Chapter 1: The Intersection of AI and Poetry

Artificial Intelligence has ventured into the realm of poetry, producing verses that provoke thought and reflection. By offering just a single word, users can witness the generative capabilities of AI in creating intricate poetic expressions.

Here is a poetic creation generated by AI based on a variety of themes:

Rain:

The rain dances among the winds and the trees. Flowers

Bounce like basketballs across the plains of the south...

Love:

The love that exists without partners,

A sea of solitude and the shadows of thought...

Nature:

My essence and the affection for the world are birthed,

An astronomical tapestry of sunlight and serene waters.

Meander:

Your winding path shall remain untouched by the maiden,

The profound strength of the deep and the mysterious dark.

Mindfulness:

Our awareness and harmony have faded,

This truth that is far from content.

Flower:

This blossom caught in the breezes of the woods,

A script illuminated by moonlight.

Meditation:

The tranquility of the valley and the stars,

A greeting from the silence of death and the melody.

Leaf:

Our leaf may bask in the sun’s embrace,

As our panda moves gracefully with wild wings.

Mountain:

That mountain stream, nestled under the sun,

An enigma of salvation unfolds.

Moon:

The moon will set, draped in soft veils,

Echoing the laughter of the sea's children.

POEMPORTRAITS is an innovative online collective that explores the synergy between AI and human creativity, merging poetry, design, and machine learning. A POEMPORTRAIT serves as a self-portrait infused with an original poem crafted by AI.

To create your own POEMPORTRAIT, visit g.co/poemportraits. You will be prompted to share a word of your choice alongside a self-portrait. Each word will blossom into unique poetic lines generated by an algorithm trained on millions of words from 19th-century poetry. The result? A distinctive POEMPORTRAIT of your likeness, illuminated by the lines of poetry created just for you. All the generated lines contribute to a continually evolving, collective poem.

The technology behind POEMPORTRAITS emerged through a collaboration between Es Devlin, Google Arts & Culture Lab, and Ross Goodwin. Ross developed an algorithm that learned to compose poetry by analyzing over 25 million words from 19th-century poets. This algorithm operates similarly to predictive text: it doesn’t merely copy existing phrases but constructs a complex statistical model based on its training. Consequently, it produces original phrases that echo the style of the material it has assimilated.

Es Devlin notes that the resulting poems can be unexpectedly profound, while at times veering into the absurd. The human experience of seeking personal meaning within machine-generated words embodies the essence of this project. Inspired by Shoshana Zuboff's concept of "information civilization," Es states, “If the digital future is to be our home then it is we who must make it so.”

The concept initially struck me as a fascinating experiment, revealing how far AI has progressed in generating poetry from mere words. As a tech enthusiast, this capability genuinely astonished me. However, I believe poetry should originate from our own hearts and minds, serving as a springboard for creative inspiration rather than a complete replacement for human expression.

I invite you to share your thoughts on this experiment in the comments, and let me know if you decide to try creating a POEMPORTRAIT yourself. Feel free to tag me in your poetic endeavors!

Moving forward, I will return to my traditional poetry and fiction writing, though this experiment has certainly broadened my perspective.

Chapter 2: The Art of AI Poetry Creation

In this engaging video titled "The Hellish Landscape of Published AI Poetry," we delve into the intriguing world of AI-generated poetry. The discussion explores the impact of artificial intelligence on creative writing and what it means for the future of literature.

Another insightful video, "I used GPT-3 to Write Poetry • Is AI the Future of Creative Writing?" examines the capabilities of AI in the realm of creative writing and poses thought-provoking questions about the role of technology in artistic expression.