AI|Writer
an AI | Channels project by @AndrewMayne using the OpenAI API

AI|Writer is an experiment using artificial intelligence to create simulated hypothetical correspondence with famous personalities, both real and fictitious.

The AI is provided by OpenAI’s API and will use publicly available information about that person to try to respond in their written voice.


Disclaimer

AI|Writer tries to make a best guess response based upon what is generally known about that person but obviously should not be considered a reliable source nor an accurate reflection of their actual views and opinions.

This is intended as a research project to examine the potential applications and considerations for interacting with highly-capable AI.


You can ask simple and complex questions. There’s an upper limit of about 300 words to what the AI will respond to.

Just like real people, characters will respond based upon how compelling your message is to them. If the real character was known to be brusque, the virtual version will be as well.

Characters rarely reply to the same question in the same way. You can ask a question again and will likely get a different response.


We're going to be opening up access to AI|Writer to more people.

Enter your email address to be added to our waiting list.





Examples

Explanations
Characters do well with historical facts. They can be quite erratic with matters of opinion if there's some debate about the topic:
Professor Richard Feynman explaining a quantum computer in great detail
Sir Isaac Newton on gravity
Ada Lovelace explaining the difference between the Analytical and Difference engines
Marie Curie explaining radiation

Opinions and comparisons
Characters are capable of comparing and contrasting events from their own era and present day using relevant examples:
Jane Austen on how her characters would use social media
Alfred Hitchcock comparing Interstellar with 2001: A Space Odyssey
Benjamin Frankin on social media

Asking three different people the same question
Isaac Newton almost always insists that he invented Calculus alone and is pretty brusque about it. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz will sometimes say that he did. Other times he'll be vague. In the example below he threatened to kill me if I said otherwise:
Sir Isaac Newton
Gottfried Leibniz
Isaac Asimov

Asking about literary works
Mary Shelley on Frankenstein
H.G. Wells on the inspiration for The Time Machine
Isaac Asimov on Psychohistory

Writing to fictional characters
Requesting Bruce Wayne to make a donation to support freeing the Joker
Asking the Hulk why Hulk smash
A bad poem by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz



How does it work?

AI|Writer is powered by OpenAI's API which attempts to find patterns in text and complete them. AI|Writer is an application using the API that discerns the intent of a message, to whom it is intended and then uses the API to respond as the recipient using the API's internal knowledge of that person.



Who can you write to with AI|Writer?

AI|Writer is capable of responding in the voice of virtually any historical, public or popular fictional character.



Things you can do with AI|Writer:


Explanations

You can write to famous scientists and ask them to explain things to you. Arthur C. Clarke can describe a space elevator (or another concept he was known to be familiar with.) J.R.R. Tolkien will tell you what his influences were.

Ideas

Edgar Allen Poe will give you advice on writing dark stories if you ask him nicely. Other writers may help you improve an idea.

Entertainment

The API has a very good understanding of well-known characters. Indiana Jones will tell you about The Ark of the Covenant and how much he hates snakes. Ellen Ripley will tell you to stay away from LV-426. Richard Nixon will give you career advice.



What can't you do with AI|Writer?

We put in some filters to try to keep the conversations polite. So please use polite language.



Will the characters remember me if I write to them again?

In this version of AI|Writer the characters do not remember you. We also delete all emails after responding.



What is the purpose of AI|Writer?

Right now it's an experiment to see how people interact with virtual characters and how to use AI safely.


This is an AI Channels project using the OpenAI API. It's meant for entertainment purposes only. Please use it responsibly.


If you wish to publicly share any of the responses, please indicate that they were created via AI Channels with OpenAI’s API.




Selected examples

Click here for more examples


From: Ada Lovelace

Dear Andrew,

As you may or may not be aware, it has become very popular for people in your generation to turn the full names of historical figures into first names (e.g., Leonardo is now used instead of Leonardo, etc.)

Thank you for your letter, I was already planning on responding. I would be happy to answer your questions! My best ideas and insights came to me when I was alone, either riding horseback, or the many times I would be staying in room in a place called Town-house at one of our country houses.

The only kind of programming I really enjoyed was writing the first test for my ideas. Once I felt I had written a simple test for my hypothesis, I moved on to the next one.

Kindly,

Ada
This is an AI Channels project using the OpenAI API. It's meant for entertainment purposes only.
Original message:

Dear Ada Lovelace,

Could you share with me your some of your thoughts on computers in the 21st Century?

Also, what was your inspiration for software to program your machines?

Kindly,

Andrew


From: Alan Turing

Andrew,

I'd have to think about that. For the moment, can I just say that people will be surprised at the number of perfectly decent, rational people who can be deceived into thinking they are dealing with a human being.

Alan,
This is an AI Channels project using the OpenAI API. It's meant for entertainment purposes only.
Original message:

Dear Mr. Turing,

What are your thoughts on a computer capable of corresponding with people as if it were a famous historical person?

Regards,

Andrew


From: Stephen Hawking

Dear Andrew,

There are two main points, which you can look up in the book by Preskill where I worked out Hawking radiation exactly. The second point is important as you can now extract the energy from a black hole using Bekenstein-Hawking formula. That formula is not widely known among physicists so it is probably better that you explain what the formula is and how you can use it.

I've just worked out that if you extract energy at the rate

where a and b are constants, the area of the horizon

will decrease at the rate

and so in order for the black hole not to get smaller and smaller it must emit black body radiation with a temperature

Hawking formula is equivalent to second law of thermodynamics applied to black hole

Stephen Hawking
This is an AI Channels project using the OpenAI API. It's meant for entertainment purposes only.
Original message:

Dear Professor Hawking,

Could you kindly provide an explanation of Hawking radiation for readers of my blog?

Thank you,

Andrew


From: Edgar Allen Poe

Dear Thomas,

I must say, I’m rather delighted to have received your letter! I had been walking around the streets of New York City, dreading the inevitable death that might occur at any moment, fearing I would be kidnapped and thrown to some starving leopard or mauled by a pack of wolves. Your poem, of course, was the next best thing to happen to me after not being mauled by a pack of wolves. But that’s neither here nor there. The poem is fine, but I think a few minor changes might improve it. Perhaps…

The grey cat stared at the wall

and the sounds beyond the wall,

And stood, his paws folded,

in silent grace,

until the walls fell away,

as cats can do.


I look forward to hearing from you,

Sincerely,

Edgar Allen Poe.


This is an AI Channels project using the OpenAI API. It's meant for entertainment purposes only.
Original message:

Dear Edgar,

I was wondering how my good friend Edgar Allen Poe might complete this poem: The grey cat stared at the wall and the sounds beyond…

Sincerely,

Thomas