Something really wabi-sabi happened to me the other day. As I typed a text message—it got too long and I got too bored. I gave up and began hitting the auto-suggest button when…EUREKA! Where are these seemingly random suggestions coming from? Let me collaborate with this magical robot brain and compose a poem. Here’s how I did it. By the way, it’s super-easy, anyone can do it.
First, I opened a chat app and tapped on the middle autosuggest word over and over for two minutes. I believe the middle suggestion is the strongest signal from the auto-suggest algorithm. But really, it doesn’t matter. I just stuck to the same button over and over to isolate multiple variables. After doing this for a few minutes, it generated 348 words without grammar or punctuation (aside from capitalizing the initial character):
RAW TEXT: You are a sweet girl but a great day for me to do it and she will always love him so I know that I know what I did and what time I am I know what I did to him and he did it all I did to him I love it and he did what he wants and what he wants me and what he did he wants me and he did what he wants and what I want for me he wants and I know that he is a good person I will always love it he is my father he said and I did it and I am a good person to know that he did not have a great time he did and I know what he wants and he did what he did to him and I am not sure he wants and he did what he did to him he did what he did and what I want for the way I am he did to him and I am not happy he did and what I am not going for he did what he did he was a great person he did not have a good time he did not know he did he was not going for the job and did he did what he did to me and I am a great brother to me he is my father he is a father of a great day he is my father he is a father of father of the year he is my father he is a great day father he said and I did it all night he said he wants and wants me he said he did he said he was not sure he was the person that I am a person of and I know that I am not going for a good father and I will not be able he is a great day he is my father he said he wants and wants me he wants to him he wants to be happy
Then I spiced it up with a few line breaks, indents, commas, and periods here or there…and voilà! This is the “a.i. (without the i).” Without a human hand, we’re regurgitating math—as they say, “Garbage In/Garbage Out.”
You Are a Sweet Girl
You are a sweet girl,
but a great day for me
to do it.
And she will always love him so,
I know, that I know what I did
and what time I am.
I know what I did to him
and he did it all.
I did to him, I love it
and he did what he wants
and what he wants—me
and what he did, he wants me
and he did what he wants
and what I want for me, he wants
and I know that he is a good person.
I will always love it!
“He is my father,” he said
and I did it
and I am a good person to know
that he did not have a great time
he did and I know what he wants
and he did what he did to him
and I am not sure he wants
and he did what he did to him he did what he did
and what I want for the way I am.
He did to him,
and I am not happy he did
and what I am not going for
he did what he did
he was a great person
he did not have a good time
he did not know
he did he was not going for the job
and did he did what he did to me
and I am a great brother;
To me he is my father
He is a father of a great day
he is my father
he is a father of father of the year
he is my father
he is a great day father he said,
“And I did it all night.” he said.
He wants
and wants me
“He said he did,” he said, he was not sure,
he was the person that I am
A person of, and I know that I am not going,
for a good father,
And I will not be able.
he is a great day
he is my father
he said he wants and wants me
he wants to him
he wants to be happy.
There’s all kinds of fun experiments when it comes to machine learning and <fill-in-the-blank>. Just today I was reading an article in The New Yorker about a mathematician who built models for investment firms on Wall Street. She quickly became disillusioned with her line of work and ended up writing Weapons of Math Destruction.
I came across another instance where a data scientist fed a ton of pop songs into a database, ran an algorithm, then had it compose a song in the style of The Beatles, or something to that effect. Yet another focussed on handwriting, another on photography—the list goes on an on.
Experimentation and play is such a big part of the genre-bending, cross-discipline mashups. But hurry up and have your fun because I’m pretty sure these things won’t age too well.
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