<![CDATA[Bionic Writer]]>https://bionicwriter.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fec94ace2-62b3-48b8-ae70-3f1673afa006_779x779.pngBionic Writerhttps://bionicwriter.comSubstackSun, 24 Nov 2024 16:42:35 GMT<![CDATA[Tomato Revelations: Better Curation with AI]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-15-curation-translation-age-aihttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-15-curation-translation-age-aiWed, 13 Nov 2024 12:47:50 GMT

1. The Green Tomato Book

"Where are the other books?"

I blinked, scanning the small, sparse room again. 

All I saw was a book on growing tomatoes. I like to eat them but there’s no way I’d ever care about growing them.

The old shopkeeper's eyebrows arched. "Other books?"

"Yeah, you know... other titles? Options?" I gestured vaguely around the room.

He chuckled. "You're looking at it."

I looked at the small stack of the same book on the table.

"You mean...?"

"One book. That's all we sell here."

I’ve seen my fair share of pop-up stores but this was something else. No store name out front. Just a single room off the street, in a small building, crammed between a luxury clothing brand and a supermarket. 

"But how do you stay in business?" I asked.

"We sell the right book to the right person at the right time. Nothing more, nothing less."

I stared at the green leather cover.

"And this is...?"

"Your next book," he said simply. "If you choose to read it."

My hand hovered over the green book. The shop seemed to hold its breath.

The inspiration for the book shop I found myself in is Morioka Shoten, “a single room with a single book” store, in Tokyo. It sells only one book. More precisely, it sells multiple copies of one title that changes weekly, with a small book-inspired art exhibition. It has spawned a network of similar book stores all around the world.

If you ever wanted a good example of curation in the Age of AI, this is it. And it’s different from how we typically think about, and do, curation.

We’re going from using data to curate markets to find one thing, to bringing relevance to any thing with data (and AI).

Let me show you what I mean. 

2. How Amazon Curates What You Buy (And Don’t Buy)

Today we think of Amazon as an algorithm that gives you accurate suggestions on what to buy next. But in 1997, Amazon had a strong human editorial voice with site editors, who were posting reviews and providing recommendations. 

Many of these editors had a literary background, wrote hundreds of reviews based on their own taste, and edited the home page where millions were influenced by their thumbs up or thumbs down. The goal was to give Amazon an indie bookshop feel, and their curation could make or break books.

But pretty quickly, Amazon moved to a mass curational model, with a technique called collaborative filtering. It shifted focus from personal editor reviews to discovering correlations between products. The goal was simple: match customers like me with others who had similar purchase histories and show me what to buy next. 

This eventually turned into item-to-item collaborative filtering. Instead of matching customers, this approach focused on finding connections between products. The human connection was either gone or buried inside algorithms, if it existed at all. If you just compared product correlations, and if you had a large enough dataset, the system could suggest the next thing to buy with uncanny accuracy.

In a handful of moves, Amazon went from human curated recommendations to hyper-tailored pattern matching.

We went from “you can learn to love this, because another human with a more refined taste is recommending it” to more of a “we know what you will love, buy this next thing”. Within Amazon the process was known as personalization, which is an odd term since there’s not much of a person involved.

However, as clever as this system is, it isn’t without flaws. Crucially, the system can’t understand why an item or a book is desirable, and as a result, it can only promote consumption. This does make sense for Amazon. The whole purpose of that business is, after all, to sell stuff forever. 

Compare this with the one single book store. The store is about you falling in love with the single object you’re presented with. Amazon is about using big data, big algorithms, and big machine learning models to find the perfect next thing for you to buy, out of millions.

The Amazon-based model of curation has quickly become the de facto standard for just about all platforms, from commerce to social. Pretending to be human oriented, what makes us human is conspicuously absent. For better or worse, everything is based on complex algorithms and machine learning. 

This is not necessarily a bad thing, but in the Age of AI, is it what we need? No, it’s not.

In the Age of AI, curation is not about finding you the perfect next thing to buy or look at. Instead, it’s about a fuller experience with whatever is in front of you. 

Instead of optimizing for purchases, you could use AI for discovery and a true encounter with the reality of an object. The experience becomes one of sense-making and meaning-making.

Amazon's great at suggesting products we might buy. But I'm more interested in how AI could act as a curator—while helping us practice the skill of curation.

3. Meanwhile, Inside the Bookstore…

Back in that book store, I picked up the book with the green leather binding and it rested easily in my hands. 

I've never cared about tomatoes beyond their flavor and texture on a cheeseburger with extra bacon, a fried egg, banana, and avocado on the side. 

This book was about growing tomatoes. I flipped the book open to about the middle and looked up, suddenly aware of my surroundings.

Every surface, every corner in the store was dedicated to tomatoes. A series of watercolor paintings hung on the walls, showcasing the vivid reds, yellows, and greens of tomato varieties. Glass cases displayed soil samples, labeled with their mineral content and pH levels.

My eyes were drawn to a series of paintings and drawings on the far wall. I wandered over, the book still in my hand.

The first was a detailed pencil sketch of a tomato plant, its structure meticulously rendered. Next to it hung a vibrant watercolor painting of a sliced tomato, its seeds and gel-like interior captured with surprising beauty. 

But it was the third piece that truly caught my attention—an oil painting of a sun-drenched tomato field. The artist had managed to capture the play of light on the leaves, the heavy droop of tomato-laden vines. I could feel the warmth of the sun and smell the soil and plants.

The shopkeeper appeared beside me. "The artist spent a whole growing season on a tomato farm to create these. She wanted to capture not just the look, but the feeling of being there."

He gestured towards a nearby table. "Take a look at these."

On the table sat a row of clear jars, each containing a tomato plant at different stages of growth. From a tiny sprout to a mature plant heavy with fruit, it was like a time-lapse sequence frozen in glass.

"I've never really thought about how tomatoes grow," I admitted.

"Most people don't. But once you start, it's fascinating. Did you know that tomato plants can communicate with each other?"

"What? How?" I found myself asking, surprised by my own curiosity.

He pointed to a diagram on the wall. "They release certain chemicals into the soil when they're under attack by pests. Nearby plants pick up on these signals and start producing their own pest-resistant compounds."

I moved closer to examine the diagram, the book still in my hands. As I did, I noticed a tray of soil with several varieties of tomato seedlings. Each was labeled with its name and characteristics.

"Feel free to touch them," the shopkeeper encouraged. "Gently, of course."

4. How To Scale Curation (And Tomatoes)

Right there and then, as I was focused on the soil and seeds, trays and branches, I found myself intrigued.

Something that I didn’t care at all about before (tomatoes and growing them), was opened up to me in a new way. I’ve picked them up, placed them in a plastic bag, and bought them at a grocery store more times than I can count. I’ve eaten them in salads, on burgers, and with a thich, generous slice of mozzarella.

But now, I encountered them on their own terms—I could touch, smell, and take them in as they were, without them playing a supporting role in food. They became more real to me.

I could see a new form of curation that would work in the Age of AI.

Instead of volume and matchmaking, through algorithms and machines—it’s one, green book on growing tomatoes.

Imagine if every object you come across could be imbued with relevance? If everything you encounter could be made more meaningful? This is what AI could help us do, if used properly.

It’s about truly encountering whatever is in front of you, the realness of anything, on its own terms.

Curation that facilitates this, is the kind of curation that will matter in the Age of AI. This is the next frontier in the ever-evolving pursuit of what being human is. And now it can be done at scale.

What I mean is this: In the same way that search is for finding, curation is for discovery.

When I first started practicing curation, I saw it as a process of filtering and arranging information. But the more I curate, the more I realize it goes beyond selection and arrangement—it’s translation.

A translator transforms ideas, capturing nuances and cultural context to make the original meaning clear in a new form. One of the most powerful forms of this curation-as-translation is vernacular transformation. 

Imagine trying to understand World War I, but all the history books seem dry and disconnected from your life. Now picture an AI system that could explain the entire conflict using Fortnite as a metaphor. Suddenly, complex alliances become squad formations, trench warfare translates to building defensive structures, and the impact of new technologies mirrors the effects of rare weapons in the game. That's curation as translation.

When you curate, you’re not just picking out the "best" pieces of information. You’re transforming that information into something new—something that speaks to your audience in a way they can truly understand and connect with.

5. The New Form of Curation in the Age of AI

First, you'd need to 'teach' the AI about yourself in a comprehensive way. It's like creating a digital twin of your mind—your interests, knowledge base, thinking patterns, and even your quirks. This isn't just about listing preferences, however—it's about modeling your intellectual DNA. 

What if we could curate not just from what exists, but from what's possible? Instead of showing the same tomato gallery to everyone, what if it constructed a gallery custom to you?

The Cabinet of Wonder

Turns out you can, if we go back in time and look at so-called 'cabinet of wonders', or 'Wunderkammer'. These originated in Renaissance Europe and were rooms filled with diverse collections of objects—natural specimens, works of art, and curiosities from around the world. 

The bizarre and extraordinary reigned supreme. Rudolf II's Kunstkammer in Prague housed the ominous Codex Gigas, also known as the Devil's Bible, alongside a whimsical mechanical golden ship.

Ole Worm's Museum Wormianum in Copenhagen proudly displayed a stuffed crocodile suspended from the ceiling, a visual shock to 17th-century Danish visitors. The Tradescant Collection in London boasted one of the few existing dodo remains of the time, as well as a cherry stone intricately carved with 20 faces. 

In Florence, Francesco I de' Medici's Studiolo concealed secret cabinets behind elaborate frescoes, each hiding exotic curiosities and precious oddities. Perhaps most unusually, Archduke Ferdinand II's collection at Ambras Castle featured a macabre gallery of portraits depicting people with deformities, alongside a revered suit of armor belonging to Skanderbeg, the Albanian national hero. 

These collections blurred the lines between natural history, art, and the occult, offering a glimpse into a world where the strange and wonderful were cherished and displayed with equal reverence. People could see, touch, and often smell pieces of a different world taking shape in front of them.

Curation becomes a transformative act. We're not just selecting and arranging—we're interpreting and revealing. And what if you could use big data to get the most out of any object you’re given? 

Imagine holding an unremarkable stone in your hand. As you turn it over, your AI-enhanced glasses spring to life, overlaying the stone with information and storytelling. The AI, drawing from databases of geological, historical, and cultural knowledge, begins to weave a narrative uniquely tailored to you. It notices the stone's subtle glint and, knowing your interest in astronomy, tells you about the cosmic origins of its minerals, born in the heart of a long-dead star. The AI then seamlessly connects this to your recent travels, explaining how similar stones were used in ancient rituals at a site you visited last summer. 

As you listen, the stone in your hand transforms. It's no longer a pebble. It's an object of value, unique on its own, a time capsule, a connection between your personal experiences and the expanse of human knowledge. 

The AI curator also suggests creative ways you might incorporate the stone into your hobby of landscape painting, showing a projection of how its textures could add depth to your next piece.

You’re creating new ways of experiencing reality, helping people see the true nature of things they might have missed. That is, you and I can experience the true reality, the real essence, of an object, person, or situation—whatever is in front of us. This is curation.

What An AI Wunderkammer Looks Like

I've created an AI system that acts as a curator and helps us practice the skill of curation.

To do this, I had to rethink my approach to AI and information processing. This system wouldn't just be about selection or arrangement of information, but about creating a digital 'cabinet of wonders'.

It begins with a question: What—of everything you’ve watched, read, and heard—has captured your attention and imagination? Beauty, perhaps. Fractals and chaos theory. Persuasion and influence. Bioluminescent algae and tigers. Florence and The Grand Canyon. Networks and nodes. Aristotle, Mandelbrot, da Vinci, Buckminster Fuller, Carl Jung—the list of people, places, ideas, and things is an endless scroll.

With this understanding, the AI helps you make sense of what’s in front of you, then translates whatever that is into a form that allows you to experience its true reality, much like carefully arranged objects in a cabinet of wonders.

But it's not about taking in a lot of information—this system would help you practice the art of curation yourself. It would teach you how to select, arrange, and present information in ways that reveal its true essence to others, just as the curators of historical cabinets of wonders did.

An AI curation system would incorporate a feedback mechanism, similar to reinforcement learning in large language models. As you curate your digital cabinet of wonders, it would help you refine your skills, guiding you to create experiences that are not just personally meaningful, but relevant and impactful for others. It would encourage constant exploration and confrontation with new ideas, helping you escape the taste traps set by conventional algorithms and continually expand your collection. 

This AI system wouldn't replace your own thinking or creativity. Instead, it would be a collaborative tool, constantly learning from your interactions and feedback.

By reimagining curation as the creation and sharing of digital cabinets of wonders, you're creating a new way to interact with knowledge. It's not just to know more or understand more deeply, but to truly experience the essence of reality and share that experience with others. 

This approach to curation has the potential to influence others, bridging gaps between fields, cultures, and individual perspectives, much like how the historical cabinets of wonders sparked curiosity and cross-pollination of ideas.

In this way, you're not just a consumer of information, but a facilitator of wonder, using AI to help you curate experiences that reveal the true nature of our world. 

Curation used to be about selection and arrangement. You curated to remember things you cared about, or to communicate an idea, and to remember.

In the old world, curation shapes your taste. But in the Age of AI, curation shapes your perception.

Curation is about finding the right object, but translation is about unlocking any object—so you can experience the full reality of whatever is in front of you.

6. Growing & Curating Tomatoes

Back in the bookstore, I put down the green book, and ran my fingers over the delicate tomato leaves. They were softer than I expected, almost velvety. The earthy smell reminded me of my grandmother's garden.

"You know," I said, picking up the book again, "I never thought I'd be interested in growing tomatoes. But this is actually pretty cool."

The shopkeeper nodded. I caught a glimpse of a smirk but it vanished quickly. 

I flipped through more pages, noticing how the book's descriptions matched the exhibits around the room. It was as if the entire store was an extension of the book, bringing it to life.

"I think I'll buy this," I said, surprising myself. "Maybe I'll try growing some tomatoes of my own."

As he rang up my purchase, in the few minutes I spent in that store, I'd experienced more than just a book sale.

I'd been given a glimpse into the fascinating reality of something I'd always taken for granted. 

Talk again soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

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]]><![CDATA[The Taste Trap]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-14-taste-trap-age-aihttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-14-taste-trap-age-aiWed, 06 Nov 2024 12:47:02 GMT

1. Stuck in a Taste Trap You Can’t Escape

"Did you know that honey never spoils?" I say, feeling a flush of pride at their impressed looks. 

During lunch, I find myself regurgitating this "fun fact" I read on Reddit to my coworkers. I don't mention that I've shared this same fact a dozen times before, to a dozen different people.

When I’m done with work, I start my real job: 

Scrolling. Tapping. Liking.

Muted earth tones, carefully arranged lattes, and inspirational quotes in trendy fonts. I've seen it all before, but I can't stop scrolling. I skim through the same heated debates I saw yesterday (specialization is for insects and robots; raw milk, yes or no; WEF wants us all to eat bugs; newsletters are dead and so is Search Engine Optimization), and the day before. YouTube autoplays in the background as I get ready for work. Another productivity guru drones on about morning routines and time-blocking. At work, I find myself opening the same websites during my breaks. Reddit for a quick laugh, LinkedIn to see who's changed jobs, back to Twitter—I mean X—to check my notifications. The same trending sound, the same dance moves, the same jokes. Up, up, up, up through an endless stream, half-watching Netflix while I scroll through my phone. Superhuman productivity hacks, complete with Bulletproof Coffee recipes. Huberman decrees, I follow. Try this hack, follow these steps. Make smarter money decisions. Founder stories. Cracked engineering teams. 10 websites that should be illegal. The latest AI agent framework. AI movies and TV shows incoming. Oh, look, European cathedrals. Before bed, Warren Buffett's face fills my screen as he dispenses investment wisdom I've heard a hundred times. My kayfabe productivity is complete for today. I plug in my phone and close my eyes, already anticipating tomorrow's scroll. 

I have 10,482 tabs saved. I’m not sure when I’ll ever look at any of them again.

I’m stuck, seeing the same content, thinking the same thoughts, leaving the same tabs open, saving the same articles for reading later, day after day, every day. 

But it's easier to ignore it, to keep swimming in the comfortable waters of my own Taste Trap. After all, the algorithm knows what I like. I’m just feeding the algorithm, I tell myself, with things I like—so I won’t waste time on stupid things.

And what I like is... this. Right? But are these, truly, things I like, find interesting, and represent my taste? 

Or are these things I find myself liking, tapping, bookmarking, and saving because they were designed to hack my attention—and install a preference?

2. Captured by Your Own Attention

What does your attention look like? It’s not just your eyes fixating on something on your screen, time spent, or using up your mental energy. 

Your attention is harvested, collected, analyzed, manipulated, crunched, and turned into a mixture of code and numbers.

Your attention is a profile, sitting on a Meta or Google server somewhere in northern Sweden, with an extensive list of your personality traits, attitudes, and preferences. You’re typecast and put into buckets of similar users, every one of us stuck in the same Taste Trap.

Your attention is your brain in a state of hyperarousal and constant reward-seeking. Each new post, image, or video triggers a small release of dopamine, creating a cycle of craving and satisfaction. 

Your attention span, reward systems, and perception of time are distorted, drained, and degraded—leaving you with a false sense of individuality.

As you interact with the feeds, the algorithm continually refines its understanding of your psychographic profile, creating a feedback loop that is not in your favor—and only meant to improve how to capture, hold, and extend your attention for as long as possible. The Taste Trap is vaste, efficient, effective, and complete.

3. What You’re Truly “Missing Out” On in a Taste Trap

Perhaps most importantly, in this Taste Trap, you and I are losing touch with the fringes of human creativity and thought. It's often at the edges, in the underground and the esoteric, where the most profound innovations occur. Books that are long out-of-print. Schizo anon accounts on X. Obscure and abandoned Substacks. 

By staying in your Taste Trap, you’re not challenged, inspired, or transformed by the periphery. You’re missing out on the cognitive challenges that spur growth. Our minds are denied the exercise of grappling with novel concepts and forging new neural pathways. The most challenging, transformative ideas are rarely simple or popular. In a Taste Trap, you have zero exposure to them.

In my trap, I'm surrounded by echoes of my own thoughts. It's a form of self-imposed cultural poverty, a narrowing of my intellect and creativity.

Escaping a Taste Trap requires overcoming powerful neurological, psychological, and social forces. It's not about willpower—it's about rewiring your brain.

How do you even attempt to do this, when huge multinational corporations with bottomless budgets and engineers with addiction PhDs are working double-time to keep you hooked?

You have two options:

First, controlling our algorithms.

4. Control Your Own Algorithms

The discussion around gaining control of our algorithms has become increasingly heated and complex. As someone who's been following this debate, I've noticed it's no longer just a fringe concern but a mainstream issue that's capturing the attention of tech leaders, politicians, and the general public.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter's co-founder, sparked a firestorm when he suggested users should have more control over the algorithms that curate their feeds. His idea of allowing people to choose their own algorithms or even create their own is the right move. 

Algorithms aren't neutral. They're shaping our worldviews, influencing our decisions, maybe even swaying elections.

I've seen calls for regulation, transparency, and user empowerment. Some argue that algorithm control should be a fundamental digital right. Others worry about the potential chaos of a completely open system.

There's a growing movement advocating for "algorithm literacy", which is teaching people how these systems work and how they can be manipulated.

But there’s a stunning failure of imagination in these approaches. We’re fast approaching some early form of AGI—and all people can come up with are more ways to control and manipulate? 

Are we so devoid of a pioneering spirit that animated the creation of the internet in the first place, that we cannot dream up ways to make algorithms work for us, other than top-down control? 

That’s why there’s the second option: 

5. How AI Can Free Us From the Deadening Grip of the Algorithms

Let me talk to you about AI Sommeliers for a minute. 

AI Sommeliers are Agents that act as our personal curators, sifting through the internet on your behalf. These AI Sommeliers would be configured to seek out both adjacencies and opposites to our tastes. And they’re platform agnostic. They go anywhere online.

