Robotique

Never The Machine Forever

There’s been a lot of talk lately about artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms eventually replacing human writers. Yours Truly has recently been experimenting with some of the leading GPT-3 apps (though none of them will be named here), and found them rather wanting overall. What follows is a sort of poetic condemnation…

From the forthcoming, Future Sutras: A Decade of Anti-Poetry

Robotique

Any schlub can put black text on a white background

Dark ink blots on blank paper

But to bring a dead page alive

One must have real fervor.

The AI algorithm ain’t got a damn bit of soul

Though it may wish that it were Trurl’s Electronic Bard

It still has a long ways to go

Slight imperfection doesn’t come easy

One might even say that it’s ____.

Don’t overthink this game of Parcheesi

Your neural net could short out!

The trick to our question

Is not letting ourselves be led astray

By either framing or phrasing.

Form and function work together

To snag the most avid go-getter.

Let’s do a for instance:

A mountebank peddles his wares

At various county fairs

Yet everywhere there’s

Some would-be rubes whom won’t bite.

Yet why should only the destitute demimonde

Swallow such sub-par tripe?

You see, the hamster wheel is turning

And you’re already buying into the Hype!

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