AI: Finding the truth

Who is Britni Pepper?

Will the real Britni please stand up?

I love AI. It’s quirky and it’s cranky and never quite exactly right but it’s fun to play with.

I’m not much of a “prompt whisperer”. Here’s what I gave the NightCafé image generator:

Britni Pepper, pondering over a book, a glass of wine by her side as she relaxes in a red bikini by the pool

I’m impressed that I’m well-known enough on the internet that the image is fairly close. The basics: tall, blonde, female, thirty-ish, all there. My limbs aren’t quite right and my god, what’s going on up top? Not quite what I see in the mirror, for sure.

Looks like I’m reading a textbook, not some trashy novel. I might need that whole bottle to get through it.

Hmmm. I had plenty of swimsuit time in my younger days — and often without the swimsuit if I had the right company — but that’s not me so much nowadays.

Let’s try something more reasonable:

Britni Pepper, typing on a laptop at a window seat in a first-class airport lounge.

I had nothing but memories and the occasional masked-up domestic flight during the pandemic but I’ve had three overseas trips in the past year, two of them at the pointy end of the plane with lounge time to match.

This is uncanny. So many details correct!

Apart from the fact that it’s not in a lounge but in what looks like a very spacious premium cabin, and I don’t have the glass of bubbly that I typically choose when flying.

I drank perhaps a little too much on my last longhaul into Helsinki and when we were close to landing I felt the need for a couple of pain tabs. I wandered into the galley to ask for something to wash them down and they said, “Oh there’s still a bit left in the bottle!”

Well, fair enough.

Loose hair gets tangles and my preferred ponytail becomes tight and uncomfortable after a while. What works for me is a Dutch side braid. Keeps my hair in place, gives me a little extra to sleep on, and when it’s time to leave the plane, I let it out and I have these glorious waves in my hair!

But otherwise, hey, that’s pretty much me. Comfortable clothing, a Macbook, a couple of hunky heroes nearby to sizzle up whatever fiction I’m working on.

I once flew economy to Frankfurt and somewhere over the Ukraine my fingers were fairly flying over the keyboard and the lady beside me gasped and said “Oh, my goodness!”

On that note, my stories can get a little OMG, and that’s the way I like them. My most recent piece of published fiction combines sex with AI and music and I think it worked out very well.

I might not put up any more AI images. The way things are going, these things will soon be smart enough to work out where I live, hunt down a Google Streetmaps image, and look through my window.

Well, who is Britni Pepper?

Let’s ask these pesky bots: “Please give a hundred-word description of Britni Pepper, based on her writing.”

Britni Pepper is a versatile writer known for her engaging and vivid storytelling style. Her writing often showcases a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of her subjects, whether she’s exploring travel, romance, or environmental issues. Pepper’s narrative voice is distinctive, marked by its warmth, wit, and an ability to draw readers into the worlds she creates. She skillfully blends humour and emotion, crafting stories that are both entertaining and thought-provoking. Her characters are well-developed and relatable, often facing realistic challenges that resonate with readers. Overall, Britni Pepper’s writing is characterised by its richness, creativity, and a strong sense of empathy and humanism. — ChatGPT

No, I swear that’s exactly as it came out. I’m more than happy with that. In fact, I think I want to have ChatGPT’s baby.

But there’s competition. Okay, Mr Google Bard, with the up-to-the-minute internet access:

Britni Pepper paints vibrant vignettes with words, a storyteller weaving tales of faraway lands and introspective journeys. Her lens captures the sun-kissed skin of a desert nomad, the whispered secrets of ancient ruins, and the philosophical musings of a solitary soul. Through her prose, she invites you to savour the world’s diverse flavours, from the tang of exotic spices to the bittersweet sting of nostalgia. Her narratives, infused with a touch of whimsy and a dash of audacity, challenge you to see the ordinary anew, to find magic in the mundane. Britni is a fearless explorer, both of physical landscapes and the tangled paths of the human heart. Be warned, her words might leave you with an insatiable wanderlust and a head full of dreams. — Google Bard

Bard is equally flattering. That’s a worry. Bard also picked up that I’m a photographer.

Do I live up to the flattery? Well, see for yourself: here’s a story I like. One for the senses with food and food for thought. Desert scenes and my beloved Melbourne. Drama and delight.

Read this and see how it measures up to the blurb. It will be included in the book I’m preparing.

For those who know me and my writing here’s a question? Does AI get me right?

And why not try for yourself. See how ChatGPT and Bard sum up your character and how close the image generators can get to the real you.

Pretty bloody close, if the above is any guide!

Britni

Any bold links above are affiliates. I get a small amount in return for steering business their way. Anything I recommend, I endorse, either because I’ve written it or I use the product.

Images are generated by AI, and I have included two hundred-word examples, as marked.