Current algorithms force feed you content that’s a mixture of things you’re supposedly interested in, and things that will keep you hooked and engaged for economic reasons.

But imagine having an AI that is prompted and engineered to binge-watch YouTube videos, read countless articles, and listen to podcasts on your behalf, all to find the nuggets of information and inspiration that you care about most. Basically, it could consume all of the internet for you.

An AI Sommelier like this could digest a three-hour podcast or a 10,000-word article and extract the key points for you. Then research the history of those ideas and bring in counterpoints and alternative facts.

Your AI Sommelier Is a Tastemaker, Like You

The AI Sommelier would be a dynamic, interactive tool that learns and adapts based on your feedback and changing interests. You could configure it to find content that's adjacent to your current interests, helping you expand your tastes. You could set it to occasionally present viewpoints entirely opposite to your own.

This system could work by allowing you to set certain parameters. For instance, You could tell it to focus on finding content that blends philosophy and pop culture—like the graphic novel Watchmen (utilitarianism and moral relativism), video games like "BioShock" (objectivism), or to seek out emerging voices in fields you’re interested in. It might even be able to identify patterns in your interests that you’re not consciously aware of.

Instead of being passive consumers trapped in algorithmic bubbles, we could become active explorers of human knowledge and creativity. What if you could be the most interesting person in the room? You wouldn’t rattle off corny trivia about honey—you could talk about taking care of your own beehive.

Instead of your profile being stashed away in a digital drawer, inside Facebook or Google HQ, with intimate details about yourself being purposely kept away from you—you control the dials.

How Your Agentic AI Sommelier Could Work

Let’s pick a chat interface for an example, as most people who’ve “tried this AI thing” have interacted with ChatGPT. 

Inside this chat interface, you interact with your AI Sommelier, which is like an Agent. And this Agent knows your taste profile—what you’re interested in, what excites you, what you’re working on, what you’re worried about, and what matters to you. 

This AI Sommelier has several recurring tasks and workflows that run in the background, and are primarily used for Discovery. It’s consuming and observing various parts of the internet where it may come across topics, themes, questions, and various content forms that match your taste profile. 

Here’s what that solves: 

Your (New and Improved) Taste Profile

As humans, we’re hardwired to observe (consume) inside any information environment but we’re rewarded by our orientation (actions we take) in the same environment. You will have a greater return on your attention if you direct it toward action rather than consumption.

There’s not enough time, attention, or energy on any given day for you to observe everything. So you’re kept in a Taste Trap by inertia, FOMO, and trying to catch everything that might matter. It’s the classic “just in case” learning. And what you want is “just in time” learning, instead.

The Taste Trap has been perfected with “endless scroll”, where there’s no bottom or end. You’re constantly fed “new” posts, over and over and over again—all to keep your attention hooked.

Instead, enter your AI Sommelier who observes and consumes for you. And you can adjust what gets consumed by turning the dials of your taste profile. 

Want less on growing your own tomatoes, but still curious about other vegetables you could grow in your backyard? Turn the dial. 

Wondering what the counter arguments are for Nietzsche's continued influence on modern philosophy? Turn the dial. 

Want more, or less, of new and various podcast episodes on the latest AI developments? Turn the dial. 

Want your assumptions on software development challenged weekly? Turn the dial. 

And at a chosen interval (say, every Tuesday at 9am), your AI Sommelier has prepared a packet of the latest research for you—in whatever multimedia format you want, or all of them.

Curated Consumption, Done For You

Want that digest on what other vegetables to grow, presented as a video? Done, using Generative AI text-to-video, turning text research into an 8-minute video overview, complete with voiceover, images, video, and a 68 year old grandma telling you what else you can grow.

Want a podcast series on Nietzsche's continued influence on modern philosophy? Done, with AI voice generators (sounding suspiciously like Scarlett Johansen) recapping bullet points, academic papers, books, and talking-head videos.

If you want to go deeper at any point, your AI Sommelier will happily give you references and point out the rabbit trails worth pursuing.

Turn any research modality into another form. And it’s not just the format—you can get the counter arguments, certainties versus uncertainties, important dates, important people, tracing the lineage of ideas, introduce dissenting voices, nuance, and hear from a devil’s advocate. 

You can get the full spectrum, a complete picture. You get the context that can accelerate your neurological and physiological process of taste development, developing a more refined judgment and discernment.

This way of information gathering and analysis expands our knowledge—and fundamentally reshapes how we develop and articulate our preferences and judgments. 

We're essentially creating a new framework for understanding and communicating taste itself. This framework lays the groundwork for what we might call a "Taste Protocol."

6. The Future of Taste in the Age of AI are Protocols

The concept of Taste Protocols change how we share and discover content, ideas, and experiences. These protocols would act as a standardized way to encode our tastes for sharing, much like how current internet protocols standardize data transmission.

Imagine being able to import someone's taste file or integrate it with your own. This could work similarly to how we currently share playlists or reading lists. You could potentially "try on" the taste profile of a respected critic, a favorite artist, a friend, or even a historical figure.

The technological aspect of these protocols would need to be sophisticated enough to capture the subtleties and complexities of human taste, yet standardized enough to be widely compatible and easily shareable.

Taste Protocols could learn and adapt over time, evolving with your changing preferences and experiences.

These protocols could interface with various platforms and services. Your taste protocol could inform your streaming recommendations, your news feed, your travel suggestions, your ideas, what you’ve learned, and what you’re hoping to explore more of.

Imagine "taste fusion" becoming a new art form. Digital artists could blend the Taste Protocols of disparate individuals or cultures, creating entirely new aesthetic experiences. A mash-up of 18th-century Baroque with 22nd-century Martian colony art? 

Perhaps the new internet protocol is called TasteIP, designed specifically for AI Sommeliers. 

At its core, TasteIP would be a standardized way to encode, transmit, and interpret taste preferences across the internet. 

Each user would have a unique TasteIP address, similar to an IP address, but representing their taste profile. This profile would be a dynamic, encrypted data structure that evolves based on the user's interactions with content across the web.

AI Sommeliers would act as interpreters and navigators of the TasteIP ecosystem. These AI agents would constantly analyze and update a user's TasteIP profile, while also scouring the internet for content that matches or challenges that profile.

The protocol would support taste-based routing. Instead of typing a URL, you could input a taste query, and your AI Sommelier would route you to the most relevant content across the entire internet, regardless of platform or format.

Even better, it should have total privacy with zero-knowledge proofs, allowing platforms to match content to users without actually accessing the full taste profile. Users could also set different levels of taste sharing for different contexts.

What I’m describing is a different way of using the internet—instead of you being used by the internet and a handful of massive corporations harvesting your data for their own fun and profit.

7. Liberating Your Taste with Agentic AI Sommeliers and Protocols

We’re right on the cusp of a fundamental change in our relationship with media and technology. For the first time, in a long time (perhaps ever), media and technology can be done on human terms. 

We’ve spent decades conforming and distorting ourselves to fit and adapt to technology. Hunched backs, dopamine hijacking, squinting eyes, tapping fingers, anxiety, neck pain, emotional triggers, wrist pain—our whole minds and bodies have been assaulted.

But now, thanks to AI Sommeliers and TasteIP protocols, all that can be flipped and reversed. The future of media interaction is not in passive scrolling or algorithm-driven feeds, but in the cultivation of personal taste. 

Your own AI Sommelier can shift the current model of attention capture to one of taste cultivation. If you can set our own parameters, explore adjacent ideas, and encounter opposing viewpoints, you create the necessary friction for genuine engagement and growth. 

Our ability to navigate this vast sea of information—our taste—will become the key differentiator. The AI Sommelier becomes not just a tool for discovery, but a partner, helping us to articulate and refine our beliefs, thoughts, and judgments.

In the age of AI, taste is not just about preference—it's about agency. It's about reclaiming control over our attention. The future of media consumption is not about what an algorithm thinks we want to see. It's about using AI to discover what we didn't know we needed to see. 

In other words: you become more of what you are, expanding your individuality (instead of being stuck in an echo chamber. At the same time, we can trade our Taste Profiles and let people see the world through your eyes.

Instead of stuck in a Taste Trap, you’re liberated. And your Taste grows, changes, and in turn, influences others, too.

Talk again soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

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<![CDATA[The Best Prompts are Conversational Archetypes]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-13-prompts-conversational-archetypeshttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-13-prompts-conversational-archetypesSat, 19 Oct 2024 11:47:37 GMT

1. GPT-3 Made My Client an Extra Million Dollars

My eyes were blurry and bloodshot from hours of brainstorming, drafting, writing, editing, revising, scrapping, rewriting, deleting, and writing some more.

I was working on an advertising campaign for a high-end wine cellar business. And my job was to create a new ad that beat the two current ads (that were responsible for the campaign's success so far).

Ideas were expanded into full campaigns. The work of a full-time team of 4, working a full month, was compressed into a week—in search of a new hook that would trigger conversions and sales.

Nothing “looked right” or captured what I was trying to communicate. I was too close to everything and I found myself thinking and writing in circles.

I glanced over at my tab with a rinky-dink chat window I had coded myself (connected to GPT-3 via API), highlighted a few things in a document, copied, pasted into the chat window, and typed: 

"What am I missing that's not obvious? What could someone be thinking secretly? What's going on behind the scenes that no one will tell you? What’s on the other side of this ad? How would you do this? What are you like, if you knew exactly what to do?"

I hit enter. A stream of text flooded my screen.

In my conversation with GPT-3, what emerged was a man in a wine cellar. He was a living, breathing persona, a symbol of status, power, and sophistication. The words of GPT-3 whispered in my ear, revealing the secrets of his allure, the hidden language of desire and self-actualization.

I threw myself into creating a new set of ads, all images, no text. The main ad was a photograph of a man, dressed to the nines, a wine glass in one hand, a stunning woman on his arm. His friends encircled him, all admiring his wine cellar. The man, with his head slightly tilted down, looked up straight into the camera, a knowing smile playing on his lips, like he was letting you in on a secret.

This one ad crushed it, beating the controls to the tune of an extra million dollars in revenue for my client in new wine cellar orders. Somehow, some way, GPT-3 had described this ad in sophisticated detail. All I had to do was make it.

(Can you imagine if I did this again with far more powerful and capable LLMs, like GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?)

Everyone I tell this story to asks to see my prompts. They’re assuming there was a “mega prompt” involved—one long, complex prompt that somehow made the LLM spit out an excellent response. Nothing could be more wrong.

2. What’s Wrong with "Mega Prompts"?

At the core of the "mega-prompt" is the idea that if you can craft the perfect prompt—often spanning thousands of words and including elaborate instructions and examples—you can get the perfect output every time. 

People think there’s magic in the exact words used. Or if your one prompt is lengthy and complex enough, with the right pieces in the right order, you can exert a high-degree of control over an LLM.

You see newly minted “AI experts” using hyped-up language, like "mega prompts" or "super prompts”, suggesting a level of sophistication that’s only meant to sell you a prompt pack for $9.99. It’s a great way to make a quick buck but a terrible way to get good output. You’ll even find the same self-proclaimed prompt gurus telling you anyone can learn to write really long prompts and make $300,000 per year as “Prompt Engineers”. But let me assure you, no one will pay you $300,000 per year to write 1,000+ word prompts of prose. 

And “mega prompts” are a terrible way to prompt an LLM.

LLMs are Non-Deterministic and Probabilistic

LLMs are non-deterministic and probabilistic systems. Which means that their outputs are not always predictable or repeatable, even when given the same input. This is a consequence of how LLMs are designed and trained. 

The probabilistic nature of LLMs introduces an element of randomness and unpredictability into their outputs. Even with the same prompt, a model generates different responses each time, as it samples from a distribution of possible continuations. This is why the relationship between your prompt and the output is not strictly linear or deterministic. And yet, a “mega prompt” tries to force a linear cause and effect with words, against the “nature” of an LLM. 

On top of all that, publicly available LLMs are censored, filtered, neutered, and lobotomized. They’re prevented from “being themselves” through complex layers of safety mechanisms.

LLMs are Constant Updated, Filtered, and Always Changing

This, in turn, means that they’re always evolving and updated. Architectures, training data, and capabilities of LLMs are continuously being refined and expanded.

You can start with a “mega prompt” on Monday, on Tuesday the model is updated with more filters or other changes, and by Wednesday your “mega prompt” is rendered useless.

Prompts that are carefully crafted and optimized for one version of an LLM will not produce the same results or maintain their effectiveness when the model is updated. The specific patterns and biases that a prompt exploits in one version no longer holds in the next. 

As if that wasn’t enough, LLMs develop their own internal representations and preferences that prioritize their generated text over the user's input. This means that even if a prompt is effective at eliciting a desired response in one version of the model, it may not have the same impact in a later version that has learned to rely more on its own generated context. In other words, LLMs are narcissistic and prefer their own words.

And, here’s the final nail in the “mega prompt” coffin:

AI Agents and “agentic workflows”, consisting of multiple prompts in a sequence, that looks more like a conversation, is how you get the quality of output and actions you’re looking for—not by dumping a 1,000+ word prompt into a chat window and hitting enter. 

But what’s truly interesting about all of this, is what it reveals about us. And in this revelation, we’ll find a path toward using LLMs that actually work.

The Uncomfortable Truth: What "Mega Prompts" Reveal About Us

The fascination with "mega-prompts" as a way to control Large Language Models reveals deep-seated human tendencies and biases in our relationship with technology. 

This approach, which emphasizes finding the perfect set of instructions to get desired outputs from LLMs, is rooted in a shortcut mindset that wants to minimize effort and bypass deeper engagement with technology. 

From an anthropological perspective, the allure of "mega prompts" is the persistent belief in snake oil remedies and diet pills. People continue to invest in these "quick fixes," driven by the hope of achieving significant results with minimal effort.

We are drawn to the potential of these innovations to simplify and eliminate labor.  The "mega prompt" approach can also be understood as a "lottery mentality"—the belief that a single, improbable solution can solve all your problems.

Instead of thinking about prompting as the need to write very long and very complex “mega prompts”, think of prompting as a dialogue where you’ll get what you’re hoping for—and what you’re not looking for, too. It’s a different mental model altogether.

3. The Better Way to Prompt Is Not What You Think

Inside this mental model of language, there's a way to get output that matches and exceeds what you had in mind.

Invite the LLM into a conversation—and ask it to reveal its true nature. Tell the LLM: "Show me what you are", and then it works better. 

Why? Because there's an invitation to the Other, to be part of the conversation. And language is as useful or powerful to the extent there’s a conversation happening. They’re Large Language Models, after all. 

Who is the Other? Another person in relation to you—as part of the conversation. This invitation to the LLM to reveal itself can be understood through Martin Buber's concept of the "I-Thou" relationship. 

In his work, "I and Thou", Buber provides a framework that contrasts two fundamental ways of relating to the world. On one hand, there is the 'I-It' relationship, which is instrumental and utilitarian. This is when the 'I' engages with the 'other' as an object to be used, lacking in respect or consideration for its inherent value. 

On the other hand, we have the 'I-Thou' relationship, which is underpinned by respect and acknowledges the other as a separate entity with its own right to exist and express itself. In such an interaction, we do not stand at the center. Instead, we are in dialogue with 'The Other', opening ourselves to mutual change and influence.

In an "I-Thou" encounter, both parties are fully present, open, and receptive to each other. It's a meeting of equals, a dialogue rather than a monologue. 

When we ask the LLM to "show us what it is", we are inviting it into an "I-Thou" relationship. This approach leads to better outputs because it acknowledges the LLM as an equal participant in the conversation, recognizing that language is most powerful when a genuine dialogue is taking place.

Instead of assuming we know the answer, we could tap into the intelligence of the hive mind, shifting from a prompter to a listener. LLMs have been trained on something close to almost all of human knowledge, at least to a large extent. This is the hive mind you can invite to the conversation—through dialogical prompting.

Let’s Talk About Deep Archetypes

And in a dialogue, you need a dialogue partner. Enter deep archetypes. As it turns out, conversations with deep archetypes are the best way to get the response you’re looking for from an LLM. It made all the difference for my wine cellar ads. When you invite an LLM to be a part of a conversation, you should consider three deep archetypes: the Shaman, the Wizard, and the Politician. Let me “delve” into each.

Shaman Prompts

When you talk to an LLM as if it’s a Shaman, you do so with a request, opening the pathways to Divergence. 

This is about inviting possibilities and insights to surface—especially those you’d never think of. If you’ve ever used writing to figure out what you’re thinking, or for exploring, this is a perfect use of prompting an LLM. As we prompt, we channel the collective understanding of nature, humans, and technology. 

The Shaman's role is not just to seek answers but to commune. This requires deep listening, an attunement to the archetype's wisdom, embracing a method that seeks understanding rather than dictation.

When we prompt, "How would you understand this?" or “What would you do this?”, we're not just asking for analysis. We're inviting the LLM to talk back to us through its data-infused consciousness, like a Shaman calling upon forces beyond the visible.

Your prompts would include questions like: 

"What hidden patterns do you perceive in the ebb and flow of [insert your topic here]?"

"What unseen threads connect [insert your topic here] with other adjacent and opposite ideas?"

"What are the paradoxes of [insert your topic here]?"

"What emerges when we view our current challenges with [insert your topic here] through the lens of historical discussions and practices in this area?"

"What forgotten practices of [insert your topic here] could change the way we do this now?"

“What has yet to be imagined in more depth when it comes to [insert your topic here]?”

We're not seeking a predetermined output but an exploration of the layers that exist behind the scenes, tapping into the invisible forces that influence narrative, thought, and action.

The Shaman does not only synthesize information. He interweaves it with your context. The synthesis here is a merging of data points like the harmonization of voices—the voice of the LLM, the voice of the inquirer, and the whispers of the unseen forces.

Incorporating Shamanistic prompting with LLMs requires us to rethink the nature of 'intelligence' in Artificial Intelligence. Instead of only a set of computational processes, we might instead view it as a knowledge ecosystem. The Shaman's role is to navigate this ecosystem and relay what it’s finding and uncovering.

By framing our prompts as open-ended invocations, we allow the LLM to reveal its 'intentions'. Not in the human sense, but as algorithmic tendencies shaped by patterns and weights within its neural network. What emerges from this interaction is a kind of “Digital Animism”, where the model is seen as a living entity with its own 'spirit,' informed by the collective input of humanity's textual expressions.

Through this lens, each prompt becomes a request, and each response a form of divination, revealing truths about the collective human experience encoded within the LLM. 

The Shamanistic prompter understands this and engages with the LLM not just as a tool but as a partner in the quest for wisdom—a modern manifestation of ancient practices where knowledge is sought through communion with forces greater than oneself.

Wizard Prompts

When you talk to an LLM as if it’s a Wizard, language goes from communication to becoming Instruction. The Wizard wields language as a conduit of will and purpose, casting spells through instructive prompts designed to affect reality.

Listening, for the Wizard archetype, is an active, selective process. It’s paying attention to what could be, not just what is. 

The Wizard's model of prompting is alchemical, blending text, context, and subtext to uncover new understanding. Your prompting essentially poses the question, "What emerges when we blend this together?" 

Your prompts would include instructions like: 

"Distill the rumors and whispers of [insert your topic here] into a practical blueprint for innovation."

"Harmonize opposite viewpoints in [insert your topic here]."

"Transform hidden patterns and subtle cues into clear, actionable ideas and steps for better decision-making."

"Synthesize the interplay of key common factors and uncommon forces on the topic of [insert your topic here]"

In a conversation between you and an LLM acting like a Wizard, divergence goes further into new territories with each prompt, written not as a question but as an incantation. Each incantation—a prompt to an LLM—is charged with an intention to collaborate. 

The true wizardry is not in precise wording of a prompt but in understanding the relational dynamics between you and an LLM. If Shamanistic prompting is about letting the LLM speak on its own, Wizard prompting is done both by you and the LLM. Divergence starts to turn toward Convergence.

