AI to create poetry for UK pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
15 June, 2021
Poetry is often viewed as probably the most personal and incisive types of written innovative expression. Later this season, however, thousands of men and women visiting the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai will read poems made entirely by artificial intelligence.
The creative developers behind the project say this is a method of using technology that promotes “storydoing” instead of “storytelling”, and builds on word contributions from visitors.
“We were more interested in the people and the visitors actually making a difference; changing, participating and adding to using the experience,” said Steve Austen-Brown from Avantgarde, which is developing the concept conceived by artist and designer Es Devlin.
The imaginative director said the starting place of the project was inspired by Stephen Hawking’s “Breakthrough Message”, which invited people to think about what their message to other civilisations about humanity and the world would be.
Speaking on a panel at CogX to discuss the potential role of AI technologies on the creative process, Austen-Brown said he saw it as a new “collaborator”.
“That’s the AI that excites me but of course with every excitement comes an ethical question.”
The growth of AI in the imaginative space has prompted some in the sector to improve concerns over the potential loss of authenticity, personality and inimitability in art. But creative-tech advocates see new digital tools as another generation colour brushes, palettes and keyboards.
Judith Palmer from The Poetry Society, somebody on the project, confessed that a number of the poets she asked to create examples for the algorithm to understand from had said no, fearing the takeover of creative imagination by robots.
“It won’t replace poetry compiled by humans but it pays to and engaging and might even help teach poetry,” said Ms Palmer, at the CogX panel in London.
Calling it a “new writing student”, Ms Palmer likened AI’s creation of seemingly random poetry to Dadaist poetry, an anti-bourgeois literary methodology from early 20th century Europe that built verse from random words spoken by several people, or extracted from newspaper cut-outs.
Ms Palmer doesn’t see the technology replacing human poetry, viewing AI instead as a “new student” to instruct.
“The success is that it can make sense but it is still learning,” she said.
She said future projects could include an “engaging conversation” between human and AI-generated poetry.
After being delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Expo 2020 Dubai will now happen from October this season to March 2022.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com