Writers Guild Strike 2023

Tuco · May 4, 2023

What is creativity, really?

My drawing skills are shit. They will always be shit. They were shit when I drew a T-Rex in Mrs. Jacobson's art class in second grade and they were shit when I drew a picture of a car on a whiteboard earlier today.

Last weekend my 8 year old son and I started illustrating a book he wrote about some orphan kid who gets dragged to sea by a sea dragon. We were able to illustrate the characters and the scenes using Midjourney with my shit drawing skills. It's motivating me to bring out my wife's Wacom tablet just so I can amend or suggest certain prompts graphically.

Is this creativity? If some TV producer has staff that are shit at writing but can kinda note good writing when they see it, and they gorge on shit chat GPT prompt results to make a good script, is that creativity?

Tuco · May 4, 2023

I was thinking about the writers strike when I saw this video lately of this human lego man comic

Most humor can be quantified into discrete elements combining dichotomous relationships (where two things are related one way or totally unrelated in another), exaggerations, comparisons, unique takes, etc. It's a reflection of human intelligence and sociability that we evolved so we fuck smarter people. This is most obvious with standup comedy that is very precise. Standup comedy is, among other things, distilling that humor into a clean bit with voice intonation, facial expressions and body language. This video of a shortened set could be categorized, labeled and trained to provide a model for humor generation.

It would be interesting to see a version of ChatGPT that has new information and was specifically trained or designed to pick out humor across different spectrums and I don't think it'll be that far off where a version of ChatGPT is given recent events and comes up with extremely deep-cut jokes.

Mahes · May 4, 2023

It really is about the input for ChatGPT. As an example, I asked it too tell me a blonde joke. Its response was

I'm sorry, I cannot generate a response to your request as it goes against my programming to engage in derogatory or offensive content, including jokes that target a particular group of people based on their physical appearance, race, gender, or any other characteristic. As an AI language model, my aim is to provide helpful and informative responses to your questions while promoting respect and empathy towards all individuals. Can I assist you with anything else?

So I changed up the input and asked it to tell me a joke about Yellow hair. that got me this response.

Sure, here's a light-hearted one:
Why did the blonde get excited when she finished her puzzle in only 6 months?
Because on the box it said "2-4 years".

The same thing could be applied for scripts. It comes down to direction. I imagine the more direct but detailed of a description given, the higher quality of the script. Maybe script writers become directors.

Juvarisx · May 4, 2023

Tuco said:
What is creativity, really?

My drawing skills are shit. They will always be shit. They were shit when I drew a T-Rex in Mrs. Jacobson's art class in second grade and they were shit when I drew a picture of a car on a whiteboard earlier today.

Last weekend my 8 year old son and I started illustrating a book he wrote about some orphan kid who gets dragged to sea by a sea dragon. We were able to illustrate the characters and the scenes using Midjourney with my shit drawing skills. It's motivating me to bring out my wife's Wacom tablet just so I can amend or suggest certain prompts graphically.

Is this creativity? If some TV producer has staff that are shit at writing but can kinda note good writing when they see it, and they gorge on shit chat GPT prompt results to make a good script, is that creativity?

View attachment 471922

Where did the idea of a dragon sea monster come from? Who created the images for the AI to train it to know what a dragon is, what a monster is, why does a dragon have 4 eyes and horns?

Gravel · May 4, 2023

Tuco said:
What is creativity, really?

My drawing skills are shit. They will always be shit. They were shit when I drew a T-Rex in Mrs. Jacobson's art class in second grade and they were shit when I drew a picture of a car on a whiteboard earlier today.

Last weekend my 8 year old son and I started illustrating a book he wrote about some orphan kid who gets dragged to sea by a sea dragon. We were able to illustrate the characters and the scenes using Midjourney with my shit drawing skills. It's motivating me to bring out my wife's Wacom tablet just so I can amend or suggest certain prompts graphically.

Is this creativity? If some TV producer has staff that are shit at writing but can kinda note good writing when they see it, and they gorge on shit chat GPT prompt results to make a good script, is that creativity?

View attachment 471922

You don't get it. If we get rid of all these writers, we won't get a new all-female reboot of 80's classics or propaganda about George Floyd on every network television show.

What are we going to do without that? We'll be missing out on so much "art."

Tuco · May 4, 2023

Juvarisx said:
Where did the idea of a dragon sea monster come from? Who created the images for the AI to train it to know what a dragon is, what a monster is, why does a dragon have 4 eyes and horns?

Where did you get the idea of a dragon sea monster from? You're just a lizard brain with language regurgitating thoughts other people had with a thin veneer of consciousness fooling yourself into thinking you have a soul that provides creativity. Just like me!

