Monday, February 20, 2023

AI v me - Competing on verse and soul



Recently, I had some time so I decided to give ChatGPT a spin.   I asked it some deep existential questions. Nah.  Actually I just asked it (is that the right way to address ChatGPT in terms of its gender identity? I guess we will only know when ChatGPT publishes its/their profile on Linkedin and adds the parentheses on pronouns/genders) some questions on recent books and short writing assignments I was considering.  First of all, I congratulate the ones who conceptualised, programmed and created ChatGPT.  It is brilliant and I can understand why Microsoft wants to fire employees and find the budget to invest in it (I am sure those employees are less understanding than I am).  I think this proves beyond doubt that AI has already begun replacing humans at least in terms of the balance sheet numbers for companies. 

The focus of my search was related marginally to this theme of AI replacing humans.  But I am not an engineer or a coder, despite my lack of trying (you saw what I did there?), only a recent born-again closet writer and a spiritualist so I will aim to test out ChatGPT only in matters of verse and soul.  Less action, more words.  Here we go:

--

Poem 1:

Eros, the god of love and desire,

With bow and arrow, hearts he'll inspire.

He brings passion and ecstasy,

In every heart, a flame will be.


Ponos, the god of toil and work,

With strength and sweat, he'll make us perk.

He brings discipline and perseverance,

To reach our goals, with tireless endurance.


Eros and Ponos, two sides of the same coin,

One brings joy, the other toil and toil.

But both play a role in our lives,

Eros for love, Ponos for strive.


Eros brings us to the heights of pleasure,

Ponos helps us to measure,

The strength of our will and our might,

To overcome obstacles, day and night.


Eros and Ponos, together they'll guide,

To a balanced life, with love by our side.

We'll work hard, and love with all our heart,

With Eros and Ponos, we'll never depart.

---

Poem 2:

Eros and Ponos had never met, not while they lived in Greece at the same time,  

But they lived in her mind, co-existed while living parallel lives, always by her side.


She lived in a state of constant search, 

Always seeking the next Tinder date, the next Linkedin job alert,

Forever driven by Eros and egged on by Ponos.


One day she decided she would take them out for drinks instead of the Google engineer she had found on Bumble,

Her intentions focused on making the twain meet and settle the Battle of her Headspace (rather than an evening of retrenchment grumble). 


Why, she asked, can you not join forces and help me find joy in career and love?

Your methods so similar, your rejection so cold and that elusive success of legends old. 


I have danced the dance of strengths and weaknesses with many a senior interviewer,

Eluded the advances of unsuitably budgeted startup roles,

Only to be left at the altar by my bad lover dream job.  

 

Many a long and impressive resume have had me swooning after dreamy bankers,

There was speed bed-working, intense love-storming but they all burnt out after the all-nighters, 

Finally I signed on the contract to be employed forever,

How would I know it would end with a cold email break-up?


Eros smiled her charming smile while Ponos stopped frowning for a while,

There is no separating us in your mind, my child.


Ponos exists to make you work but there is no Eros without work,

Careers aren’t forever but skills built on the job can be.

Love can be forever, as long as you loved yourself first,

The Tale of Eros and Ponos is the Tale of Eternity,

Of every human, of you.

 ---

Your job is to tell me which one ChatGPT wrote and which one is mine.  I wont mind if you like Chat GPT's version better but you may not like the near future of homo sapiens much in that case. Let me know y'all? I will be chatting up ChatGPT some more in the meantime.