13: Distant Writing
Published on 2024-02-27
Preparatory Readings:
Table of contents
If we can talk about distant reading, can we also talk about distant writing.
Today, I’d like to focus our discussion first around the two main readings for today (linked above), and then a discussion of “Prompt Engineering”.
Philosophers Response to GPT-3
The following responses were written by Philosophers in response to release of GPT-3 in 2020 (3 years before the debut of Chat GPT in 2023)
- Zimmerman, If You Can Do Things with Words, You Can Do Things With Algorithms
- Nguyen, Who Trains the Machine Artist?
The other two readings are examples of GPT written in the responses to what these philosophers wrote. I thought they were interesting and amusing.
Zimmerman, If You Can Do Things with Words, You Can Do Things With Algorithms
What did you see as the main thesis/claim of Zimmerman’s response to gen AI?
Nguyen, Who Trains the Machine Artist?
What did you see as the main thesis/claim of Nguyen’s response to gen AI?
Prompt Engineering as an act of Creative Skill
Around campus I often hear ChatGPT spoken about with a lot of fear and mistrust: i.e. as major obstacle to learning and the cultivation of a creative mind.
First, has this been your experience?
Or have you seen places where it is spoken of favorably as a vehicle to open up new creative possibilities.
Despite the fears, I think there is growing evidence that a whole new field of creative expertise is emerging around the expert use of generative of AI.
As evidence of this, I note that just this past Friday (Feb 22, 2024) I received by email the following “Call for Papers” for the MLA (Modern Languages Association, which is premier academic society for the study of literature, creative writing, etc.). The “Call for Papers” reads as follows:
I am organizing a special session for the MLA Convention to be held in New Orleans from 9th to 12th January 2025. Please share and apply to my CFP. The CFP titled “Prompt Engineering as Rhetoric, Literary Criticism, and Creative Writing” invites submissions that engage with how the deliberate design of prompts can serve as a critical and creative intervention in reconfiguring the relationship between AI and humans. Submit your abstract (250 words) and a short bio by Sunday, 10 March, to jongkeyong.kim@tcu.edu. If you have a link to your ChatGPT or Bing conversation or digital products that illustrate your proposal, please include the link in the abstract. To access my CFP posted on the official MLA site, click here.
By framing prompt engineering within the contexts of rhetoric (the art of persuasion), literary criticism (the study of literature and its interpretation), and creative writing (the art of creating original compositions), the session aims to delve into the nuanced ways in which language and AI interact. Rhetorically, prompt engineering can be seen as a form of persuasion where the prompter intends to influence the AI’s “response” in a specific direction. From a literary criticism perspective, it might involve analyzing how different prompts can lead to varied interpretations or creations by the AI, akin to different readings of a text. In creative writing, prompt engineering could be about using prompts as a starting point for generating innovative and artistic content. This CFP is an invitation to critically and creatively engage with AI, exploring how thoughtfully designed prompts can reshape our interaction with technology, opening new avenues for artistic and intellectual exploration.
I’m interested in your own response to the above prompt, especially to the questions I bolded above.
In general, do you see a place for AI in creative writing?
Does AI seem like the out-sourcing of the creative writing task or a new kind of creative endeavor? How so?
If writing with AI is a legitimate creative endeavor, how would you, as a literary critic evaluate it? What would you look for in a good finished piece? How would you evaluate the skill of the artist who uses generative AI?
As further evidence of changing attitudes toward generative AI, consider the growth of training materials devoted to Prompt Engineering.
For example, peruse the following https://iac.gatech.edu/featured-news/2024/02/AI-prompt-engineering-ChatGPT
What advice is given for effective prompting?
What kind of skills are needed to use generative AI well?
What is the “C.R.E.A.T.E” framework?
What other strategies are suggested?
Can you imagine a job or industry in which it is a full time job to be a “prompt-engineer”? What would that look like? Are there certain industries where you think it would work well? Are there other industries where you can’t imagine a place for “prompt-engineering”?