Arden · May 4, 2023

AI isn't going to be able replace quality creative artists- including writers. It will replace the ones who produce stale, rote, iterative content, which is ok with me. For talented artists, AI will be (and already is) a valuable tool to help generate ideas and push past writer's block.

Assembly lines and factories can mass produce furniture and clothing, but the good stuff is still human designed and handmade.

Juvarisx · May 4, 2023

Tuco said:
Where did you get the idea of a dragon sea monster from? You're just a lizard brain with language regurgitating thoughts other people had with a thin veneer of consciousness fooling yourself into thinking you have a soul that provides creativity. Just like me!

Neat, my point more was where does an AI that has no idea what a dragon is come up with one if its not trained on art that actual people created. Moreso, unless you think we are the peak of human creativity, its short sighted to think that AI can do it all alone.

Gravel · May 4, 2023

Juvarisx said:
Neat, my point more was where does an AI that has no idea what a dragon is come up with one if its not trained on art that actual people created. Moreso, unless you think we are the peak of human creativity, its short sighted to think that AI can do it all alone.

The hubris of man.

Tuco · May 4, 2023

Juvarisx said:
Neat, my point more was where does an AI that has no idea what a dragon is come up with one if its not trained on art that actual people created. Moreso, unless you think we are the peak of human creativity, its short sighted to think that AI can do it all alone.

I'm glad you're asking such a fun question. I know this prompt response won't satisfy you because you know that human-generated information was provided to chatgpt and midjourney during its training, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

chatgpt:

I am writing a Dungeons & Dragons campaign and need to create a monster that is the boss of my dungeon. The monster must be a totally new and unique monster. Please generate a boss monster and explain in vivid detail:

What the monster looks like

How big it is

If it has arms, tentacles, legs, horns, eyes, how many of each it has and what they look like.

If it wears clothes or has weapons, what they look like

What its skin looks like

Certainly! Here is a description of a unique boss monster for your Dungeons & Dragons campaign:
The beast is called the Ocular Leviathan. It is a massive creature, nearly 30 feet tall and over 60 feet long. Its body is covered in shimmering, iridescent scales that reflect the light in all directions, making it difficult to look directly at the beast. The scales are a mix of blue, green, and purple, and appear almost translucent in places, revealing the underlying veins and organs.
The Ocular Leviathan has four powerful, muscular legs that end in sharp claws, each easily capable of crushing stone. Its head is long and narrow, with a prominent snout filled with razor-sharp teeth. The creature's most striking feature, however, is its eyes - there are dozens of them all over its body. Some are small and beady, while others are large and glowing, emitting a soft blue light. Each eye appears to be its own entity, darting around independently and tracking different targets.
Despite its size, the Ocular Leviathan is incredibly fast and agile. It can move with lightning speed, darting around the battlefield and using its sharp claws to slash at its enemies. If cornered, it will rear up on its hind legs and swipe at its foes with its massive forearms.
The creature does not wear any clothes or armor, as its scales provide ample protection. However, it does have one weapon - a long, whip-like tail that is covered in sharp spines. The tail can be used to lash out at enemies from a distance, or to wrap around them and squeeze the life out of them.
The skin of the Ocular Leviathan is smooth and slick, almost like wet rubber. Its scales provide a hard, protective layer, but there are areas where the skin is exposed, such as around the eyes and inside the creature's mouth. These areas are sensitive and vulnerable, and targeting them can be a key strategy for defeating the beast.
Overall, the Ocular Leviathan is a formidable and terrifying creature, with a mix of speed, strength, and deadly attacks. Its multiple eyes and shimmering scales make it an impressive sight to behold, but facing it in battle is a daunting prospect for even the bravest of adventurers.

Midjourney:
/imagine a 60 foot creature with 4 legs that end in claws. The creature has a long, whip-like tail. the creature has a mouth with pointed teeth. The creature is covered in shimmering, iridescent scales that reflect the light in all directions, making it difficult to look directly at the beast. There are dozens of eyes of different sizes that are glowing, emitting a soft blue light. Draw in an epic, fantasy setting in a dungeon.

Arden · May 4, 2023

A dragon with lots of eyes all over its body. Neat.

Rabbit_Games · May 4, 2023

Juvarisx said:
Neat, my point more was where does an AI that has no idea what a dragon is come up with one if its not trained on art that actual people created. Moreso, unless you think we are the peak of human creativity, its short sighted to think that AI can do it all alone.

