Do you want to write mindless poetry? Easy. Get a machine to do it. You won't need to think about it at all. You simply press the key and the computer will write your poem for you. Sadly, this is becoming a popular trend on Facebook poetry groups.
Several people have asked me why we ban the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated poetry on Invisible Poets group. It's quite simple.
Firstly, it's very lazy. Anyone can click on ChatGPT for example, and ask it to generate a poem on any subject (many other free AI tools are available). This requires absolutely no talent or creativity. Let's say you want a five stanza poem on love. In seconds you have something like this:
In the dance of hearts, a melody sweet,
Love's symphony, in whispers discreet.
Through moonlit nights and sunlit days,
A timeless bond that forever sways.
Eyes that speak in a silent prose,
A language only true lovers know.
In every touch, a tender embrace,
Love's magic transcends time and space.
Through stormy seas or skies serene,
Love's fortress strong, an eternal sheen.
A tapestry woven with threads so fine,
Two souls entwined, an intertwining line.
In laughter shared and tears that fall,
Love weathers storms, standing tall.
A journey marked by moments divine,
A love story, forever to shine.
So let the echoes of love resound,
In every heartbeat, in love, be found.
A poem written in the language of the heart,
A masterpiece, where love is art.
Well, at first glance, it seems like a reasonable poem. But read it more thoughtfully and you'll see it's not very good poetry. It is literally mindless. It uses cliches in a predictable 8 syllable, 4 step AABB rhyme scheme. It's bland, soulless, and takes no creativity or effort on your part. In ChatGPT-3, the same words seem to appear repeatedly, such as serene, tapestry, entwined, embrace, eternal, etc. These are all tell-tale signs the poem was not written by a human.
Now why would you want to put your name to such drivel?
Furthermore, you wouldn't do it if you knew how AI actually works. It spiders (searches) all the poetry on the web (other poets' work), gathers expressions, lines and rhymes and stitches it all together so you can pretend you wrote it. It's plagiarism. It's dishonest. It's theft.
Now why would you want to associate yourself with that? And yet... and yet... a small minority in the group still persist, thinking they can fool everyone. They end up being banned from the group, and their name forwarded to the Admin of many other groups. Game over.
If we suspect a poem has been AI generated we remove it from the group. If the member persists and posts more, we eventually remove them from the group. We throw people out of the group every week for trying to pass of AI poetry as their own. We don't lose sleep over it. We want to protect the integrity of the group and the interests of our members. There is software that can detect whether AI has been used, and we also have computer scientists on our Admin/Moderator team who are experienced in the use of AI.
So please don't even think about generating poems using AI. Write your own poetry. Poetry you can be proud of. Express yourself in your own words. Steer away from the kind of bland, soulless AI lines you see in the verses above. We don't want mindless poetry. We want soulful, authentic, from the heart poetry!
Come back at me if you disagree with any of this. I like a good fight.
Steve Wheeler
Image from Pxhere
I found AI to be an interesting toy . . . for about a month. But pretty much lifeless in a clichéd way. ChatGPT and I both fell into bored conversations and I really came to resent how it analyzed my own writing.
ReplyDeleteAs a tongue-in-cheek irony, I let it write a review of my book on Amazon which you can read here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPVVJB7J
AI is going to be the biggest downfall for all humanity. The powers that be, who ever they are want us to be a mindless bunch of robots. I don’t like the ideal of not being able to use my own thought process. Let me be my own poet, good or bad, at least it will be from my own creation.
ReplyDeleteYou have the power and the will to be your own voice in the world of poetry. AI is a challenge to authenticity, but we have software and knowledge that can expose many of these fakes. We will do our level best to eliminate them from our community.
DeleteI must admit to having withdrawn somewhat from scribbling and posting my poetry. I became so discouraged knowing several someone's were using AI and receiving accolades and praise for their deceit. I applaud the effort Invisible Poet makes in filtering out plagerism and AI writing. Thank you for making a difference.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pyrric victory to be honest. I don't think I would at all satisfied if I received accolades for work that wasn't my own. It would feel very hollow and unauthentic. Those who try to pass off AI or plagiarised poetry as their own on Invisible Poets... will be very quickly thrown out, and possibly banned from many other poetry groups (groip Admin talk to each other!)
DeleteYour sample sure looks like a lot of “poems” I see on Facebook and many with no rhyme scheme, I don’t like it. It hurts. Death of the Soul in process, A manipulated Muse is a sad Muse!
ReplyDeleteWe will maintain our vigilance to ensure such fakery is kept to a minimum in Invisible Poets group
DeleteThank you, Steve, and to the rest of your alert group. As a professor, you, if anyone can grade good from fake. The integrity of poetry needs to be maintained. And, you do such an amazing job! We are blessed to have this wonderful group! Thank you for ALL you and your team does! Universal Peace & Love 🪷
ReplyDeleteThanks Karin. As a mod group you know we'll keep vigilant to stamp out as much fakery and plagiarism as we can.
DeleteThe best, most influential of the arts has mostly been born underground, come to life in backrooms, and been banned by society. “Les poètes sont la Résistance”
ReplyDeleteAre you suggesting that AI generated poetry might be some new kind of underground art movement? Or do I misunderstand your comment?
DeleteThank you for helping me understand a little more about what AI does. I've said it before and I'll say it again 'Invisible Poets' is the only place I feel confident to share my authentic poetry. I could definitely tell that poem wasn't authentic it felt boring and stale. Keep up the good work team.
ReplyDeleteYou're always welcome to share your poetry on Invisible Poets. AI is a frustrating challenge for the creative sector, because it threatens to replace Poets, musicians and artists. Thankfully, to date, it has failed to impress in these areas. It always appears to churn out derivative content, mainly because it's a plagiarism machine.
DeleteGreat article. AI takes the computer adage of GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) to a new level. This is painfully obvious in its "writing" of poetry. As you note, the algorithm only seems programmed to curate sophomoric rhyming schemes along the lines of "Roses are red, violets are blue, AI is mindless, and so are you." It is incapable of generating elegant verse because it incapable of thought, artistic or otherwise. And try asking AI to write a blank-verse or free-verse poem on anything. Spits out the same rhyming drivel. I on occasion will use AI to generate images that reflect themes in my poems. The algorithm will composite images scraped from the Internet that are bizarre. But sometimes they work. Maybe this is the melding of human mind and machine circuits.
ReplyDeleteIt's a grey area really. Humans seem to be natural born cyborgs, but instead of using AI as a support tool to help us to create, some have become lazy and expect AI to actually replace athef than enhance creativity. This is a fatal mistake to make. Any artist who coild be replaced by AI.... should be!
DeleteUsing AI for poetry misses the whole point of poetry, in my opinion. I've never written for accolades or recognition. It's the writing of the poem itself where the magic is found. It is in the unmasking of feelings that often hide in ordinary conversation. It is the catharsis of pouring out venomous pain through words that never seem to run dry, like tears. I write for many reasons, but the use of AI would make them all irrelevant and rob poetry of its power in my life. [WhatLightGetsThrough]
ReplyDeleteThat is as good an argument as any for rejecting AI generated poetry. Thanks for your contribution to this discourse JT.
DeleteAnyone creating a poem in seconds through AI and then posting must surely only be after the likes and hearts and that is not what poetry is about. That's missing the main reason why we write poetry, which is to express our own thoughts and emotions.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that many share a space with poetry created by a computer is appalling… being grouped in with sequenced samples of scraps and calling it art is disheartening. However, I know that being in the Invisible Poet group allows me the comfort of knowing I am surrounded by poetry from real people. I’m learning more and more to detect this piracy. Great blog Steve!
ReplyDelete