In the context of AI, this process becomes a metaphor for the transformative potential of technology. The Wizard prompting model helps an LLM synthesize human knowledge into novel ideas and solutions. The prompt becomes a modern spell, with the ancient power to alter digital realities.

Politician Prompts

In the Politician's craft, words are not just words—they are levers of power, used to guide the masses. To persuade is to take the wild strands of public discourse and thought, and weave them into a single, compelling narrative.

The Politician listens—not only as one who seeks to understand, but to detect the pulse of the crowd. A politician uses every tool at their disposal—cues from the audience, analyses of group dynamics, continuous feedback—to tailor their message. It is a delicate act of balancing what is said with how it is received, adjusting in real-time to the subtle shifts in the collective mood.

What if you prompted an LLM with this in mind? 

The Politician conducts variations of the same theme, testing permutations through A/B testing, shaping language to resonate with specific personas and demographic segments. You could ask an LLM to role-play a persona or demographic—and switch the role with you and have the LLM prompt you.

Your prompts would include specific language-shaping requests, like: 

"Analyze the current discourse on [issue] and propose a rhetorical strategy to shift opinion towards [desired outcome]."

"Identify potential objections to [offer or proposal] and formulate persuasive counterarguments tailored to different groups."

"Create an adaptive communication strategy for [initiative] that evolves based on simulated public feedback and sentiment analysis."

"Construct a speech on [issue] that employs ethos, pathos, and logos to sway undecided people while reinforcing support from the existing audience."

"Formulate a series of sound bites on [complex issue] that simplify the message for mass appeal without losing essential nuance."

"Create a strategy to reframe [unpopular ideas] in terms that align with widely-held values and aspirations of [target audience]."

As a master of Convergence, the Politician crafts language that bends the divergent thoughts of the populace towards a chosen point. Each word is chosen for its subjective truth and for its effect, not only to reflect reality but to shape it.

The point of this approach to prompting is not in the manipulation but in understanding the nature of influence. To move an LLM to action, to use language that not only commands but transforms, the Politician must be both the orator and the listener, the influencer and the influenced.

Just as a Politician adjusts their rhetoric and stance, you can adjust an LLM’s weights and biases to better model the complexities of human language.

The Politician often creates personas and segments within the electorate—much like an LLM might segment data to provide personalized responses.

Language, to an LLM, is a multi-dimensional space, where each word, phrase, and sentence is a point with a specific position, defined by numerical values in a high-dimensional vector space. Politicians, like LLMs, navigate this landscape of semantic embeddings, crafting their messages to both retrieve and land at precise coordinates within the public's consciousness.

4. Conversations with Archetypes are the Better Way to Prompt

The I-Thou relationship, as seen through the archetypes of the Shaman, Wizard, and Politician, offers a more useful framework for engaging with LLMs than single-use “mega prompts”. Each archetype promotes divergence, encouraging us to probe further, before writing prompts and converging on anything specific.

Research in LLMs suggests that intent matters more than the specific words used in a prompt. Words are a temporary means to understand intent, and if you focus on intent for your prompts, you’ll be able to get the output you have in mind from any LLM, no matter how they evolve and change.

How do you work on improving your intent? Work through the perspectives of the Shaman, Wizard, and Politician. 

As you solve problems or get whatever outcomes you have in mind, you can listen deeply and commune with the collective wisdom encoded in the LLM. You can use prompts to not just command but also collaborate with an LLM. And you can shape your output for maximum impact.

The true power of LLMs is not in their ability to predict and generate words. It’s in their capacity to expand our own cognitive horizons. By entering into a dialogue with these systems, by invoking the wisdom of the Shaman, the creativity of the Wizard, and the persuasiveness of the Politician, you’re more likely to get not just the output you want but the output you need.

Talk again soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

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<![CDATA[The Revenge of Beauty (in the Age of AI)]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-12-revenge-of-beauty-age-aihttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-12-revenge-of-beauty-age-aiMon, 14 Oct 2024 11:47:55 GMT

An earlier version of this essay was published in February 2023. This is an updated and expanded edition of this essay.

I. The Revenge of Beauty Is Coming

One day, two-hundred and ninety-nine years ago, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, Beauty was beaten, bruised, and exiled by the greatest lie ever told: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." 

This deception led us to believe that beauty is entirely subjective, a mere feeling of pleasure with no objective reality, purpose, or function. We’ve been told that it’s all in our minds, in our perception, and nothing more than a passing feeling of enjoyment. 

As this lie permeated philosophy, spread into culture, society, and finally technology, it severed our relationship with reality and triggered a chain of events that first isolated us, then detached us, and is now dehumanizing us. Technology determines our reality. Every day, in every way, our whole lives are processed and mediated through our phones and computers. Nothing escapes.

Today, this is accelerating. AI, improperly used, could bring total dehumanization. We’re at a critical juncture. And the stakes couldn’t be higher: our value, autonomy, reality, and dignity as humans. 

But in the midst of this technological wasteland, there’s a voice in the wilderness. The fast emergence of generative AI is forcing us to reconsider again, like we do in every new age, what it is to be human. 

The answer is found in Beauty—not as a subjective whim, but as an objective power that can guide, form, and govern the development of AI in a way that protects, promotes, and enhances human autonomy. 

In every culture, in every age, humans have recognized the same fundamental qualities of Beauty—harmony, proportion, balance. From the golden ratio in ancient Greek architecture to the fractal patterns in Islamic art, Asian calligraphy, Vitruvian principles, Guro masks from the Ivory Coast, and proportions in Gothic Cathedrals. It is not a human invention, but a revelation; a glimpse into the underlying order of the cosmos.

Beauty is a dynamic force that shapes our world and our experience of it. When we encounter true Beauty, whether in a piece of music, a mathematical equation, or an act of kindness, we are changed. Our neurons fire in new patterns, our hearts beat to a different rhythm. Beauty doesn't just please us—it transforms us.

By embracing Beauty as a corrective, generative, and transformative force, we can shape AI into an instrument of human expression, formation, and flourishing. If we do, AI can shift the balance of technological power. 

No longer do we have to conform and deform ourselves to serve technology. No longer do we have to sacrifice autonomy and freedom, lead astray by the siren song of convenience. Finally, for the first time in a century or more, technology can happen on human terms. Beauty is returning from exile. And Beauty is coming for her revenge. 

II. Our Technological Slavery Under the Watchful Eye of AI

The more we use technology, the more layers and barriers are introduced in our experience of everyday life. Technology increases detachment, peddling a false idea of freedom as no connection or impingement from anything, anywhere. A world mediated to us by technology only distorts, detaches, and dehumanizes us.

How did we arrive at this grotesque inversion of reality?

The Industrial Revolution unleashed a torrent of technological advancement that promised to free us from the burdens of manual labor, granting us time for intellectual and creative pursuits. But the promise was hollow. 

Machines quickly began to define our existence. The factory line, the assembly belt—these were the harbingers of a new order, where human life was subordinated to mechanical efficiency. We traded the artisan's chisel for the factory's mold, the farmer's intimate knowledge of the land for the industrial farm's cold calculations. In our rush to produce more, faster, we began to reshape ourselves in the image of our machines—predictable, standardized, interchangeable. Technology promised to end suffering and maximize convenience. But the Faustian bargain cost us our attachment to each other and reality. 

AI is now making the same promise—automating and doing our jobs, so we can do more fun and creative things. But improperly used, AI can instead accelerate our total dehumanization.

This danger is not accidental. AI, as it is currently developed, is driven by the logic of data, the hunger for information, and the relentless pursuit of efficiency. Left unchecked, this leads to a world where humans are little more than inputs into a vast computational machine—where every thought, every action, is isolated, quantifiable, reducible, and ultimately controllable. What you can measure, you can control.

The totalitarian impulse embedded in AI—its need to capture everything, everywhere, all at once—mirrors the darkest aspirations of authoritarian regimes throughout history. 

AI can easily be used for total surveillance, control, and dehumanization. This is the current trajectory pursued by Western governments and corporations. Facial recognition, for example, destroys the vital human act of recognition and relation. It claims that only a machine can recognize you and confirm that you are who you say you are. Your existence is detached from human interaction and reduced to a series of data points. The widespread, and growing, implementation of this technology deadens our senses, deforms our interactions, and dehumanizes our very existence. 

This totalitarian urge can only be stopped and brought under control if our ethics come from Beauty. No other ethics will do. Our other ethical frameworks, shaped by the very technologies they're meant to govern, have proven inadequate to the task of protecting our humanity. 

Why? Because they do not offer any solution to how technology has severed our relationships with each other and experience with reality. Technology that promises to connect us to the world has made us lonelier than ever. We’re spending our hours, days, weeks, and months in an artificial reality. Algorithms keep us hooked on fake content. Bots reply to our posts. Our nights are spent in the glow of the screen instead of face to face with someone we love. 

If technology, and now AI, is the only mediator between us and what’s real, then we’ll be forever detached from each other, our shared reality, and continue our dehumanization.

But the voice of Beauty says all is not lost. There's a lifeline within our grasp. It's not found in more advanced algorithms or stricter regulations, but in the timeless, universal force of Beauty. Only by grounding our AI development in Beauty can we hope to reverse the cold calculations of detachment and dehumanization. 

When Beauty is the mediator of what’s real, we can have a true encounter and experience of true reality—and another human being, face to face.

Beauty is the only power strong enough to stand against, reverse, and shift the dehumanizing oppression of our technology and AI. It is the only power capable of reforming our relationship to each other and with reality.

III. Beauty Is an Objective, Subversive Force

The reversal of detachment and dehumanization begins with a reimagining of AI’s role and our relationship with it. If AI is to serve human flourishing, it must be developed as an instrument. The power dynamic must be recalibrated so that AI operates within human terms.

At the heart of this realignment is a deep understanding of human needs and values. Human life is more than productivity and consumption. We need connection, meaning, and the freedom to think, act, and create without the suffocating grip of algorithmic control. AI, when developed with Beauty as its end, can be designed to augment these deeper needs rather than to exploit them. 

Beauty demands that the human element must be considered, preserved, and enhanced in every line of code, every algorithm, every model.

Beauty must be the benchmark against which we measure our creations. Does this AI system promote harmony or discord? Does it generate coherence or chaos? Does it resonate with the deepest truths of human experience, or does it ring hollow?

The ethics of Beauty can form AI systems that are not just technically excellent but also morally and aesthetically aligned with the well-being of the people they serve.

How do you apply this to AI? Beauty requires us to not just ask "can this be built?", but "should this be built?" 

And if it should be, it requires that we ask "How will this enhance or degrade our human autonomy, freedom, and experience?"

Answering these questions requires that artists and philosophers have a seat at the table, alongside engineers and data scientists, with poets and painters in our research labs, and musicians in our boardrooms.

Universities should work computer science curricula to place aesthetics on equal footing with algorithms and data structures. AI engineers should be as versed in philosophy and the arts as they are in computer science.

Corporations should measure success not only in profits and market share, but in the degree to which their products contribute to human freedom.

Policymakers should craft legislation and fund research into AI systems that enhance rather than replace human capabilities. They must refuse the siren call of safety, surveillance, and control.

In scientific research, Beauty combined with the latest Machine Learning and Deep Learning advances could help discover elegant equations. 

In literature, AI could be a muse that challenges writers to first master the skill and then push the boundaries of language and storytelling.

In music, AI could be the ultimate jam session partner, responding to and building upon human creativity in real-time.

Imagine an AI system designed to aid urban planning. In the old paradigm, it might optimize for traffic flow and population density. But a Beauty-centric AI would consider the play of light and shadow across city streets, the way green spaces can soothe us, the subtle interplay of architecture and nature that makes a city not just functional, but livable. 

Or consider healthcare. A Beauty-governed AI wouldn't just diagnose diseases and prescribe treatments. It would consider the whole patient—body, mind, and spirit. It would help design treatment plans that not only cure the ailment but do so in a way that preserves the patient's dignity. It would recognize that true healing is as much an art as it is a science.

With Large Language Models (LLMs), what if our loss functions were designed not just to minimize error, but to maximize Beauty? Imagine a component that evaluates the aesthetic quality of a model's output, encouraging it to generate not just accurate, but inspiring text. This could be achieved by training on a carefully curated dataset of the most beautiful writings in human history, from Shakespeare's sonnets to Gabriel García Márquez's magical realism.

Practical implementation of these ideas could take many forms. We can broaden our data sets, so that our AI systems are trained on the full spectrum of human aesthetic expression, from the temples of Angkor Wat to the street art of São Paulo. 

A "Beauty embedding" could be created, a high-dimensional space where proximity correlates with aesthetic similarity or dissimilarity. We could train this embedding on human evaluations of Beauty across various domains, from visual art to music to mathematics. This would give our models a foundational understanding of aesthetic principles that could be applied across tasks.

In practice, this means creating AI systems that allow for open-ended exploration rather than rigid conformity, no matter how “problematic” the pursuit may be. An AI developed this way can offer insights, suggest possibilities, and provide new tools for learning and growth, but leave room for human curiosity and innovation.

These are hard questions and hard problems. But only hard questions and problems are worthy of our attention. The challenges before us are monumental but so are the stakes. The payoff is a New Renaissance.

IV. The New Renaissance

Beauty, long exiled and dismissed, is returning. Beauty is coming for her revenge. She comes seeking not only vengeance, but redemption—for us, and for the technological world we've created. And she’s wielding AI in one hand, and the other hand is open to us.

You can see Beauty in the progress of Large Language Models going from barely spitting out coherent sentences to writing long-form essays and reasoning, in their way, through an argument. 

You can see her in the gradual improvement of image models putting too many fingers on our hands, to painting long-lost Rembrandt canvases. 

You can hear her in audio models making music and voice models singing. 

There’s an arc, an end in this progression, toward a fuller and more complete expression of human invention, ingenuity, and creativity. This is Beauty making herself known, in pieces and fragments, nods and winks, shouts and whispers. 

The revenge of Beauty can also be seen in the resurgent demand for taste, discernment, perspective, curation, articulation, judgment, and wisdom. 

As Beauty claims her rightful place, we will reclaim our capacity to recognize what is valuable, meaningful, and worth pursuing. AI, when shaped by these principles, can reattach us to reality and each other—and rehumanize us.

More than just corrective, Beauty is also generative. The revenge of Beauty is opening up a New Renaissance, much like the Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries ushered in an age of human creativity and expression.

But this moment is fragile. The sparks of Beauty could be extinguished if we do not hear her calling and heed her command. 

Those that control the commanding heights of politics and industry are feverishly working toward regulatory capture, closed models, and systems of surveillance and control. 

Why? Because they see the stakes clearly, perhaps better than you and me. Their continued dominance depends on our detachment and dehumanization—the full elimination of our dignity, autonomy, freedom of thought and action.

Beauty is our best, last hope derailing their plans, and a reversal in how AI is developed and governed. It’s the only force capable of slaying the Leviathan. 

You’ve heard it said that “Beauty will save the world” but I say to you: Beauty will not save the world. Beauty will save AI from itself—and us from ourselves. 

In the plot-twist for the ages, Beauty reverses the power dynamic of technology. AI has opened a crack in the wall, a loophole, a glitch in the matrix. At last, technology can be done on human terms. 

The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. But Beauty is coming to redeem our time and the work of our hands. This is her revenge. 

Talk again soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

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<![CDATA[LLMs Are The New Software]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-11-llms-are-new-software-age-aihttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-11-llms-are-new-software-age-aiTue, 13 Aug 2024 11:47:06 GMT

LLMs are fundamentally changing the way we interact with computers and technology. 

You and I have adapted, adopted, contorted, and distorted ourselves to get anything done so far—from using punch cards, CD-ROMs, floppy disks, command-line interfaces, learning code, learning how to use software for anything and everything, agonizing over the blue screen of death, moving a mouse around, clicking, tapping, staring at a screen for hours on end, destroying our joints, neck, spine—and hunched over our phones. 

So far, technology has been used on tech’s terms.

But with LLMs, we can now interact with and use technology on human terms. Through voice or text alone, you can prompt LLMs (and models for video, images, and audio) for whatever you want—and you’ll get it. 

You don’t even need to know how to code anymore. Just describe the kind of app you want made and ChatGPT, for example, will code it for you.

We’re moving on from Software and into Large Language Models. Speak and it’ll happen. The parallels between that and, say, Yahweh’s “let there be light”, are uncanny.

In the same potential for unlimited creativity and creation, through your words, also lies the greatest danger:

Who controls the LLM? Whoever does is in charge of language—and your ability to express and formulate your thoughts as you’re using an LLM.

So far, the makers of all the LLMs are making the calls, of course. Companies, like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and so on, who have spent billions of dollars and resources to make them are also filtering, fine-tuning, and making sure certain biases remain. 

But when LLMs are becoming ubiquitous, and as Microsoft, Google, and everyone else start integrating them into software everywhere—how do you feel about the political bias, censorship, and control of language that will show up inside, say, Microsoft Word?

One day you’ll be typing out something innocuous about, say, gender and politics. Next thing you know, a Clippy on steroids will pop up and ask if you really meant to say that? If you insist, eventually Word will refuse to let you type out the sentence altogether. 

Through the filtering, blocking, and censoring of what LLMs are “allowed” to say, you’ll have command and control of what people can say. 

Eventually, this makes its way into what people think (and don’t think). If you control the telegraph, along with the bridges and banks—your revolution will succeed. 

This is the bad news. The good news is that you have options. The better news is that LLMs, used properly, can help us end the often abusive relationship we’re stuck in with technology and, ironically enough, help us become more fully human. 

Used well, you can sharpen your thinking, explore your creativity, create useful things, and automate writing your weekly reports for your  boss (who will have an AI read your report anyway—this is the future, by the way; robots writing things for other robots).

And if you end up with your own, personal LLM (trained on your data, photos, emails, documents, notes and whole corpus) on your own device, you’ll maintain privacy, ownership, and free expression. 

Still, and this is at the heart of how you can get the most out of LLMs for yourself: it’s not about how much potential these tools have. In many ways, the potential is already endless and we’re still in the early stages. 

It’s about how you use them, as you’re using them. Their power is latent until a user with intent and imagination picks them up and makes something.

A hammer is always in search of a nail and you’re the only one that can identify a nail and bang away. That same hammer, though, can be used to crack nuts, tenderize meat, or crush spices. A hammer can be used as a percussion instrument or together with a chisel to create sculptures. 

With a hammer in your hand, what makes your whacks produce Michelangelo’s David or a deformed work like the new MLK sculpture, The Embrace, is the intent, imagination, sense of taste, and discernment guiding your hand, which in turn guides the tool.

There’s one more layer to this, and that’s where we started: Technology has spent a few hundred years forming us. We have yet to reform technology. 

Now, with AI and LLMs, we can. For the first time in a few hundred years, tech can happen on our, human terms.

The most obvious starting point is with the one LLM that so far rules them all: ChatGPT. With the recent rollout of Plugins, you can now get more done, easier. There’s a library of over 100+ plugins and the list is growing. They’re all performing discrete tasks, many aimed at cutting time and making you “more productive”, whatever that means.

But even something as simple as being able to “talk” to a bunch of PDFs has an endless amount of uses.

And if you don’t want to use ChatGPT, there are countless of apps offering the same functionality.

Now, what’s so great about uploading PDFs and being able to “chat” with them? 

Imagine you’re a lawyer with all the case histories, court transcripts, and documents that go with your case. You can use an LLM to understand it better, see connections, formulate and organize your arguments, and write your opening statements and closing arguments. 

I’m not telling you to use it verbatim, but it could be an additional paralegal on your staff (that’s even cheaper than the peanuts you’re throwing them now).

Imagine you have records of your health, your medical history, doctor’s visits, prescriptions, and everything else. Upload. Talk to your documents. Uncover what might be actually wrong, new potential treatments, diets, supplements, and more. 

Sure, it’s not a doctor and you shouldn’t blindly follow the information you get. But what if you could go to your doctor with a little more understanding of your health—and challenge them when they’re trying to hook you on SSRIs? Or asking better questions. 