That's a bullshit argument. "No idea what a dragon is"? Really? You weren't born with that information, either. Someone told you-- either directly, or through the written word-- that there are these things called dragons. Then you learned that the Japanese view of a "dragon" is different than "dragon" from other cultures. And now, you probably have your own interpretation of what a "Real" dragon is. None of us are born "knowing" what anything is, we have to learn. Therefore, it's extremely plausible that a program can be written to evaluate live data directed to it through speakers and cameras, compare those live images with existing photographs, to begin determining what is real and what is "fantasy". From there, it can begin tracking the evolution of various lifeforms... etc, etc, etc.

Furthermore, without emotion getting in the way, it could very well begin "discovering" lifeforms, and where they might live, far better than we can. Just my 2 cents.

Goatface · May 4, 2023

Juvarisx said:
Neat, my point more was where does an AI that has no idea what a dragon is come up with one if its not trained on art that actual people created. Moreso, unless you think we are the peak of human creativity, its short sighted to think that AI can do it all alone.

if the AI was starting at zero with no knowledge of fantasy, art or stories, would think it would design something based on things named dragon (or thereabout)

getting it to breath fire/ice/acid would probably take a while, but iirc, it took humans nearly 1000 years to have them breath fire.

=

i am not looking forward to ai writing original works, but would love to see the day when could feed it a novel and it would spit out an animated movie/series.

LiquidDeath · May 4, 2023

Tuco said:
What makes him a dogshit human being?

Abdicating his responsibility to finish one of the greatest fantasy stories of all time to pursue pointless bullshit and, eventually, to allow the fucking Lost assholes to finish the story for him in the most anticlimactic, unsatisfying way possible. That alone makes him a dog shit human, but his full-throated support of various woke causes also helps down the path.

There are plenty of less talented writers that finished their shit, and they credit for that. He gets to be remembered as a quitter who spent the twilight of his career getting fatter and writing other, increasingly bad works to cash in on his newly minted name instead of buckling down and pushing through to complete his magnum opus. Fuck him and his story that had immense potential but ultimately will be remembered for its failures.

Chukzombi · May 4, 2023

when i was a teen, i used to write short stories about nightmares i had as a kid. i would let my friends read them and they liked them fine. i still come up with ideas, i even once had a story published. i never pursued it further though. writing can be fun, but you got to be in a mood to want to write the story. you cant just sit down and make an idea happen. you can make a fix for your idea, but the idea itself has to come to you from some experience you had. how can an AI have experiences and be inspired?

Deathwing · May 4, 2023

Chukzombi said:
when i was a teen, i used to write short stories about nightmares i had as a kid. i would let my friends read them and they liked them fine. i still come up with ideas, i even once had a story published. i never pursued it further though. writing can be fun, but you got to be in a mood to want to write the story. you cant just sit down and make an idea happen. you can make a fix for your idea, but the idea itself has to come to you from some experience you had. how can an AI have experiences and be inspired?

Musings of a Fedora Wearing Man.

Arden · May 4, 2023

AI generated pizza commercial. Virtually indistinguishable from something humans might make:

Chukzombi · May 4, 2023

Deathwing said:
Musings of a Fedora Wearing Man.

you would like my stories. i posted some outlines i am working on here.

Terrible & appealing invention ideas

A web tool where you can upload documents (like FOIA documents) with redactions and something like ChatGPT proposes multiple options for what could fit in the space of the redactions, in the context of the unredacted words. hmm, that should actually be pretty straightforward to do I think.

www.firesofheaven.org

nu_11 · May 4, 2023

Mahes said:
It really is about the input for ChatGPT. As an example, I asked it too tell me a blonde joke. Its response was

I'm sorry, I cannot generate a response to your request as it goes against my programming to engage in derogatory or offensive content, including jokes that target a particular group of people based on their physical appearance, race, gender, or any other characteristic. As an AI language model, my aim is to provide helpful and informative responses to your questions while promoting respect and empathy towards all individuals. Can I assist you with anything else?

So I changed up the input and asked it to tell me a joke about Yellow hair. that got me this response.

Sure, here's a light-hearted one:
Why did the blonde get excited when she finished her puzzle in only 6 months?
Because on the box it said "2-4 years".

The same thing could be applied for scripts. It comes down to direction. I imagine the more direct but detailed of a description given, the higher quality of the script. Maybe script writers become directors.

If only the astronauts in 2001 knew how to properly prompt the AI

Mist · May 4, 2023

Anyone that thinks ChatGPT is going to be able to write anything interesting hasn't spent very long with ChatGPT.

I'm writing a novel that includes a lot of conversations with fairly rudimentary artificial intelligences (and a few more advanced ones) and I can't even get it to roleplay as an AI well enough to produce good dialogue of being an AI. Some interesting ideas? Sure. Actual good writing? No.

Writers Guild Strike 2023

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