Google is training its newest artificial intelligence (AI) system to write works of fiction by having it read romance novels.
But wait, it’s a computer. Shouldn’t it already know how to write?
Apparently not. According to Mashable, researchers with Google Brain, the tech “company’s AI-focused deep learning project,” have been working on how to teach their AIs to write different kinds of fiction. The results, they say, have been “unexpectedly haunting.”
The researchers’ findings were initially published in a paper earlier this month. First reported by Quartz, “Generating Sentences from a Continuous Space” detailed how the researchers planned to use various works of fiction and romance in thousands of combinations to “train” the AI to write. Google gave the AI system a starting sentence and an ending sentence, and then instructed the system to use what it had “learned” to create transition sentences.
The results were, the scientists admitted, “often rather dramatic.” Some were considered nonsensical. However, everyone involved in the project agreed it was working,
Google released a few of the AIs generated “excerpts,” which you can read below. The underlines sentences represent the beginning and ending sentences given to the AI by the company.
this was the only way.
it was the only way.
it was her turn to blink.
it was hard to tell.
it was time to move on.
he had to do it again.
they all looked at each other.
they all turned to look back.
they both turned to face him.
they both turned and walked away.
there is no one else in the world.
there is no one else in sight.
they were the only ones who mattered.
they were the only ones left.
he had to be with me.
she had to be with him.
i had to do this.
i wanted to kill him.
i started to cry.
i turned to him.
it made me want to cry.
no one had seen him since.
it made me feel uneasy.
no one had seen him.
the thought made me smile.
the pain was unbearable.
the crowd was silent.
the man called out.
the old man said.
the man asked.
Some of these could be turned into thrillers, if you ask me. Definitely some creepy vibes.
Mark my words, this will bring us one step closer to a complete mechanical takeover.
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