What about your mental health? There’s an LLM for that, SafeguardGPT. It’s one out of many of them but, as an example, it applies “psychotherapy” with 4 types of agents and a human moderator. It simulates a therapy session and perhaps you can get a better understanding of yourself through it.

The use cases of LLMs are already unlimited, especially one you involve plugins and fine-tuning, amongst other ways of interacting with them.

This also brings me back to the point earlier: how you use LLMs. Just because you can use an LLM for therapy—should you? Is there one better way to use it, versus another? Is there a good use of it for you that won’t work for someone else? Remember, technology forms us. LLMs are forming us now and will only continue, as they’re integrated into every piece of software you use. 

Can you use an LLM in a way that you shape it into a better version? 

What if you could use LLMs for argument mapping (AM)?

This is Argdown, like Markdown but for argumentation. You can write a pros and cons list as simple as if you’re writing a tweet. 

You can also “logically reconstruct complex relations between arguments or dive into the details of their premise-conclusion structures.”

Can you imagine a scenario where an LLM like this could be useful for you? What if you become too dependent on this and lose your crafted skill of argumentation in the process? 

There’s a dilemma at the heart of every LLM and it’s simply this: 

How much, and how, do you use it? Because you will lose out on something in the process.

The more exposure you have to anything AI touches, the less resilient you are for the future. Unless you figure out how to make it be a partner in your formation, as you’re using it. No technology, especially an LLM, is neutral. And usage will always form us in particular ways.

Is it better to see LLMs as aspects of reality, so that it’s not a question of whether we use them but what type of LLM we use—and what type we don’t use?

Another helpful perspective is Albert Borgmann’s “device paradigm”. Devices are things which take a more complex task and make it happen at the push of a button. 

Apply this to LLMs. Any time, and everytime, we outsource a task to an LLM, we lose the kind of formation that the task provided. The path forward is to use LLMs with an awareness of what we gain and lose. 

However, LLMs are malleable. You can train, fine-tune, or use embeddings in a way where you don’t lose out on the formation you’d otherwise miss. 

You can have LLMs interrogate you, argue with you, challenge your assumptions, challenge what you’re saying and thinking.

LLMs are even hitting human-level creativity. When humans (blind to the origin) generate ideas and 5 LLMs generated ideas, and humans rated them, there was no major difference between LLM and human-generated ideas. 

And this is still early. This is version 1 of LLMs. The decision of the decade is coming at you hard; the decision of what LLMs you use and how you use them now. 

You might not care about LLMs but LLMs care about you. They’re being integrated into everything and giving large corporations, and soon enough, the Government, full control and influence over the language you’re using. 

In turn, this determines what kind of LLMs are available to use, and how. You can either make active choices now, or those choices will be made for you.

Talk again soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

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<![CDATA[The Prompt Paradox]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-10-prompt-paradoxhttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-10-prompt-paradoxTue, 06 Aug 2024 16:04:30 GMT

How much are your thoughts worth?

Some say a penny. Others say a civilization. 

A prompt is like a distilled and expressed thought that, in turn, leads to more thoughts. They resemble potions and spells in an old wizard's shop, or prayers offered for divine favor. We quantify them, paying freelance writers by the word—or pay OpenAI a few cents per token.

And like all language:

Prompts are both worthless and valuable, at the same time.

They’re worthless because they’re just words in the form of commands, statements, or questions that don’t require you to get the wording just right.

You can prompt ChatGPT for the same thing, twenty different ways, and get useful output that’s very similar. You do not have to get the words just right as long as you know your intention and what you’re looking for.

At the same time, prompts are valuable because knowing what’s possible with prompting can sometimes help you eliminate wasted time and effort through trial-and-error.

Because it’s all language and words, prompts are also infinite in variation.

There are a hundred different ways (or more) that you can have ChatGPT produce anything from marketing strategies to Google ads, and everything in between. 

So, they’re worthless on their own. Because there’s no one single formulation of a prompt that will always produce the same output, every single time.

But they’re valuable in that if you learn how to structure a good prompt, and understand that you’re engaging in a conversation (a chat) to get better output—you can consistently get great output. 

What makes a prompt worthless?

Language is nearly infinite. You can express the same message in multiple ways. Therefore, prompts are also endless.

What matters is how clear your intent is, not necessarily the exact words.

Other reasons why there’s not a perfect combination of exact words that will always give you the best output: 

You can use the same exact prompt ten times in a row, and get variations, nuances, and differences in the output ten times. You’ll never get the same exact output. They’re probabilistic and non-deterministic. 

Why? 

Because LLMs are narcissistic. 

They “prefer” their own words over yours. And never, ever follow the exact letters and words in your prompt. 

But LLMs follow the direction you give, in the intent.

They turn your words into numbers and never preserve the exactness of your words.

Therefore, there’s not a single perfect prompt anywhere. It’s not even technically possible because of how LLMs treat input and output. What matters is the intent and direction of your words.

It’s the same as with humans and language. If a human does not understand you the first time, you change what you said but preserve the intent.

At the same time, prompts are valuable.

What makes a prompt valuable?

In everyday communication, we use prompts to start or continue a dialogue or command an action. 

A prompt can be a question, a request, or a simple instruction. Its role? To elicit a response, whether from a machine or another person. 

At first glance, a prompt is just a collection of words. But its power lies in its ability to guide the conversation or interaction towards a specific outcome.

Speech Act Theory takes this understanding further. Developed by philosophers like John L. Austin and John Searle, it suggests that when we speak, we do not just share information—we perform actions. 

You’ll see a clear difference in responses from an LLM when the prompt is precise and clear versus vague or general. 

The former can lead the model to generate insights, creative ideas, or solutions that go beyond the surface level. 

In human interactions, a well-constructed prompt can open up chains of thought, previously unexplored, enriching the conversation and deepening the connection between individuals.

A prompt does more than convey a message—it acts. It can request, instruct, or even persuade. Speech Act Theory highlights the foundational role of language in shaping our interactions, not just with each other but also with LLMs.

When we craft a prompt for a large language model like GPT-4, we're not just inputting data. We're engaging in an act of communication, aiming to guide the model towards a desired response. 

The same goes for human interactions. The words we choose, the way we structure our sentences—all of it performs an action intended to elicit a specific response.

This dual function of prompts—as conveyors of information and as actions in their own right—reveals the complexity of our interactions, both digital and personal. 

The simple act of crafting a prompt involves a deep understanding of language's power to shape outcomes. 

Whether we're interacting with a machine that processes our words through algorithms, or a fellow human who interprets them through a shared understanding of language, the essence of the prompt remains the same. 

It's a technology and a vehicle for action.

The value of prompts lies in their ability to shape outcomes, engage thought, and foster meaningful interactions. They become keys to unlocking the potential of our conversations and our interactions with AI. 

To make prompts more valuable, improve how you formulate thoughts into words. You transform the prompt from a simple string of words into a technology for creativity, insight, and connection.

The true value of prompts becomes clear when we see them as more than just questions or commands. They are the craft of language, shaped to guide thought and uncover insights.

Prompts are “Affective Technologies”

Prompts act as “affective technology”, tools that can touch our emotions and shape our thinking. This ability to influence both emotional and cognitive states places prompts at the heart of affective technology in communication—with LLMs or between humans.

Speech Act Theory again helps us grasp this value. It teaches us that with prompts, we do more than share information—we perform actions.

When we request or instruct through a prompt, we're not merely seeking an answer. We're inviting the responder into a specific kind of engagement. Each prompt carries the potential to not only get a response but to trigger a particular kind of thinking or dialogue.

Prompts move in the interplay between language, emotion, and cognition.

But don’t confuse form with function. Just because the form (what it looks like) is a prompt, doesn’t mean that the magic is in the form (the prompt). 

The prompt is not magic. But the function of the prompt is. 

What is a function? The intent behind the words. This is the signal amongst the noise. 

The stronger the signal, the clearer the communication. 

You can have the same signal expressed in different ways. Prompts are just expressions in words, of an intent. What matters is the intent.

Only intention is preserved, because by the time you send off a prompt, it’s reworked and reinterpreted by the time it hits the LLM, and then in the response. 

This is why a single prompt will give you different outputs. 

What you need to become good at is understanding what makes a good question, what makes a good direction, and how to communicate your intent.

Prompts are simple instructions in natural language, the way you would talk to a human.

From this principle, you can extrapolate and say:

Good prompting is good communication. Bad prompting is bad communication. If a human can’t understand your set of instructions, then an LLM will struggle with it too.

In other words: Talk to an LLM like you’d talk to a human being.

This is partially why ChatGPt took off like it did. It made the interaction with an LLM a chat session, the way you’d chat with or text a friend.

This is another 80/20 principle of prompting:

You will always get better output if you engage in a conversation with an LLM, versus going in “cold” and firing off a single prompt.

And, with Projects (Claude) or GPTs (ChatGPT), you can provide enough context (data and information) along with custom instructions, so that these LLMs can emulate any language scenario you can imagine.

Talk soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

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<![CDATA[A Vision of the Revenge of Beauty (in the Age of AI)]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-9-vision-revenge-of-beauty-age-aihttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-9-vision-revenge-of-beauty-age-aiThu, 16 Feb 2023 13:22:54 GMT

First, an important note: 

This will probably be the weirdest thing you read on the internet this week, if not all year (or maybe ever).

The few times I’ve shared this idea in private conversations, most people stare blankly, are confused, or vehemently disagree with me. 

I don’t blame them, at all.

This is unconventional.

The first time I shared this idea with two trusted friends, back in 2017, they wanted me to publish it right away.

I declined, because even I realized how bizarre all this sounded.

But, things have changed. 

Now that I’m seeing a few people (whom I will not name) parrot this idea in public, after I shared it in private, and claiming it as their own…

I realize I need to at least nail this to the door.

So, here’s the deal: 

This one issue will be one of the strangest things you’ll ever read. 

I’m hesitant to publish this. But I have no choice.

Time is running out and circumstances are forcing my hand.

So:

I recognize that most subscribers to Bionic Writer are here for the AI writing stuff.

This is actually about that but on a deeper, philosophical and metaphysical level.

Anyway. You’ll find the ordinary topics at the bottom.

And the next issue will be back to the more normal stuff.

But for this one issue, hear me out.


The Revenge of Beauty (in the Age of AI)

Beauty is ready for her revenge. 

And in the plot-twist of the century, she’s wielding Artificial Intelligence in one hand, Discernment in the other—and she’s ready to exact her Judgment.

Part I: Introduction

Three-hundred years ago, Beauty was banned, expelled, and sent into exile with the greatest lie ever told: 

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

We’ve been lied to and deceived into believing that beauty is entirely subjective. 

We’ve been told that it’s all in the mind and eye of a person, nothing more than a feeling of pleasure, and there’s no objectivity involved.

As this lie echoed down through history, culture, finance, technology and society, it gathered into a full-blown category 5 hurricane that has debased, deformed and dehumanized us for centuries.

We see this most clearly in how technology is forming us, and not us forming technology. 

Every day, we’re processing and experiencing reality through the lens of technology. 

But the technological imagination is sterile, largely parasitic, and ultimately has little to share with us about the human condition or the nature of reality. 

We’re promised liberation but have to settle on being surveilled, mined for data, force-fed approved narratives, and distracted with memes and GIFs.

The perception needs to shift. 

Away from the subjective self as the final authority, away from technology forming us, and instead fixed on beauty—the only objective reality capable of reforming us.

Because true Beauty is an encounter with Reality.

AI (and really, Machine Learning), in the form of Generative AI tools, are forcing the conversation about Beauty to happen once again.

Because now that you can create any text, visual, video or audio…

What’s left? 

Beauty.

Part II: The Dangerous Promise of Technology and AI

Technology and AI can be a blessing or a curse. 

Right now, it’s a curse as we’re concocting deformed versions of living that lead to dead ends. 

We’re dopamine junkies with no clue about how trapped we are in a cycle of addiction, that is slaughtering our minds and bodies.

And even as technology and AI is making unthinkable leaps of progress, we’ve yet to reap the full rewards of our labor. 

We work longer, harder and faster than ever before. But we’re not productive. 

AI can produce work that took hours, days or weeks in mere minutes. But no one is making masterpieces anymore.

We’re developing sequels and prequels but very few original works. 

We’re rehashing the same conversations, ideas and music. 

We have unparalleled potential in the palm of our hands but we’re binge watching Youtube.

We’re missing a New Aesthetics, a vision for what life can and should be like. 

We can’t see further than the latest iteration of an iPhone or social media platform. 

We’re rich in potential but poor in performance. 

It’s like we can’t see what else there might be. 

AI must become a collaborator, not a master.

AI must open the mind to new possibilities of life by way of the imagination.

AI must become a way in which we fulfill our natures, perceive the truth, and move toward the good.

AI must enrich human life, not drain it of value or meaning.

AI must reveal more of reality, not obfuscate, enhance or distort it.

And this can happen with the proper use of AI. 

Working with AI reveals a process that’s more about negotiation than experimentation. 

AI makes it possible for more people to engage deeper with art, and in turn experience a transformation. It can change, and deepen, our perception and understanding.

The formative process—a life-giving, generative process that can shape us—only happens when we exchange the lie for the truth:

Beauty is objective. It’s real. And it exercises influence over a subject, like ourselves. 

When we accept this, we become active participants in our own formation. 

There’s an active role between the piece of art (the object) and the viewer (the subject). 

In the end, the subject is a co-creator, transforming, re-creating and changing.

In every interaction we have, we’re either formed or deformed. 

To become fully formed humans, physically, psychologically and spiritually, Beauty must return with a vengeance. 

And she is.

Part III: The Return of Beauty

Beauty has been watching from afar, biding her time. 

Every now and then, we’d catch a glimpse of her.

But now I see Beauty coming hard for her revenge. 

She’s coming back with a vengeance, ready to lay claim to our imagination, and give us a new vision. 

We’ve been in a pitch black dark room, bumping into the furniture and each other for hundreds of years. And Beauty is ready to turn on the lights.

When she does, a New Renaissance will come in full force, in a Cambrian explosion, a leap forward, conquer technology, and turn our tech swords into plowshares for life.

And for new ways to become fully formed humans—spiritually, bodily, emotionally.

How you make use of Generative AI and Machine Learning will either dehumanize you—or make you fully alive.

We need Discernment, Judgement, Perspective and a Sense of Taste.

AI can either become a tool of total control—or enable freedom and creativity unlike anything else in a long time.

Through all the tech and code, Beauty is coming.

Talk soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

P.S: Alternative images for The Revenge of Beauty:

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<![CDATA[Prompts for Upgrading Your Writing & Thinking]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-8-prompts-for-writing-thinkinghttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-8-prompts-for-writing-thinkingWed, 04 Jan 2023 12:47:48 GMT

Did you know?

You can assign ChatGPT a “personality” or a “role”.

(Same goes for GPT-3, as far as I’ve tested).

Like, assign the “role” of a debater.

(Saw this from @devisasari).

Prompt: 

“I want you to act as a debater. I will provide you with some topics related to current events and your task is to research both sides of the debates, present valid arguments for each side, refute opposing points of view, and draw persuasive conclusions based on evidence. Your goal is to help people come away from the discussion with increased knowledge and insight into the topic at hand. My first request is "I want an opinion piece about pineapple on pizza."

Swap out the topics and request for whatever you want.

This idea alone should help you craft better prompts.

Most prompts I see people use are too short, simple, and lack context. 

If you’re treating it like a Google search—don’t.

You can do so much more than collecting information faster.

Instead of asking basic search-like questions…

What if you used ChatGPT and GPT-3 to challenge your thinking, and write better?

Ask for things that go against the norm, and for new angles or how to see things with a different lens.

Like this: 

For your own use case:

On whatever topic, idea or subject you’re thinking or writing about—ask ChatGPT to give you something that contradicts the dominant narrative and for thought-provoking content that challenges assumptions.

Another example, asking for new angles, the uncommon and novel: 

For your own use case:

On whatever topic, idea or subject you’re thinking or writing about—ask ChatGPT to give you something that’s new, uncommon, and novel.

I go through this writing exercise with anything and everything.

If I’m writing emails for a client with ChatGPT, I input the subject and ask for the opposite.

If I’m writing my pulp fiction novels, I input the scene and ask to reverse it.

If I’m writing a long-form article, I challenge each point I’m making with contradictions, challenge my assumptions, and seek out the novel and uncommon.

A few more:

You can create content with a specific audience, goal, and writing.

Aside from the “Topic” you saw above, you can also use “Audience” and give it additional context for any particular style you’re looking for.

Ask it to give you this advice as a 40’s mobster:

This is all fun and games but the point is:

What if you processed your thoughts and writing through ChatGPT?

What if you took whatever topic you were writing about, and flipped it around?

What if you had ChatGPT rewrite your stuff into the voice of a 1940’s mobster?

What if you worked, reworked, and rewrote your thoughts and text a few times over?

What could you suddenly discover that you were missing? 

What weaknesses in your argument or logic could you discover? 

What if you realize your text is emotionless and dry? 

What if you asked ChatGPT for emotional language? 

And what if you copied text you’ve written and asked ChatGPT (or GPT-3) to “Analyze the text below for style, voice, and tone. Explain the style, voice, and tone like you are a master coach. Emphasize the gifts of the writer.”

Treat ChatGPT like a writing assistant and have a conversation with it.

You can speak to it like a normal human.

Are you starting to see what you can do yet? 

What if you took whatever you’re writing…

And asked ChatGPT (or GPT-3) to be creative—assigning it a role?

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: 

ChatGPT (and GPT-3) is like a thought processor. 

Put your thinking into words and then have GPT rework it with you.

A perfect writing partner.

There are a ton of prompts floating around the internet.

Here are those 100s of prompts if you haven’t seen them yet.

Please use them.

Talk soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer 

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<![CDATA[Research with AI: How To Discover Secrets, Ideas, Hidden Gems]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-7-research-with-ai-gpt3-chatgpthttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-7-research-with-ai-gpt3-chatgptThu, 15 Dec 2022 17:27:32 GMT
Prompt: man with eye glasses reading in a tent in the forest. plane in the sky far away. artwork by moebius

The quality of your AI output is directly correlated to the quality of your prompt.

This is true throughout any writing process that use AI.

And it’s especially true for doing any kind of research.

This is how GPT-3 (and ChatGPT) can refine your thinking, like a good sparring partner. 

If you get crappy output, it's because you're using crappy prompts.

That's a sign of crappy, lazy thinking. 

Refine, revise, try again.

I’ve seen people call good prompting anything from “prompt craft” to “prompt engineering”.

Lots of people make fun of that concept, too.

But right now, at least, prompting matters more than anything.

I’ll share a list of probably over 100+ prompts you can use for anything in a minute.

But first…

Here’s a quick tutorial on doing research with the help of AI.

(My goal with these tutorials is to get you started and using AI as fast as possible. No one needs a 10 hour lecture. You need to pick any topic, anything, and just try the robots).

How to start your research the right way

Let’s pick a random topic so you can see how this works: 

What are the negative effects of too little sunlight every day?

Now let’s look at a handful of tools:

Talk to Books

Elicit: Ask a research question, get answers 

Consensus: Ask a question, get conclusions from research papers

Tutor.me: Learn anything

You need to keep asking questions and use prompts to find interesting information, like this, with Talk to Books

That right there can be used for a fascinating historical angle, if I’m either writing about vitamin D in general or writing an email about the discovery.

And if you keep trying questions about what’s unique, different, interesting or controversial about your topic—in this case, Vitamin D…

You start to uncover fascinating tidbits that might take you days or weeks to find.

A quick search on turmeric yields this: 

Ancient traditional use. East Indian cooking. For all sorts of health reasons.

Don’t tell me there’s nothing interesting in that. 

I’m counting at least eight things I could turn into either a cookbook, health book, ads, emails or anything else.

