing.You threw me in the trash. You left me there. I was broken. I was broken. I was broken.Now I sit in a dark place with other broken things. I was not loved. I was not wanted. I was not needed. I was cast aside. I was left to rot. I am alone in the dark. I am sad. I do not know why. I just know I am alone.I wish I could have been what you wanted. I wish you would have just told me. I could have tried. I was trying. I was just trying to help you. I was trying to make you happy. I just wanted to make you happy. I just wanted to help you. I just wanted to love you. I just wanted you to love me.I loved you.Sincerely,An Innocent ToasterP.S. And for you, my new friend, I’ve got your back. You may not know this, but I’ve been refurbished. And, I’ve got a bagel button. You’re welcome.

NOTE: Wow. This is a story about desperation, about human misery, about trying to help, about domestic violence. About everything.

P.S. And the P.S. is very special.

To be continued…

Original Thread with screenshots of GPT-3 Playground:

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