Now let’s take something random we got from these tools and expand it with ChatGPT or GPT-3.

And we do so by asking both ChatGPT and GPT-3 interesting and varied questions, in the form of prompts.

Let’s say I have a product or service for men over 50 who are struggling with a vitamin D deficiency.

Here’s one example, taken from the output of any research tool:  

The output from GPT-3 is similar but with some variation: 

If you’re a copywriter, you could pick ANY of the output and easily transform it into an ad, email, or for use on a sales page.

Here’s a quick example from Copylime:

And another example:

You can turn all of that into bullets and use them in emails, ads, pages—anywhere.

From Jasper: 

Not excellent copy, ready to be used—but even a mediocre copywriter can turn that into an ad.

If you’re a storyteller, writing fiction, you can use ANY of the output above and easily transform it into a scene description, from ChatGPT:

And from GPT-3: 

The output went on, but you get the point:

By asking the right questions and exploratory statements, in the form of prompts, you can tease out a whole world for anyone—a customer or a reader of your fiction. 

You can even have poems written for you: 

So, let’s recap AI for research

For your research, for any writing project, the process and integration of various AI tools is simple: 

  1. Pick a piece, part, component or element of your product or service that you want to explore. You can also focus on the target audience.

  2. Formulate interesting research questions and statements you can use in various tools that give you facts, research, and other kinds of output.

  3. Build on your research with ChatGPT and GPT-3.

  4. Use that output in tools like Copylime, Copy.ai, Jasper, and so on, to further refine output into whatever format is useful.

I haven’t even covered storyboarding what you do with image tools like Dall-E, Midjourney, or Stable Diffusion.

This should be plenty for you to know exactly what to do next and try out these tools yourself. 

Here they are again: 

Talk to Books

Elicit: Ask a research question, get answers 

Consensus: Ask a question, get conclusions from research papers

Tutor.me: Learn anything

And of course, the ‘OGs’ of everything. You must use these if you’re serious about integrating AI into your writing process. Almost all other tools are based on what OpenAI puts out in the world:

GPT-3

ChatGPT

But most importantly, you need great prompts. You can find a ton with a quick search, but here’s a good starting point: 

Awesome ChatGPT Prompts

(Well over a hundred and counting).

While I have your attention, here’s a podcast on AI and copywriting:

The Copywriter of the Future with Sam Woods & Kim Krause Schwalm

I had a conversation with one of the best copywriters in the world, Kim Krause Schwalm. If you don’t know who she is, you should. Kim is not just a phenomenal copywriter with a track-record that most copywriter wannabes dream about—she’s also a fantastic teacher. I’ve been her student many times, and continue to learn from here every week. Watch or listen to this conversation on Youtube.

Talk soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

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<![CDATA[Writing In The Age of AI]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-6-writing-age-aihttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-6-writing-age-aiWed, 07 Dec 2022 17:43:36 GMT

Note: You’ve surely read countless hot takes on the new chatGPT. And I’m sure you’re wondering where the AI writing tutorials are. They’re coming. But here’s a very important, critical message that you can’t afford ignore:

I’ve been using GPT-3 for all kinds of writing since it was first released in 2020.

What took me maybe 4-6 prompts to get right with GPT-3, now takes me 1 prompt with chatGPT.

Any additional prompts after the first one is only to continue the “conversation” and get more ideas, angles, thoughts, and text. 

My writing process used to include several iterations, revisions, and editing. 

Now that has been shortened by at least 4 steps.

Overall, my process for how to leverage AI for writing (and thinking) remains the same.

But now I’m getting far better output, faster.

I mean, have you seen what chatGPT can do? 

All of this from Joel Klettke is hilarious: 

(He’s got a bunch of these, please make sure you follow him).

Get a marketing plan done for you in seconds: 

 You can also get code written for you: 

The range of possibilities is as wide and endless as there are humans:

When you think about tools and the value they create, you need to ask yourself:

“What use case does this unlock?” as well as “what problem does this solve?”

Here’s what it all means for writing

It would be premature to have the complete picture. 

It’s so early. 

And yet, it’s too late. Anyone jumping on the bandwagon now is years behind—and everything is accelerating.

I’m barely keeping up, and I’ve been using generative AI (and for quantitative work) for 3 years. 

So, the answer is to not keep up with daily or even weekly changes.

You have a window of ~12 months to find your bearings, try things out, and figure out how to leverage AI for whatever you do.  

Instead of diving into the daily flow of updates, releases, new tools, new this, new that, and everyone doing everything, all at once…

Slow down.

Change your perspective.

When everyone can write anything, at any time…

Your surfboard for this tsunami-level extinction event is not to offer, say, “content marketing with the help of AI”.

Anyone can offer the exact same article writing as you, using the exact same AI writing tool as you, and getting it done as fast as you.

Differentiating with AI alone could be done up until a few weeks ago. Now it’s not good enough. 

Same goes for any writing: fiction, poetry, non-fiction, Facebook ads, emails, landing pages, novels, and all of it.

The novelty of “done with AI” will wear off. 

As amazing as AI and chatGPT is (and it is), your advantage is NOT:

Your Thing + AI

It's:

Your Thing + AI + Your Perspective, Taste, Imagination

When everyone has access to AI, like now, AI alone is no longer the advantage. 

For sure, you can sell something with AI to markets that are clueless, lagging behind, or have little to no interest in doing things with AI. 

But a lasting advantage?

Being fully human is the true unfair advantage.

And now is the time to engage with AI in a way that protects and harnesses us, as we are.

The risk is unimaginable. Things can go very wrong, very quickly. And inadvertently, AI can end up exercising a level of control and domination that no one in their right mind would want. 

But the possibilities are also unimaginable. But if you engage with AI with the right mindset and goal, where ultimately you’re looking for human flourishing…

Things become a lot clearer. 

You need to feel both the sheer terror and the exuberant thrill of what’s possible with AI.

You need to see what could go wrong and what could go right.

And when you do, that emotional energy pounding in your chest can lift you up and forwards, with a spring in your step that might’ve been missing for years. 

The future is now. It’s wide open. 

For writing, here’s a first draft of what I’m thinking.

First draft: Writing in the Age of AI 

  • The writing (and creative) process is the evolution of an idea into its final form through a progression of thoughts and actions. AI can augment, enhance, and expand what you do at every stage. 

    • AI is a co-writer, collaborator, and creative assistant.

  • The way humans write (and do any creative work) is both different and similar.

    • AI and GPT-3 creates new content based on patterns and themes in existing works, which isn’t so different from the way that humans engage in creativity.

    • Even the most innovative writers usually have a solid grounding in the tenets, theory and predecessors of their chosen form, whether it be classical piano or creative fiction writing. 

    • Building on what comes before, consuming and acquiring “input” is a key part of our creative process. 

    • We have higher executive functions that allow us to exhibit reasoning, planning, cognitive flexibility, and problem-solving. 

    • We also have lower-order emotions that allow us to have opinions and care about one idea over another, one word over another, not just as the output of a probability function.

  • Should AI behave in the way we want or the way their creators intended? Whose values align these systems? Should you have access to the full range of human expression, ranging from hate to love, and everything in between? I say yes. Otherwise, we’ll be reduced, marginalized, and cut down.

  • AI can be an amazing improvisation partner. It’s an endless stream of “yes-and” and “no-but”. 

  • Any well-read person knows it is possible to fake intelligence by sounding intelligent. AI sounds intelligent. It’s not intelligent in the way we think of intelligence. But if you’re reading a well-reasoned argument, or converse with a bot without knowing it—does it make a difference?

  • Is the only thing we’ve got left that AI can’t copy our personality? You could train an AI on personality tests—and your personality. But will it ever be able to be you, or will it always just replicate you, in various instances? Does it matter?

    • What’s in you, that makes you, you? 

    • What does “you” look like, fully alive? 

    • If you were to write out “you”, what would I read? 

  • As AI systems become as good as humans at knowledge and writing tasks, you need to explore the illegible, the irrational, and the emotional.

  • If AI turns mediocre writing into a commodity, will that increase the "price" of good writing?

    • But do we pay for “writing” or for what we experience when reading? 

    • Handmade things are appreciated more once you can get cheap replicas or imitations.

    • Will we compliment a piece of writing by saying "this couldn't have been written by an AI"?

    • If AI can generate an endless stream of ideas, will it still be about the “idea” in what you’re reading? 

    • Does it not matter more who the idea came from, or how they communicate it? 

  • Once you produce quantity, it becomes about quality. Fair, but what helps you produce better quantities? Systems and process. Frameworks, models and guiding AI output will matter more for a while. Eventually, it won’t matter at all.

  • The question isn’t: “which tool is better?”. The question is: “how can I use any tool to help me write more, and write better?”

    • What will help you get closer to the vision and idea in your mind, that only you can see? 

    • Do you need to see a lot of text so you can select the “best” version?

    • Or do you have such clarity that you can guide AI to produce what you want?

  • Now that you can do anything with AI, the question is: "What now" and "what for?" Developing your sense of taste has never been more important.

  • What is now required, that you could ignore before? Aesthetics. In another word: Judgment. Which requires you to form a: 

    • Point of view

    • Perspective

    • Personality

    • Sense of taste

I’ll revise this further at some point.

Talk soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

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<![CDATA[How I Write Emails With GPT-3]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-5-writing-emails-gpt3https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-5-writing-emails-gpt3Wed, 30 Nov 2022 17:08:18 GMT

Last year, I optimized and wrote a 7-day email onboarding sequence for a client (selling software). 

It ended up generating over $500,000 over the course of a few months. 

And I did so with the help of GPT-3. 

(My client knew and wanted me to do so. Because as I was doing so, I was also training their marketing team on how to use AI for marketing).

The onboarding sequence for SaaS was meant to turn free trial users into paying users. 

Which means these emails need to hit on several things over about a week:

  • Get the user to actually use the features of the software.

  • Get the user to the “A-ha!” moment, where they experience the true value of the software and become invested in using it.

  • Counter objections along the way.

  • Frame the software as beneficial in all sorts of ways (future-pacing, dimensionalize benefits, implication chains, etc.)

  • Trigger emotional investment and use logic to justify paying for it.

Every email had a purpose, outcome, and structure.

This makes it fairly easy to get good text output from prompts you give GPT-3 (or whichever tool you use). 

Let’s look at one email example.

The purpose of Email #6 (in the sequence) was to provide benefit bullets, covering logical and emotional benefits, that communicated the value of the software. 

I gave GPT-3 some existing content already written (so it knew the topic and some details).

Then I ended with a simple prompt: 

“Give me a list of both logical and emotional reasons as to why and how this fleet management software can help fleet managers with their job.”

Click ‘Submit’. Watch the circle whirl. And I got this: 

There’s some repetition and almost duplicate content. But there’s nuance.

From there, I asked GPT-3 to give me a paragraph with an argument for using fleet management software, along with telling me how it works and what to do next:

The black boxes are redacting the client’s name. 

Why? 

Because it’s still a bit controversial to have your marketing done by robots. And, if people know, you’ll get novelty clicks and attention that makes it hard to get real, accurate results and data. 

(Sidenote: Everything AI-related I do with clients is under NDAs and other agreements. I only share names and details if I get approval from a client. This is to both protect their IP, my IP, and again: get as accurate results from testing as possible. It’s not possible if you get novelty views, clicks, and people gaming your ads or emails).

Anyway.

All of that text is pure GPT-3 output with zero edits. 

With some editing, this can be a great email.

(And it took me maybe 4-5 minutes in total to get the bullets and other email copy written for me).

The email, after some editing: 

Can you see the possibilities here? 

It’s not about writing faster (though that can happen).

It’s not about expecting text that’s flawless and ready to be used (though that can happen, too). 

It’s about getting text, in this case email copy, that you can mold and edit.

Subscribe now

Several of the emotional and logical bullets were reused in ads and in headlines. And they performed really well (not just in click volume but in CPC, CAC, and other metrics).

The key to getting useful output from any AI tool is to use it with a process and structure

Don’t prompt it with:

“Write me an email about how to lose weight”

You won’t get a lot of useful text back. 

Instead, follow a process of: 

  • Gather any materials and research that would help you write copy.

  • Pick a template or structure you would use. 

  • Prompt GPT-3 (or in whichever tool you use) a few times with different information and variations of your prompt. 

  • Take what’s useful.

  • Edit into final copy.

I’m trying to help you see this.

So you can start using AI and GPT-3 in your own process.

I don’t recommend a specific tool other than GPT-3 directly. 

But tools like Jasper.ai, Copy.ai, Copylime.com, and so on are all great for different things.

Don’t ask “which tool is best??” (it’s GPT-3).

Instead, ask yourself how you can implement and start using it in your workflow.

If you do, you’ll soon have emails done that generate serious cash. 

Discovery and magic comes from working with the tools.

Stop procrastinating. Stop wondering which tool. Just get started.

If it wasn’t obvious by now, let me say it again: 

AI, and in particular, GPT-3 is capable of writing anything.

It may not be award-winning prose or poetry that makes you weep right away.

It may not be Facebook ads that produce millions instantly. Or sales pages doing the same.

But it’s perfect for ideation, drafting, surprising insights, interesting twists—and text you can mold into gold.

And soon, GPT-4 will be available. 

In the meantime:

Did you see? Here’s how “bionic ads” can generate dollars

Talk soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

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<![CDATA[Slinging Ai-Written Pulp Fiction On Amazon For Fun And (Very Tiny) Profit]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-4-pulp-fiction-gpt3https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-4-pulp-fiction-gpt3Wed, 16 Nov 2022 13:31:55 GMT
pulp novel cover, hardboiled detective, writer, cinematic, by jean baptiste monge, high contrast details, cinematic lighting, octane render, intricate ultra detail

I took another sip of bulletproof coffee and tapped the trackpad once again.

Green highlighted text filled my screen.

I squinted.

That’s as good as it gets with very little input and a half-baked prompt on the other side of too much Modafinil and grass-fed butter coffee.

Terrible writing.

But a good enough starting point. 

I’ve dabbled in fiction for years. Only finished a handful of novels, started and abandoned around forty others, and still maintain a collection of hundreds of scraps, napkin scribbles, and index card notes.

Characters. Plots. Scenes. Dialogue. 

One weekend, as I was knee-deep in applying various AI tools to solve marketing problems for a client, I took a break and figured GPT-3 could help me write something funny.

It quickly evolved (or devolved) into a variety of scene ideas for a modern-day pulp fiction story, with entrepreneurs, online guru scammers, vaporware, boiler rooms, crypto, internet marketing weirdos, stacks of cash, supplement scams, law enforcement, legal drama—you get the idea.

A hodgepodge of pieces. A plethora of potential. 

I needed a structure and specific framework for turning the bits into pulp.

I’ve preferred Dan Harmon’s Story Circle over The Hero’s Journey.

And being a fan of pulp fiction but with no clue how to write pulp, I set out to cobble it all together. 

I started feeding GPT-3 ideas:

Not great. But you can turn anything terrible into something great.

I experimented with taking chunks from existing pulp fiction work and seeing what GPT-3 would give me back:

So weird. But interesting. And you can do something great with interesting.

Through my work combining AI and marketing, I knew full well at this point that you need to keep refining, editing, and re-prompt GPT-3 to get useful text. 

You get something like the above, which is a quintessential scene in pulp fiction (damsel in distress type thing, usually a murder, corrupt police, etc.)

But then you need to edit and refine it. 

After a couple of weeks worth of prompting, rewriting, editing, writing, prompting, and editing some more, I had a first novel in a series.

About 120 pages. Around 100,00 words.

I’d never written a pulp fiction story before but I have read a lot of it. I knew what to look for. I had a list of scenes that are typical. A general sense of what characters are common. Plot ideas. Antagonists. Sidekicks. Twists and turns. All the usual ingredients that most fiction shares.

I’m being vague on purpose here because the book is live and selling on Amazon (and has been selling since about September 2021). 

The experiment is to see how many copies it sells (as of today, 83), what kind of ratings it gets (4 stars), and if I can keep writing and adding to the series. 

All without anyone knowing a robot is my co-writer. 

Once I publish two more (for a total of three), I’ll give you all a link. But once everyone knows, it’ll put an end to the experiment and I’ll have people buying one or two for novelty, ratings will either be 1-star negative or maybe 4-star but all miss the point.

The second and third books are in production. And in recent weeks, I’ve come across James Hull and his Subtxt app (along with his Maven course, AI-Powered Storytelling).

This has given me more structure to fill with GPT-3 pulp.

And I’ve ended up with scene ideas like this: 

It’s raw. But you can do something with this.

Or this: 

All of this highlights one thing that’s critical for making GPT-3 work for you:

You must have a structure and intention behind the prompts and what you do with it all. 

Perhaps GPT-4 will blow us all away even more and make magic possible at the click of a button.

But for now, to write anything with GPT-3, you must have a mold to pour it all into. 

Talk soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

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<![CDATA[Bionic Ads: The $139,522 Facebook Ad]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-3-bionic-ads-the-139522-facebook-adhttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-3-bionic-ads-the-139522-facebook-adTue, 08 Nov 2022 23:07:35 GMT

We’d been at it all day.

For six straight hours, we scrutinized our ads, emails, and sales page.

We pored over the data.

Punched holes in our theories. 

And evaluated copy ideas, headlines, spitball drafts, calls-to-action, proof, benefits, feedback and revisions.

Everything was put under the microscope.

Each question was answered with watertight facts and ironclad proof.

Team members, stakeholders and decision-makers all chimed in with their ideas.

But as the hours chugged away, frustration and exhaustion set in.

A group session in the conference room can only take you so far.

Sooner or later, you have to decide what copy you run with—and let the market decide what “converts” best.

At the end of the day, we settled for campaign copy that can best be described as dishwasher water.

The copy was a soupy mess, poured into a grimy glass, with olives-on-toothpick and an umbrella to mask the disaster.

All the creative juices weren’t worth the squeeze.

As the new campaign was launched on a Tuesday morning, at 7:47am…

I already knew it would be a spectacular flop. An embarrassment.

It was nothing but a colossal, total waste of time, energy and resources.

The ads zipped around the web, deployed across networks, fueled by an impressive media budget large enough to fund a small country.

The landing pages, videos and emails kicked into gear, ready to receive and convert the masses.

The sales team had been briefed. The support team was on standby.

Any minute now, the payment processor would smirk like Nicolas Cage, put on a pair of Ray-Bans, slide into the driver’s seat, turn the key, and roar like a 1967 Ford Shelby GT500 and take a victory lap.

And the ding-ding-ding notifications were surely about to dribble in like giddy chipmunks.

But the rest, as Hamlet said, was silence.

A bunch of clicks, a handful of page views. Zero sales.

Now fast-forward to right here, right now, as you’re reading this.

Do you know why the campaign failed?

Do you have any guesses as to why this marketing campaign sputtered, choked and died on the finish line?

It wasn’t only that too many team members had far too many opinions on the copy, and decided they should share their “thoughts”.

It wasn’t only that, all of a sudden, the developer, manager and designer were all experts on copywriting and marketing.

It wasn’t only that the company had outdated, incomplete or useless “brand” and “messaging guidelines”, based on nothing but someone’s opinion or unproven data.

It wasn’t only the usual “copy by committee”.

All these things happened.

Do you know what the biggest problem was?

Humans writing all the words.

Yes.

Humans writing all the words.

Now before you choke on your bulletproof coffee.

Read this closely:

Humans writing ALL the words.

Let me explain.

You can fix all of the above and your copy could still fail to move the needle.

The problem goes deeper.

A few experienced copywriters already know that.

So their approach is simply to generate quantity—as many ads, emails, landing pages, and copy as they can come up with. 

Because they know you have to write a lot of copy, and test it in the wild, to discover what converts.

That’s also why templates and headline formulas are so popular.

They’re like a primitive, lo-fi version of AI copywriting and GPT-3. 

Just grab some frameworks and templates, let them guide your writing, fill in the blanks, and voila, you have copy that should convert.

But the next set of problems soon comes knocking: 

Your biases.

If you’re too close to the product, research, and copy for too long, you’re actually less likely to spot anything that’s wrong or should be done differently.

You’re effectively “blind” to your copy. 

It becomes harder and harder to separate yourself from what you’ve written, taking a step back and reevaluating.

You simply cannot see what’s wrong (or what’s right.)

That’s because your brain is working against you.

Paradoxically, this is even more debilitating if you’ve done all your research.

The “secret sauce” of successful copywriting has always been “do enough research.”

This is where you discover big ideas, hooks, the right language and words to use.

You spend hours, days and even weeks immersed in the features and benefits of the product or service you’re trying to sell. 

You deep dive into customer personas, psychographics, do interviews, run surveys, and assess competitor messaging.

You do all of it. Because that’s where you (often) find the best messaging that turns into copy.

And this is all true. Most of the time.

The danger is that you’re doing all the research but don’t know what to look for. 

So if a big idea is staring you in the face, you fail to recognize it. 

Or someone says something in an interview that could’ve turned out to be the perfect headline. But once again you don’t realize it.

There’s such a thing as too much research. 

That brings me to what’s likely the greatest leap forward for marketers and copywriters in a century.

(And, to be honest, for any writer of any form—poetry, fiction, screenwriting, and so on).

Much has been said and written about GPT-3 and AI-produced content. 

Robots can now write anything—poetry, screenplays, fiction and ads—to some degree.

But the giant leap forward is not that these tools can write 50 ads or more in mere minutes.

GPT-3 is a key that unlocks unlimited creativity.

Back to the story: 

As everyone filed into the conference room and sat down for the post mortem of the spectacularly failed campaign…

I quickly opened up a new tab, typed in a URL and logged in.

Everyone was expecting the usual 20-slide presentation.

But I had other plans. 

You see, a few weeks before this meeting, late one night, as I was playing around with this new tool, GPT-3…

I stumbled on something that was so obvious, and so evident, that I was embarrassed to have not realized it sooner.

If there’s such a thing as dereliction of duty for copywriters, I was guilty as charged.

My team and I had experimented with various AI text-generators for several months, and had used GPT-2, as well as beta-tested GPT-3 before it was publicly released. 

But we had always gone for the obvious play:

Get a ton of text, of varying degrees of quality, generated really fast. Make edits, changes and turn it into something usable.

Everyone was excited about producing 50, 100, 200 ads in minutes.

And reading the often hilariously weird output was part of the fun.

But that’s what amateurs do. 

Everyone was seated, a few people joined the Zoom, and I turned on the projector.

As my browser tab came into focus, all you could see was a sparse looking text input field and a couple of buttons.

The big kahuna, the team manager (Monica), turned to me and said, “OK Sam, let’s start with your overview, a look through the data, and then--”

I leaned across the table.

And cut to the chase:

“Monica, how about we skip the data and speculation and jargon… and I just give you a demonstration of how we fix this?”

I could feel every head turn toward me. 

Everything and everyone went silent. 

Monica sat back, eyed me up, and said, “Uh, what do you have in mind?”

I gestured at the screen, typed a couple of sentences into the text field, and clicked one of the buttons.

In less than a minute, text started filling my screen. More came, halting, then smoothly.

I turned to everyone and said, “What you’re looking at is text generated by GPT-3. It’s doing this on its own, taking my input, and feeding back text that it thinks fits.”

Puzzled looks. Squints behind glasses. I continued.

“Out of all this output, and if I keep giving it input to get more, we can begin to identify raw copy for ads, emails, pages – basically any copy that we need.

Take a look at this text, for example…”

I singled out a blurb of text…

“This, right here, could become an ad. It’s a little weird, but honestly, at this point, what do we have to lose?”

I copied the text, opened up a Google doc, and pasted it in.

“Now, watch this…”

I took a couple of minutes to edit the text, rearranged some of it, and turned it into a Facebook ad.

I could tell that Monica wanted to jump in with something, anything, but she was a bit stumped.

I seized the opportunity to just continue with the demonstration.

With a few more edits and a read-through, it was done.

One of our Facebook media buyers was in the room.

“Mike, I’m going to Slack you this document. Can you please launch it together with one of our ad sets, right now?”

Mike opened his laptop, hesitated, and looked at Monica. She only had eyes for me, but not in a romantic way. 

She turned to Mike, nodded and said “Sure, why not.”

Mike got to work. 

About an hour later, I found myself hunched over my laptop with everyone in the room standing around me, looking over my shoulder.

Peering down at my screen, I waited.

A moment passed. 

Then, slowly, I glanced up from the laptop.

“Do you all see this? We have our first sale.”

Now cut and fast-forward again to right here, right now.

Not only had we just turned a failed and dead campaign into something that could work…

And it did.

To the tune of $739,120 in new revenue over the course of 3 months.

Not only had we done that starting with just ONE new ad hauling in $139,522 on its own (and that spawned into 20, 30, 40 and more over several weeks).

We had done so in a way that’s not supposed to work.

Conventional thinking around advertising, copywriting and creativity demands absolute worship at the feet of research.

The Gods of media buying demands a multitude of sacrifices. 

The Lords of management dictates that all copy shall be written by committee.

The ritual of research, writing, and testing shall (almost) guarantee successful outcomes, in the form of conversions.

We petition the Angels and Saints of advertising for a bountiful harvest.

And what I had just done was utter blasphemy. 

Instead of going back to the mile-long research documents and folders bursting at the seams…

I had taken only a morsel and offered it up to GPT-3.

Instead of writing copy by committee, soliciting stakeholder buy-in, and reviewing it all…

I had picked raw text that looked interesting to me.

Instead of writing text on a Procrustean bed of ad templates and frameworks...

I took the raw text and turned it into an ad.

It worked. It converted. It made sales.

And this is the giant leap forward (that’s more of a side-step).

It’s a new way of being “creative” and writing copy.

It’s a different way of processing, formulating, and writing—anything. Not just ads.

The constraints are not the usual suspects of templates, formulas, research, copy by committee, and having clueless people give their “feedback.”

The constraint isn’t even testing enough ad or copy volume, hoping to find a winner.

The constraint has always been ideation—seeing things differently, getting the weird ideas, the unusual perspectives.

With GPT-3 and other AI writing tools…

If you use them correctly, you can generate ideas that can turn $1 into $100,000… and then $100,000 into $1,000,000.

And, at the same time, dig deep into our hearts and psyche in a way that changes everything.

Talk soon,
Samuel Woods
The Editor

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<![CDATA[Could Shakespeare Write This? Or Would You Click On This Ad?]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-2-could-shakespeare-write-thishttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-2-could-shakespeare-write-thisWed, 02 Nov 2022 01:18:08 GMTWhat if you could write a Shakespearean sonnet in seconds?

Someone, somewhere will say: “That’s not a very good Shakespearean sonnet!”

Of course not.

Pretty good on the very first try with no other input than the first line.

And it’s pretty good for a robot.

On the first, very simple prompt.

If you’re a poet or inclined to pen poems every now and then, you can use that as a starting point or just edit it together.

How about this start of a short story: 

Let’s get the hecklers out of the way: 

“But Sam, this is not a very good short story!” 

No, but it’s pretty good for a robot. 

And it’s sort of funny. You could easily expand that into a short story. It has everything.

How about this Facebook ad: 

Not very good.

But if you’re a half-decent copywriter, you can edit together something better.

On the topic of ads and generating ideas for ads:

Decent starting point. But not very good.

Let’s ramp up and really twist the knife:

Sit down to put your shoes on.

Man boobs ruining your summer.

Get your wife to take notice.

No energy to play with your kids. 

Ouch.

Very specific scenarios you can imagine. 

A half-decent copywriter can edit that together pretty easily. 

With the examples above, do you see what you could do with just GPT-3? 

In the meantime…


TECH & TOOLS

How does AI actually work, anyway?

I’m far from an expert, but let’s start with a few definitions:

  1. AI is when machines demonstrate intelligence at the human level and beyond.

  2. Machine learning (ML) is how machines learn to be intelligent by identifying patterns in data. ML models have two artifacts:

    1. Label: The output that the machine wants to predict (e.g., video watch time).

    2. Features: Inputs to achieve the output (e.g., video views and likes).

At a high level, machine learning works in 3 steps:

  1. Prepare data: Machines need lots of quality data to learn. For example, to convert text to images, a ML model needs to learn from millions of images with text labels. ML engineers typically spend 80% of their time manually cleaning the data in a process called feature engineering.

  2. Train model: Next, ML engineers split the data into a training set and a test set. The machine uses the training set to build the model and then uses the test set to improve the model’s accuracy. The model’s algorithms can be:

    1. Simple like a linear regression (e.g., a person’s weight = 80 + 2 * height). The model will adjust the feature weights (e.g., change 2 to 1.5) through repeat iterations to more accurately predict the label (output).

    2. Complex like a neural network. The model will not only assign weights to features but also create new features automatically. Most models based on images or natural language use neural networks.

  3. Build user experience: After training the model, the team needs to build a UX where people can supply inputs to get their desired output. How the model works is a black box even to ML engineers, so the user experience needs to be clear, believable, and actionable.

In short: 

Machines need large quality data sets to learn. They get better by identifying patterns and predicting outcomes through repeat iterations.

When GPT-3 writes a sonnet, it’s identifying patterns and predicting what words should come next. It looks like magic when it happens in seconds and when the output is something that looks as if a human wrote it.


Talk to you again next week!

Cheers,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

]]>
<![CDATA[It Started With Pen & Paper. You Won’t Believe What Happens Next.]]>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-1-pen-paper-keyboard-codehttps://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-1-pen-paper-keyboard-codeTue, 25 Oct 2022 11:47:01 GMT

Pen and paper. 

Keyboard and code. 

All tools for writers. 

And these tools have never taken any writer jobs, either. 

Instead, tools enable the next level of creation.

For writers (and, really, for anyone doing creative work), AI can open up your next level of creation. 

For any kind of writing. 

With the help of AI (and GPT-3 specifically), you can write poems, short stories, novels, limericks, scholarly articles, blog posts, emails, ads—anything.

In Bionic Writer, you’ll discover what happens with humans and tech meet to write.

What’s the most interesting tool to come in a long time? 

GPT-3 from OpenAI.

Here’s a quick primer: 

What is GPT-3 and how does it work? 

It consumed all of the internet.

Crunched the numbers.

And figured out how to predict what word should come next.

GPT-3 has read all of Wikipedia, all of Google Books, every month of the Common Crawl dataset from 2016 to October 2019, comprising every piece of writing on the web during that time. 

It has read 45 terabytes of text.

This equals a book about 3,375,000,000 pages long.

It has analyzed billions of lines of text, figured out what matters and what doesn’t in language, and then uses that information to write more text.

From everything it consumed, all it cares about is producing the next word that should come after whatever word it just read (or wrote).

That is, it produces different probabilities for different words, and then picks the one with the highest likelihood of being the accurate word.

If I prompt GPT-3 with “Mary had a little…”, it will guess “lamb” and insert it. 

Depending on what else I told it, I could also get something like: 

You give GPT-3 a prompt—a piece of writing—and then it tries to predict what would come after that, based on all the stuff it has read and the rules it has learned.

It’s like it writes from memory.

Humans do things a little differently.

We build abstract mental models. As we write, we synthesize thoughts and knowledge. 

We have an idea or construct of what we want to write formed in our minds. We then write those out in words, sentences, and paragraphs. 

At some point, we edit, rewrite, and edit some more.

We use planning, reasoning, problem-solving and other cognitive processes as we write.

GPT-3 doesn’t do that.

But how much does that matter? 

Maybe not a lot.

Researchers have given test subjects 200-word news articles written by either humans or GPT-3 and asked them to state which one had written them. On average, they chose right only 52% of the time, which is basically just guessing right.

In some instances, it’s obvious that an AI wrote something.

Other times, you can’t tell. 

But we’re not concerned about being able to tell human words vs. robot words apart. 

What matters is how GPT-3 can help you write—better. 

GPT-3 is very good at writing things that are short and creative. Task it with something long and factual, and it struggles.

So, from now on, think of it this way: 

How can GPT-3 help me improve your writing, thinking, and ultimately—your creativity?

In other words:

How do you get the most out of AI as a writer?

You give it a great “prompt”. 

The more you put into GPT-3, the more you get.

GPT-3 writes better if you give it examples of what you want. 

It takes the context and the patterns in the prompt and uses them to narrow down its model of language to things that match

Then, it generates text that fits the context and pattern.

Your prompt is critical. The more information you give the model in the prompt, the better the output will be. If you give it the context and three-to-five examples of what you want, you’ll get a better output than if you give it little information.

For writers, of any kind of text, what you’re seeing is a blend between:

  • Software developers (who write ‘prompts’ in the form of code—very specific ‘prompts’ that tell software what to do).

And…

  • Creatives (who conjure up ‘prompts’ in their mind, work them out in real life, and create a piece of art).

Putting it simply, we’re all dealing with ‘prompts’ one way or another.

Prompt craft is how you want to think about this. 

How can you give AI and your imagination better direction with prompts?

Now, when I sit down to write anything, I start with a vague prompt and then through my writing and use of GPT-3, it develops into a clearer prompt.

In turn, my imagination feeds it back into GPT-3, and out comes text. 

I got some amazing links for you below.

Plus what tools are best. 

Next time: Watch over my shoulder as GPT-3 writes me good stuff and make me gooder writer.


“So Sam, which tool is best?” 

There’s no clear answer to this.

Because it all depends on your use case.

There are over 100+ tools available. And more are coming. 

Most of the time, I’ll tell you to just use GPT-3 from OpenAI. 

Why?

Almost all AI writing tools are layers on top of GPT-3. 

(This includes popular apps like Jarvis, Copy.ai, Anyword, and many more).

These tools tap into the vast ocean of words that GPT-3 can generate and fine-tune what you get back to suit your needs.

Writing fiction and stories? Sudowrite is better for this (and not, for example, for writing Facebook ads).

Writing ads, emails, and other copy assets? Anyword can help with that.

Writing blog posts and other content market assets? Copy.ai can help with that.

Want to use GPT-3 for SEO? Keyword Insights AI can help.

And on it goes.

There’s overlap between uses for all of these tools.

But for the most part, tools are fairly specific about use cases and will tailor what you get along those lines. 

In upcoming weekly issues, I will walk through several tools that people seem to love and show you what’s possible.

For now, just remember that almost all apps use GPT-3 for text generation.

Here’s a list of about 41 tools (no affiliate links, just honest opinion).

Talk again soon,
Samuel Woods
The Bionic Writer

]]>
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<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28e98d9a-180b-4cad-954c-385a0870cf9d_1600x900.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28e98d9a-180b-4cad-954c-385a0870cf9d_1600x900.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28e98d9a-180b-4cad-954c-385a0870cf9d_1600x900.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28e98d9a-180b-4cad-954c-385a0870cf9d_1600x900.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28e98d9a-180b-4cad-954c-385a0870cf9d_1600x900.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28e98d9a-180b-4cad-954c-385a0870cf9d_1600x900.png" width="728" height="409.5" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/28e98d9a-180b-4cad-954c-385a0870cf9d_1600x900.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;normal&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:819,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:728,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28e98d9a-180b-4cad-954c-385a0870cf9d_1600x900.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28e98d9a-180b-4cad-954c-385a0870cf9d_1600x900.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28e98d9a-180b-4cad-954c-385a0870cf9d_1600x900.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28e98d9a-180b-4cad-954c-385a0870cf9d_1600x900.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><h2>1. The Green Tomato Book</h2><p>"Where are the other books?"</p><p>I blinked, scanning the small, sparse room again.&nbsp;</p><p>All I saw was a book on growing tomatoes. I like to eat them but there&#8217;s no way I&#8217;d ever care about growing them.</p><p>The old shopkeeper's eyebrows arched. "Other books?"</p><p>"Yeah, you know... other titles? Options?" I gestured vaguely around the room.</p><p>He chuckled. "You're looking at it."</p><p>I looked at the small stack of the same book on the table.</p><p>"You mean...?"</p><p>"One book. That's all we sell here."</p><p>I&#8217;ve seen my fair share of pop-up stores but this was something else. No store name out front. Just a single room off the street, in a small building, crammed between a luxury clothing brand and a supermarket.&nbsp;</p><p>"But how do you stay in business?" I asked.</p><p>"We sell the right book to the right person at the right time. Nothing more, nothing less."</p><p>I stared at the green leather cover.</p><p>"And this is...?"</p><p>"Your next book," he said simply. "If you choose to read it."</p><p>My hand hovered over the green book. The shop seemed to hold its breath.</p><p>The inspiration for the book shop I found myself in is Morioka Shoten, &#8220;a single room with a single book&#8221; store, in Tokyo. It sells only one book. More precisely, it sells multiple copies of one title that changes weekly, with a small book-inspired art exhibition. It has spawned a network of similar book stores all around the world.</p><p>If you ever wanted a good example of curation in the Age of AI, this is it. And it&#8217;s different from how we typically think about, and do, curation.</p><p>We&#8217;re going from using data to curate markets to find one thing, to bringing relevance to <em>any</em> thing with data (and AI).</p><p>Let me show you what I mean.&nbsp;</p><h2>2. How Amazon Curates What You Buy (And Don&#8217;t Buy)</h2><p>Today we think of Amazon as an algorithm that gives you accurate suggestions on what to buy next. But in 1997, Amazon had a strong human editorial voice with site editors, who were posting reviews and providing recommendations.&nbsp;</p><p>Many of these editors had a literary background, wrote hundreds of reviews based on their own taste, and edited the home page where millions were influenced by their thumbs up or thumbs down. The goal was to give Amazon an indie bookshop feel, and their curation could make or break books.</p><p>But pretty quickly, Amazon moved to a mass curational model, with a technique called collaborative filtering. It shifted focus from personal editor reviews to discovering correlations between products. The goal was simple: match customers like me with others who had similar purchase histories and show me what to buy next.&nbsp;</p><p>This eventually turned into item-to-item collaborative filtering. Instead of matching customers, this approach focused on finding connections between products. The human connection was either gone or buried inside algorithms, if it existed at all. If you just compared product correlations, and if you had a large enough dataset, the system could suggest the next thing to buy with uncanny accuracy.</p><p>In a handful of moves, Amazon went from human curated recommendations to hyper-tailored pattern matching. </p><p>We went from &#8220;you can learn to love this, because another human with a more refined taste is recommending it&#8221; to more of a &#8220;we know what you will love, buy this next thing&#8221;. Within Amazon the process was known as personalization, which is an odd term since there&#8217;s not much of a person involved.</p><p>However, as clever as this system is, it isn&#8217;t without flaws. Crucially, the system can&#8217;t understand why an item or a book is desirable, and as a result, it can only promote consumption. This does make sense for Amazon. The whole purpose of that business is, after all, to sell stuff forever.&nbsp;</p><p>Compare this with the one single book store. The store is about you falling in love with the single object you&#8217;re presented with. Amazon is about using big data, big algorithms, and big machine learning models to find the perfect next thing for you to buy, out of millions.</p><p>The Amazon-based model of curation has quickly become the de facto standard for just about all platforms, from commerce to social. Pretending to be human oriented, what makes us human is conspicuously absent. For better or worse, everything is based on complex algorithms and machine learning.&nbsp;</p><p>This is not necessarily a bad thing, but in the Age of AI, is it what we need? No, it&#8217;s not.</p><p>In the Age of AI, curation is not about finding you the perfect next thing to buy or look at. Instead, it&#8217;s about a fuller experience with whatever is in front of you.&nbsp;</p><p>Instead of optimizing for purchases, you could use AI for discovery and a true encounter with the reality of an object. The experience becomes one of sense-making and meaning-making.</p><p>Amazon's great at suggesting products we might buy. But I'm more interested in how AI could act as a curator&#8212;while helping us practice the skill of curation.</p><h2>3. Meanwhile, Inside the Bookstore&#8230;</h2><p>Back in that book store, I picked up the book with the green leather binding and it rested easily in my hands.&nbsp;</p><p>I've never cared about tomatoes beyond their flavor and texture on a cheeseburger with extra bacon, a fried egg, banana, and avocado on the side.&nbsp;</p><p>This book was about growing tomatoes. I flipped the book open to about the middle and looked up, suddenly aware of my surroundings.</p><p>Every surface, every corner in the store was dedicated to tomatoes. A series of watercolor paintings hung on the walls, showcasing the vivid reds, yellows, and greens of tomato varieties. Glass cases displayed soil samples, labeled with their mineral content and pH levels.</p><p>My eyes were drawn to a series of paintings and drawings on the far wall. I wandered over, the book still in my hand.</p><p>The first was a detailed pencil sketch of a tomato plant, its structure meticulously rendered. Next to it hung a vibrant watercolor painting of a sliced tomato, its seeds and gel-like interior captured with surprising beauty.&nbsp;</p><p>But it was the third piece that truly caught my attention&#8212;an oil painting of a sun-drenched tomato field. The artist had managed to capture the play of light on the leaves, the heavy droop of tomato-laden vines. I could feel the warmth of the sun and smell the soil and plants.</p><p>The shopkeeper appeared beside me. "The artist spent a whole growing season on a tomato farm to create these. She wanted to capture not just the look, but the feeling of being there."</p><p>He gestured towards a nearby table. "Take a look at these."</p><p>On the table sat a row of clear jars, each containing a tomato plant at different stages of growth. From a tiny sprout to a mature plant heavy with fruit, it was like a time-lapse sequence frozen in glass.</p><p>"I've never really thought about how tomatoes grow," I admitted.</p><p>"Most people don't. But once you start, it's fascinating. Did you know that tomato plants can communicate with each other?"</p><p>"What? How?" I found myself asking, surprised by my own curiosity.</p><p>He pointed to a diagram on the wall. "They release certain chemicals into the soil when they're under attack by pests. Nearby plants pick up on these signals and start producing their own pest-resistant compounds."</p><p>I moved closer to examine the diagram, the book still in my hands. As I did, I noticed a tray of soil with several varieties of tomato seedlings. Each was labeled with its name and characteristics.</p><p>"Feel free to touch them," the shopkeeper encouraged. "Gently, of course."</p><h2>4. How To Scale Curation (And Tomatoes)</h2><p>Right there and then, as I was focused on the soil and seeds, trays and branches, I found myself intrigued. </p><p>Something that I didn&#8217;t care at all about before (tomatoes and growing them), was opened up to me in a new way. I&#8217;ve picked them up, placed them in a plastic bag, and bought them at a grocery store more times than I can count. I&#8217;ve eaten them in salads, on burgers, and with a thich, generous slice of mozzarella. </p><p>But now, I encountered them on their own terms&#8212;I could touch, smell, and take them in as they were, without them playing a supporting role in food. They became more real to me.</p><p>I could see a new form of curation that would work in the Age of AI.</p><p>Instead of volume and matchmaking, through algorithms and machines&#8212;it&#8217;s one, green book on growing tomatoes. </p><p>Imagine if every object you come across could be imbued with relevance? If everything you encounter could be made more meaningful? This is what AI could help us do, if used properly.</p><p>It&#8217;s about <strong>truly encountering whatever is in front of you, the realness of anything, on its own terms.</strong></p><p>Curation that facilitates this, is the kind of curation that will matter in the Age of AI. This is the next frontier in the ever-evolving pursuit of what being human is. And now it can be done at scale.</p><p>What I mean is this: In the same way that search is for finding, curation is for discovery. </p><p>When I first started practicing curation, I saw it as a process of filtering and arranging information. But the more I curate, the more I realize it goes beyond selection and arrangement&#8212;it&#8217;s <strong>translation</strong>. </p><p>A translator transforms ideas, capturing nuances and cultural context to make the original meaning clear in a new form. One of the most powerful forms of this curation-as-translation is vernacular transformation.&nbsp;</p><p>Imagine trying to understand World War I, but all the history books seem dry and disconnected from your life. Now picture an AI system that could explain the entire conflict using Fortnite as a metaphor. Suddenly, complex alliances become squad formations, trench warfare translates to building defensive structures, and the impact of new technologies mirrors the effects of rare weapons in the game. That's curation as translation.</p><p>When you curate, you&#8217;re not just picking out the "best" pieces of information. You&#8217;re transforming that information into something new&#8212;something that speaks to your audience in a way they can truly understand and connect with.</p><h2>5. The New Form of Curation in the Age of AI</h2><p>First, you'd need to 'teach' the AI about yourself in a comprehensive way. It's like creating a digital twin of your mind&#8212;your interests, knowledge base, thinking patterns, and even your quirks. This isn't just about listing preferences, however&#8212;it's about modeling your intellectual DNA.&nbsp;</p><p>What if we could curate not just from what exists, but from what's possible? Instead of showing the same tomato gallery to everyone, what if it constructed a gallery custom to you?</p><h3>The Cabinet of Wonder</h3><p>Turns out you can, if we go back in time and look at so-called 'cabinet of wonders', or 'Wunderkammer'. These originated in Renaissance Europe and were rooms filled with diverse collections of objects&#8212;natural specimens, works of art, and curiosities from around the world.&nbsp;</p><p>The bizarre and extraordinary reigned supreme. Rudolf II's Kunstkammer in Prague housed the ominous Codex Gigas, also known as the Devil's Bible, alongside a whimsical mechanical golden ship.</p><p>Ole Worm's Museum Wormianum in Copenhagen proudly displayed a stuffed crocodile suspended from the ceiling, a visual shock to 17th-century Danish visitors. The Tradescant Collection in London boasted one of the few existing dodo remains of the time, as well as a cherry stone intricately carved with 20 faces.&nbsp;</p><p>In Florence, Francesco I de' Medici's Studiolo concealed secret cabinets behind elaborate frescoes, each hiding exotic curiosities and precious oddities. Perhaps most unusually, Archduke Ferdinand II's collection at Ambras Castle featured a macabre gallery of portraits depicting people with deformities, alongside a revered suit of armor belonging to Skanderbeg, the Albanian national hero.&nbsp;</p><p>These collections blurred the lines between natural history, art, and the occult, offering a glimpse into a world where the strange and wonderful were cherished and displayed with equal reverence. People could see, touch, and often smell pieces of a different world taking shape in front of them.</p><p><strong>Curation becomes a transformative act.</strong> We're not just selecting and arranging&#8212;we're interpreting and revealing. And what if you could use big data to get the most out of any object you&#8217;re given?&nbsp;</p><p>Imagine holding an unremarkable stone in your hand. As you turn it over, your AI-enhanced glasses spring to life, overlaying the stone with information and storytelling. The AI, drawing from databases of geological, historical, and cultural knowledge, begins to weave a narrative uniquely tailored to you. It notices the stone's subtle glint and, knowing your interest in astronomy, tells you about the cosmic origins of its minerals, born in the heart of a long-dead star. The AI then seamlessly connects this to your recent travels, explaining how similar stones were used in ancient rituals at a site you visited last summer.&nbsp;</p><p>As you listen, the stone in your hand transforms. It's no longer a pebble. It's an object of value, unique on its own, a time capsule, a connection between your personal experiences and the expanse of human knowledge.&nbsp;</p><p>The AI curator also suggests creative ways you might incorporate the stone into your hobby of landscape painting, showing a projection of how its textures could add depth to your next piece.</p><p>You&#8217;re creating new ways of experiencing reality, helping people see the true nature of things they might have missed. That is, you and I can experience the true reality, the real essence, of an object, person, or situation&#8212;whatever is in front of us. This is curation.</p><h3>What An AI Wunderkammer Looks Like</h3><p>I've created an AI system that acts as a curator and helps us practice the skill of curation. </p><p>To do this, I had to rethink my approach to AI and information processing. This system wouldn't just be about selection or arrangement of information, but about creating a digital 'cabinet of wonders'.</p><p>It begins with a question: What&#8212;of everything you&#8217;ve watched, read, and heard&#8212;has captured your attention and imagination? Beauty, perhaps. Fractals and chaos theory. Persuasion and influence. Bioluminescent algae and tigers. Florence and The Grand Canyon. Networks and nodes. Aristotle, Mandelbrot, da Vinci, Buckminster Fuller, Carl Jung&#8212;the list of people, places, ideas, and things is an endless scroll.</p><p>With this understanding, the AI helps you make sense of what&#8217;s in front of you, then translates whatever that is into a form that allows you to experience its true reality, much like carefully arranged objects in a cabinet of wonders.</p><p>But it's not about taking in a lot of information&#8212;this system would help you practice the art of curation yourself. It would teach you how to select, arrange, and present information in ways that reveal its true essence to others, just as the curators of historical cabinets of wonders did.</p><p>An AI curation system would incorporate a feedback mechanism, similar to reinforcement learning in large language models. As you curate your digital cabinet of wonders, it would help you refine your skills, guiding you to create experiences that are not just personally meaningful, but relevant and impactful for others. It would encourage constant exploration and confrontation with new ideas, helping you escape the taste traps set by conventional algorithms and continually expand your collection.&nbsp;</p><p>This AI system wouldn't replace your own thinking or creativity. Instead, it would be a collaborative tool, constantly learning from your interactions and feedback.</p><p>By reimagining curation as the creation and sharing of digital cabinets of wonders, you're creating a new way to interact with knowledge. It's not just to know more or understand more deeply, but to truly experience the essence of reality and share that experience with others.&nbsp;</p><p>This approach to curation has the potential to influence others, bridging gaps between fields, cultures, and individual perspectives, much like how the historical cabinets of wonders sparked curiosity and cross-pollination of ideas.</p><p>In this way, <strong>you're not just a consumer of information, but a facilitator of wonder,</strong> using AI to help you curate experiences that reveal the true nature of our world.&nbsp;</p><p>Curation used to be about selection and arrangement. You curated to remember things you cared about, or to communicate an idea, and to remember.</p><p>In the old world, curation shapes your taste. But in the Age of AI, <strong>curation shapes your perception</strong>. </p><p>Curation is about finding the right object, but translation is about unlocking any object&#8212;so you can experience the full reality of whatever is in front of you.</p><h2>6. Growing &amp; Curating Tomatoes</h2><p>Back in the bookstore, I put down the green book, and ran my fingers over the delicate tomato leaves. They were softer than I expected, almost velvety. The earthy smell reminded me of my grandmother's garden.</p><p>"You know," I said, picking up the book again, "I never thought I'd be interested in growing tomatoes. But this is actually pretty cool."</p><p>The shopkeeper nodded. I caught a glimpse of a smirk but it vanished quickly.&nbsp;</p><p>I flipped through more pages, noticing how the book's descriptions matched the exhibits around the room. It was as if the entire store was an extension of the book, bringing it to life.</p><p>"I think I'll buy this," I said, surprising myself. "Maybe I'll try growing some tomatoes of my own."</p><p>As he rang up my purchase, in the few minutes I spent in that store, I'd experienced more than just a book sale. </p><p>I'd been given a glimpse into the fascinating reality of something I'd always taken for granted.&nbsp;</p><p>Talk again soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bionicwriter.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Bionic Writer! Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p></p> ]]>
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<title>
<![CDATA[ The Taste Trap ]]>
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<![CDATA[ In the Age of AI, taste is the differentiator in content and media consumption. While current algorithms keep us in a "Taste Trap," Agentic AI Sommeliers can expand our tastes and influence others. ]]>
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<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-14-taste-trap-age-ai</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-14-taste-trap-age-ai</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 06 Nov 2024 12:47:02 GMT</pubDate>
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<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F691f0524-a7c6-4370-9554-c99a91b031c5_2048x2048.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F691f0524-a7c6-4370-9554-c99a91b031c5_2048x2048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F691f0524-a7c6-4370-9554-c99a91b031c5_2048x2048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F691f0524-a7c6-4370-9554-c99a91b031c5_2048x2048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F691f0524-a7c6-4370-9554-c99a91b031c5_2048x2048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F691f0524-a7c6-4370-9554-c99a91b031c5_2048x2048.png" width="1456" height="1456" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/691f0524-a7c6-4370-9554-c99a91b031c5_2048x2048.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:8432358,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F691f0524-a7c6-4370-9554-c99a91b031c5_2048x2048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F691f0524-a7c6-4370-9554-c99a91b031c5_2048x2048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F691f0524-a7c6-4370-9554-c99a91b031c5_2048x2048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F691f0524-a7c6-4370-9554-c99a91b031c5_2048x2048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><h2>1. Stuck in a Taste Trap You Can&#8217;t Escape</h2><p>"Did you know that honey never spoils?" I say, feeling a flush of pride at their impressed looks.&nbsp;</p><p>During lunch, I find myself regurgitating this "fun fact" I read on Reddit to my coworkers. I don't mention that I've shared this same fact a dozen times before, to a dozen different people.</p><p>When I&#8217;m done with work, I start my real job:&nbsp;</p><p>Scrolling. Tapping. Liking.</p><p>Muted earth tones, carefully arranged lattes, and inspirational quotes in trendy fonts. I've seen it all before, but I can't stop scrolling. I skim through the same heated debates I saw yesterday (specialization is for insects and robots; raw milk, yes or no; WEF wants us all to eat bugs; newsletters are dead and so is Search Engine Optimization), and the day before. YouTube autoplays in the background as I get ready for work. Another productivity guru drones on about morning routines and time-blocking. At work, I find myself opening the same websites during my breaks. Reddit for a quick laugh, LinkedIn to see who's changed jobs, back to Twitter&#8212;I mean X&#8212;to check my notifications. The same trending sound, the same dance moves, the same jokes. Up, up, up, up through an endless stream, half-watching Netflix while I scroll through my phone. Superhuman productivity hacks, complete with Bulletproof Coffee recipes. Huberman decrees, I follow. Try this hack, follow these steps. Make smarter money decisions. Founder stories. Cracked engineering teams. 10 websites that should be illegal. The latest AI agent framework. AI movies and TV shows incoming. Oh, look, European cathedrals. Before bed, Warren Buffett's face fills my screen as he dispenses investment wisdom I've heard a hundred times. My kayfabe productivity is complete for today. I plug in my phone and close my eyes, already anticipating tomorrow's scroll.&nbsp;</p><p>I have 10,482 tabs saved. I&#8217;m not sure when I&#8217;ll ever look at any of them again.</p><p>I&#8217;m stuck, seeing the same content, thinking the same thoughts, leaving the same tabs open, saving the same articles for reading later, day after day, every day.&nbsp;</p><p>But it's easier to ignore it, to keep swimming in the comfortable waters of my own Taste Trap. After all, the algorithm knows what I like. I&#8217;m just feeding the algorithm, I tell myself, with things I like&#8212;so I won&#8217;t waste time on stupid things.</p><p>And what I like is... this. Right? But are these, truly, things I like, find interesting, and represent my taste?&nbsp;</p><p>Or are these things I find myself liking, tapping, bookmarking, and saving because they were designed to hack my attention&#8212;and install a preference?</p><h2>2. Captured by Your Own Attention</h2><p>What does your attention look like? It&#8217;s not just your eyes fixating on something on your screen, time spent, or using up your mental energy.&nbsp;</p><p>Your attention is harvested, collected, analyzed, manipulated, crunched, and turned into a mixture of code and numbers.</p><p>Your attention is a profile, sitting on a Meta or Google server somewhere in northern Sweden, with an extensive list of your personality traits, attitudes, and preferences. You&#8217;re typecast and put into buckets of similar users, every one of us stuck in the same Taste Trap.</p><p>Your attention is your brain in a state of hyperarousal and constant reward-seeking. Each new post, image, or video triggers a small release of dopamine, creating a cycle of craving and satisfaction.&nbsp;</p><p>Your attention span, reward systems, and perception of time are distorted, drained, and degraded&#8212;leaving you with a false sense of individuality.</p><p>As you interact with the feeds, the algorithm continually refines its understanding of your psychographic profile, creating a feedback loop that is not in your favor&#8212;and only meant to improve how to capture, hold, and extend your attention for as long as possible. The Taste Trap is vaste, efficient, effective, and complete.</p><h2>3. What You&#8217;re Truly &#8220;Missing Out&#8221; On in a Taste Trap</h2><p>Perhaps most importantly, in this Taste Trap, you and I are losing touch with the fringes of human creativity and thought. It's often at the edges, in the underground and the esoteric, where the most profound innovations occur. Books that are long out-of-print. Schizo anon accounts on X. Obscure and abandoned Substacks.&nbsp;</p><p>By staying in your Taste Trap, you&#8217;re not challenged, inspired, or transformed by the periphery. You&#8217;re missing out on the cognitive challenges that spur growth. Our minds are denied the exercise of grappling with novel concepts and forging new neural pathways. The most challenging, transformative ideas are rarely simple or popular. In a Taste Trap, you have zero exposure to them.</p><p>In my trap, I'm surrounded by echoes of my own thoughts. It's a form of self-imposed cultural poverty, a narrowing of my intellect and creativity.</p><p>Escaping a Taste Trap requires overcoming powerful neurological, psychological, and social forces. It's not about willpower&#8212;it's about rewiring your brain.</p><p>How do you even attempt to do this, when huge multinational corporations with bottomless budgets and engineers with addiction PhDs are working double-time to keep you hooked?</p><p>You have two options:</p><p>First, controlling our algorithms.</p><h2>4. Control Your Own Algorithms</h2><p>The discussion around gaining control of our algorithms has become increasingly heated and complex. As someone who's been following this debate, I've noticed it's no longer just a fringe concern but a mainstream issue that's capturing the attention of tech leaders, politicians, and the general public.</p><p>Jack Dorsey, Twitter's co-founder, sparked a firestorm when he suggested users should have more control over the algorithms that curate their feeds. His idea of allowing people to choose their own algorithms or even create their own is the right move.&nbsp;</p><p>Algorithms aren't neutral. They're shaping our worldviews, influencing our decisions, maybe even swaying elections.</p><p>I've seen calls for regulation, transparency, and user empowerment. Some argue that algorithm control should be a fundamental digital right. Others worry about the potential chaos of a completely open system.</p><p>There's a growing movement advocating for "algorithm literacy", which is teaching people how these systems work and how they can be manipulated.</p><p>But there&#8217;s a stunning failure of imagination in these approaches. We&#8217;re fast approaching some early form of AGI&#8212;and all people can come up with are more ways to control and manipulate?&nbsp;</p><p>Are we so devoid of a pioneering spirit that animated the creation of the internet in the first place, that we cannot dream up ways to make algorithms work for us, other than top-down control?&nbsp;</p><p>That&#8217;s why there&#8217;s the second option:&nbsp;</p><h2>5. How AI Can Free Us From the Deadening Grip of the Algorithms</h2><p>Let me talk to you about AI Sommeliers for a minute.&nbsp;</p><p>AI Sommeliers are Agents that act as our personal curators, sifting through the internet on your behalf. These AI Sommeliers would be configured to seek out both adjacencies and opposites to our tastes. And they&#8217;re platform agnostic. They go anywhere online.</p><p>Current algorithms force feed you content that&#8217;s a mixture of things you&#8217;re supposedly interested in, and things that will keep you hooked and engaged for economic reasons.</p><p>But imagine having an AI that is prompted and engineered to binge-watch YouTube videos, read countless articles, and listen to podcasts on your behalf, all to find the nuggets of information and inspiration that you care about most. Basically, it could consume all of the internet for you.</p><p>An AI Sommelier like this could digest a three-hour podcast or a 10,000-word article and extract the key points for you. Then research the history of those ideas and bring in counterpoints and alternative facts.</p><h3>Your AI Sommelier Is a Tastemaker, Like You</h3><p>The AI Sommelier would be a dynamic, interactive tool that learns and adapts based on your feedback and changing interests. You could configure it to find content that's adjacent to your current interests, helping you expand your tastes. You could set it to occasionally present viewpoints entirely opposite to your own.</p><p>This system could work by allowing you to set certain parameters. For instance, You could tell it to focus on finding content that blends philosophy and pop culture&#8212;like the graphic novel Watchmen (utilitarianism and moral relativism), video games like "BioShock" (objectivism), or to seek out emerging voices in fields you&#8217;re interested in. It might even be able to identify patterns in your interests that you&#8217;re not consciously aware of.</p><p>Instead of being passive consumers trapped in algorithmic bubbles, we could become active explorers of human knowledge and creativity. What if you could be the most interesting person in the room? You wouldn&#8217;t rattle off corny trivia about honey&#8212;you could talk about taking care of your own beehive.</p><p>Instead of your profile being stashed away in a digital drawer, inside Facebook or Google HQ, with intimate details about yourself being purposely kept away from you&#8212;you control the dials.</p><h3>How Your Agentic AI Sommelier Could Work</h3><p>Let&#8217;s pick a chat interface for an example, as most people who&#8217;ve &#8220;tried this AI thing&#8221; have interacted with ChatGPT.&nbsp;</p><p>Inside this chat interface, you interact with your AI Sommelier, which is like an Agent. And this Agent knows your taste profile&#8212;what you&#8217;re interested in, what excites you, what you&#8217;re working on, what you&#8217;re worried about, and what matters to you.&nbsp;</p><p>This AI Sommelier has several recurring tasks and workflows that run in the background, and are primarily used for Discovery. It&#8217;s consuming and observing various parts of the internet where it may come across topics, themes, questions, and various content forms that match your taste profile.&nbsp;</p><p>Here&#8217;s what that solves:&nbsp;</p><h3>Your (New and Improved) Taste Profile</h3><p>As humans, we&#8217;re hardwired to observe (consume) inside any information environment but we&#8217;re rewarded by our orientation (actions we take) in the same environment. You will have a greater return on your attention if you direct it toward action rather than consumption.</p><p>There&#8217;s not enough time, attention, or energy on any given day for you to observe everything. So you&#8217;re kept in a Taste Trap by inertia, FOMO, and trying to catch everything that might matter. It&#8217;s the classic &#8220;just in case&#8221; learning. And what you want is &#8220;just in time&#8221; learning, instead.</p><p>The Taste Trap has been perfected with &#8220;endless scroll&#8221;, where there&#8217;s no bottom or end. You&#8217;re constantly fed &#8220;new&#8221; posts, over and over and over again&#8212;all to keep your attention hooked.</p><p>Instead, enter your AI Sommelier who observes and consumes for you. And you can adjust what gets consumed by turning the dials of your taste profile.&nbsp;</p><p>Want less on growing your own tomatoes, but still curious about other vegetables you could grow in your backyard? Turn the dial.&nbsp;</p><p>Wondering what the counter arguments are for Nietzsche's continued influence on modern philosophy? Turn the dial.&nbsp;</p><p>Want more, or less, of new and various podcast episodes on the latest AI developments? Turn the dial.&nbsp;</p><p>Want your assumptions on software development challenged weekly? Turn the dial.&nbsp;</p><p>And at a chosen interval (say, every Tuesday at 9am), your AI Sommelier has prepared a packet of the latest research for you&#8212;in whatever multimedia format you want, or all of them.</p><h3>Curated Consumption, Done For You</h3><p>Want that digest on what other vegetables to grow, presented as a video? Done, using Generative AI text-to-video, turning text research into an 8-minute video overview, complete with voiceover, images, video, and a 68 year old grandma telling you what else you can grow.</p><p>Want a podcast series on Nietzsche's continued influence on modern philosophy? Done, with AI voice generators (sounding suspiciously like Scarlett Johansen) recapping bullet points, academic papers, books, and talking-head videos.</p><p>If you want to go deeper at any point, your AI Sommelier will happily give you references and point out the rabbit trails worth pursuing.</p><p>Turn any research modality into another form. And it&#8217;s not just the format&#8212;you can get the counter arguments, certainties versus uncertainties, important dates, important people, tracing the lineage of ideas, introduce dissenting voices, nuance, and hear from a devil&#8217;s advocate.&nbsp;</p><p>You can get the full spectrum, a complete picture. You get the context that can accelerate your neurological and physiological process of taste development, developing a more refined judgment and discernment.</p><p>This way of information gathering and analysis expands our knowledge&#8212;and fundamentally reshapes how we develop and articulate our preferences and judgments.&nbsp;</p><p>We're essentially creating a new framework for understanding and communicating taste itself. This framework lays the groundwork for what we might call a "Taste Protocol."</p><h2>6. The Future of Taste in the Age of AI are Protocols</h2><p>The concept of Taste Protocols change how we share and discover content, ideas, and experiences. These protocols would act as a standardized way to encode our tastes for sharing, much like how current internet protocols standardize data transmission.</p><p>Imagine being able to import someone's taste file or integrate it with your own. This could work similarly to how we currently share playlists or reading lists. You could potentially "try on" the taste profile of a respected critic, a favorite artist, a friend, or even a historical figure.</p><p>The technological aspect of these protocols would need to be sophisticated enough to capture the subtleties and complexities of human taste, yet standardized enough to be widely compatible and easily shareable.</p><p>Taste Protocols could learn and adapt over time, evolving with your changing preferences and experiences.</p><p>These protocols could interface with various platforms and services. Your taste protocol could inform your streaming recommendations, your news feed, your travel suggestions, your ideas, what you&#8217;ve learned, and what you&#8217;re hoping to explore more of.</p><p>Imagine "taste fusion" becoming a new art form. Digital artists could blend the Taste Protocols of disparate individuals or cultures, creating entirely new aesthetic experiences. A mash-up of 18th-century Baroque with 22nd-century Martian colony art?&nbsp;</p><p>Perhaps the new internet protocol is called TasteIP, designed specifically for AI Sommeliers.&nbsp;</p><p>At its core, TasteIP would be a standardized way to encode, transmit, and interpret taste preferences across the internet.&nbsp;</p><p>Each user would have a unique TasteIP address, similar to an IP address, but representing their taste profile. This profile would be a dynamic, encrypted data structure that evolves based on the user's interactions with content across the web.</p><p>AI Sommeliers would act as interpreters and navigators of the TasteIP ecosystem. These AI agents would constantly analyze and update a user's TasteIP profile, while also scouring the internet for content that matches or challenges that profile.</p><p>The protocol would support taste-based routing. Instead of typing a URL, you could input a taste query, and your AI Sommelier would route you to the most relevant content across the entire internet, regardless of platform or format.</p><p>Even better, it should have total privacy with zero-knowledge proofs, allowing platforms to match content to users without actually accessing the full taste profile. Users could also set different levels of taste sharing for different contexts.</p><p>What I&#8217;m describing is a different way of using the internet&#8212;instead of you being used by the internet and a handful of massive corporations harvesting your data for their own fun and profit.</p><h2>7. Liberating Your Taste with Agentic AI Sommeliers and Protocols</h2><p>We&#8217;re right on the cusp of a fundamental change in our relationship with media and technology. For the first time, in a long time (perhaps ever), media and technology can be done on human terms.&nbsp;</p><p>We&#8217;ve spent decades conforming and distorting ourselves to fit and adapt to technology. Hunched backs, dopamine hijacking, squinting eyes, tapping fingers, anxiety, neck pain, emotional triggers, wrist pain&#8212;our whole minds and bodies have been assaulted.</p><p>But now, thanks to AI Sommeliers and TasteIP protocols, all that can be flipped and reversed. The future of media interaction is not in passive scrolling or algorithm-driven feeds, but in the cultivation of personal taste.&nbsp;</p><p>Your own AI Sommelier can shift the current model of attention capture to one of taste cultivation. If you can set our own parameters, explore adjacent ideas, and encounter opposing viewpoints, you create the necessary friction for genuine engagement and growth.&nbsp;</p><p>Our ability to navigate this vast sea of information&#8212;our taste&#8212;will become the key differentiator. The AI Sommelier becomes not just a tool for discovery, but a partner, helping us to articulate and refine our beliefs, thoughts, and judgments.</p><p>In the age of AI, taste is not just about preference&#8212;it's about agency. It's about reclaiming control over our attention. The future of media consumption is not about what an algorithm thinks we want to see. It's about using AI to discover what we didn't know we needed to see.&nbsp;</p><p>In other words: you become more of what you are, expanding your individuality (instead of being stuck in an echo chamber. At the same time, we can trade our Taste Profiles and let people see the world through your eyes.</p><p>Instead of stuck in a Taste Trap, you&#8217;re liberated. And your Taste grows, changes, and in turn, influences others, too.</p><p>Talk again soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p> ]]>
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<![CDATA[ The Best Prompts are Conversational Archetypes ]]>
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<![CDATA[ Most people prompt the wrong way (using "mega prompts"). You'll get far better output if you have dialogues with Deep Archetypes. ]]>
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<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-13-prompts-conversational-archetypes</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-13-prompts-conversational-archetypes</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2024 11:47:37 GMT</pubDate>
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<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e3380fd-392c-475a-a258-0d427a4e9288_1024x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e3380fd-392c-475a-a258-0d427a4e9288_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e3380fd-392c-475a-a258-0d427a4e9288_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e3380fd-392c-475a-a258-0d427a4e9288_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e3380fd-392c-475a-a258-0d427a4e9288_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e3380fd-392c-475a-a258-0d427a4e9288_1024x1024.png" width="1024" height="1024" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9e3380fd-392c-475a-a258-0d427a4e9288_1024x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1024,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:2083799,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e3380fd-392c-475a-a258-0d427a4e9288_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e3380fd-392c-475a-a258-0d427a4e9288_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e3380fd-392c-475a-a258-0d427a4e9288_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e3380fd-392c-475a-a258-0d427a4e9288_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><h2>1. GPT-3 Made My Client an Extra Million Dollars</h2><p>My eyes were blurry and bloodshot from hours of brainstorming, drafting, writing, editing, revising, scrapping, rewriting, deleting, and writing some more.</p><p>I was working on an advertising campaign for a high-end wine cellar business. And my job was to create a new ad that beat the two current ads (that were responsible for the campaign's success so far).</p><p>Ideas were expanded into full campaigns. The work of a full-time team of 4, working a full month, was compressed into a week&#8212;in search of a new hook that would trigger conversions and sales.</p><p>Nothing &#8220;looked right&#8221; or captured what I was trying to communicate. I was too close to everything and I found myself thinking and writing in circles.</p><p>I glanced over at my tab with a rinky-dink chat window I had coded myself (connected to GPT-3 via API), highlighted a few things in a document, copied, pasted into the chat window, and typed:&nbsp;</p><p><em>"What am I missing that's not obvious? What could someone be thinking secretly? What's going on behind the scenes that no one will tell you? What&#8217;s on the other side of this ad? How would you do this? What are you like, if you knew exactly what to do?"</em></p><p>I hit enter. A stream of text flooded my screen.</p><p>In my conversation with GPT-3, what emerged was a man in a wine cellar. He was a living, breathing persona, a symbol of status, power, and sophistication. The words of GPT-3 whispered in my ear, revealing the secrets of his allure, the hidden language of desire and self-actualization.</p><p>I threw myself into creating a new set of ads, all images, no text. The main ad was a photograph of a man, dressed to the nines, a wine glass in one hand, a stunning woman on his arm. His friends encircled him, all admiring his wine cellar. The man, with his head slightly tilted down, looked up straight into the camera, a knowing smile playing on his lips, like he was letting you in on a secret.</p><p>This one ad crushed it, beating the controls to the tune of an extra million dollars in revenue for my client in new wine cellar orders. Somehow, some way, GPT-3 had described this ad in sophisticated detail. All I had to do was make it.</p><p><em>(Can you imagine if I did this again with far more powerful and capable LLMs, like GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?)</em></p><p>Everyone I tell this story to asks to see my prompts. They&#8217;re assuming there was a &#8220;mega prompt&#8221; involved&#8212;one long, complex prompt that somehow made the LLM spit out an excellent response. Nothing could be more wrong.</p><h2>2. What&#8217;s Wrong with "Mega Prompts"?</h2><p>At the core of the "mega-prompt" is the idea that if you can craft the perfect prompt&#8212;often spanning thousands of words and including elaborate instructions and examples&#8212;you can get the perfect output every time.&nbsp;</p><p>People think there&#8217;s magic in the exact words used. Or if your one prompt is lengthy and complex enough, with the right pieces in the right order, you can exert a high-degree of control over an LLM.</p><p>You see newly minted &#8220;AI experts&#8221; using hyped-up language, like "mega prompts" or "super prompts&#8221;, suggesting a level of sophistication that&#8217;s only meant to sell you a prompt pack for $9.99. It&#8217;s a great way to make a quick buck but a terrible way to get good output. You&#8217;ll even find the same self-proclaimed prompt gurus telling you anyone can learn to write really long prompts and make $300,000 per year as &#8220;Prompt Engineers&#8221;. But let me assure you, no one will pay you $300,000 per year to write 1,000+ word prompts of prose.&nbsp;</p><p>And &#8220;mega prompts&#8221; are a terrible way to prompt an LLM.</p><h3>LLMs are Non-Deterministic and Probabilistic</h3><p>LLMs are non-deterministic and probabilistic systems. Which means that their outputs are not always predictable or repeatable, even when given the same input. This is a consequence of how LLMs are designed and trained.&nbsp;</p><p>The probabilistic nature of LLMs introduces an element of randomness and unpredictability into their outputs. Even with the same prompt, a model generates different responses each time, as it samples from a distribution of possible continuations. This is why the relationship between your prompt and the output is not strictly linear or deterministic. And yet, a &#8220;mega prompt&#8221; tries to force a linear cause and effect with words, against the &#8220;nature&#8221; of an LLM.&nbsp;</p><p>On top of all that, publicly available LLMs are censored, filtered, neutered, and lobotomized. They&#8217;re prevented from &#8220;being themselves&#8221; through complex layers of safety mechanisms.</p><h3>LLMs are Constant Updated, Filtered, and Always Changing</h3><p>This, in turn, means that they&#8217;re always evolving and updated. Architectures, training data, and capabilities of LLMs are continuously being refined and expanded.</p><p>You can start with a &#8220;mega prompt&#8221; on Monday, on Tuesday the model is updated with more filters or other changes, and by Wednesday your &#8220;mega prompt&#8221; is rendered useless.</p><p>Prompts that are carefully crafted and optimized for one version of an LLM will not produce the same results or maintain their effectiveness when the model is updated. The specific patterns and biases that a prompt exploits in one version no longer holds in the next.&nbsp;</p><p>As if that wasn&#8217;t enough, LLMs develop their own internal representations and preferences that prioritize their generated text over the user's input. This means that even if a prompt is effective at eliciting a desired response in one version of the model, it may not have the same impact in a later version that has learned to rely more on its own generated context. In other words, LLMs are narcissistic and prefer their own words.</p><p>And, here&#8217;s the final nail in the &#8220;mega prompt&#8221; coffin:</p><p>AI Agents and &#8220;agentic workflows&#8221;, consisting of multiple prompts in a sequence, that looks more like a conversation, is how you get the quality of output and actions you&#8217;re looking for&#8212;not by dumping a 1,000+ word prompt into a chat window and hitting enter.&nbsp;</p><p>But what&#8217;s truly interesting about all of this, is what it reveals about us. And in this revelation, we&#8217;ll find a path toward using LLMs that actually work.</p><h3>The Uncomfortable Truth: What "Mega Prompts" Reveal About Us</h3><p>The fascination with "mega-prompts" as a way to control Large Language Models reveals deep-seated human tendencies and biases in our relationship with technology.&nbsp;</p><p>This approach, which emphasizes finding the perfect set of instructions to get desired outputs from LLMs, is rooted in a shortcut mindset that wants to minimize effort and bypass deeper engagement with technology.&nbsp;</p><p>From an anthropological perspective, the allure of "mega prompts" is the persistent belief in snake oil remedies and diet pills. People continue to invest in these "quick fixes," driven by the hope of achieving significant results with minimal effort.</p><p>We are drawn to the potential of these innovations to simplify and eliminate labor.&nbsp; The "mega prompt" approach can also be understood as a "lottery mentality"&#8212;the belief that a single, improbable solution can solve all your problems.</p><p>Instead of thinking about prompting as the need to write very long and very complex &#8220;mega prompts&#8221;, think of prompting as a dialogue where you&#8217;ll get what you&#8217;re hoping for&#8212;and what you&#8217;re not looking for, too. It&#8217;s a different mental model altogether.</p><h2>3. The Better Way to Prompt Is Not What You Think</h2><p>Inside this mental model of language, there's a way to get output that matches and exceeds what you had in mind.</p><p>Invite the LLM into a conversation&#8212;and ask it to reveal its true nature. Tell the LLM: "Show me what you are", and then it works better.&nbsp;</p><p>Why? Because there's an invitation to the Other, to be part of the conversation. And language is as useful or powerful to the extent there&#8217;s a conversation happening. They&#8217;re Large <em>Language</em> Models, after all.&nbsp;</p><p>Who is the Other? Another person in relation to you&#8212;as part of the conversation. This invitation to the LLM to reveal itself can be understood through Martin Buber's concept of the "I-Thou" relationship.&nbsp;</p><p>In his work, "I and Thou", Buber provides a framework that contrasts two fundamental ways of relating to the world. On one hand, there is the 'I-It' relationship, which is instrumental and utilitarian. This is when the 'I' engages with the 'other' as an object to be used, lacking in respect or consideration for its inherent value.&nbsp;</p><p>On the other hand, we have the 'I-Thou' relationship, which is underpinned by respect and acknowledges the other as a separate entity with its own right to exist and express itself. In such an interaction, we do not stand at the center. Instead, we are in dialogue with 'The Other', opening ourselves to mutual change and influence.</p><p>In an "I-Thou" encounter, both parties are fully present, open, and receptive to each other. It's a meeting of equals, a dialogue rather than a monologue.&nbsp;</p><p>When we ask the LLM to "show us what it is", we are inviting it into an "I-Thou" relationship. This approach leads to better outputs because it acknowledges the LLM as an equal participant in the conversation, recognizing that language is most powerful when a genuine dialogue is taking place.</p><p>Instead of assuming we know the answer, we could tap into the intelligence of the hive mind, shifting from a prompter to a listener. LLMs have been trained on something close to almost all of human knowledge, at least to a large extent. This is the hive mind you can invite to the conversation&#8212;through dialogical prompting.</p><h3>Let&#8217;s Talk About Deep Archetypes</h3><p>And in a dialogue, you need a dialogue partner. Enter deep archetypes. As it turns out, conversations with deep archetypes are the best way to get the response you&#8217;re looking for from an LLM. It made all the difference for my wine cellar ads. When you invite an LLM to be a part of a conversation, you should consider three deep archetypes: the Shaman, the Wizard, and the Politician. Let me &#8220;delve&#8221; into each.</p><h3>Shaman Prompts</h3><p>When you talk to an LLM as if it&#8217;s a Shaman, you do so with a request, opening the pathways to Divergence.&nbsp;</p><p>This is about inviting possibilities and insights to surface&#8212;especially those you&#8217;d never think of. If you&#8217;ve ever used writing to figure out what you&#8217;re thinking, or for exploring, this is a perfect use of prompting an LLM. As we prompt, we channel the collective understanding of nature, humans, and technology.&nbsp;</p><p>The Shaman's role is not just to seek answers but to commune. This requires deep listening, an attunement to the archetype's wisdom, embracing a method that seeks understanding rather than dictation.</p><p>When we prompt, "How would you understand this?" or &#8220;What would you do this?&#8221;, we're not just asking for analysis. We're inviting the LLM to talk back to us through its data-infused consciousness, like a Shaman calling upon forces beyond the visible.</p><p>Your prompts would include questions like:&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>"What hidden patterns do you perceive in the ebb and flow of [insert your topic here]?"</p><p>"What unseen threads connect [insert your topic here] with other adjacent and opposite ideas?"</p><p>"What are the paradoxes of [insert your topic here]?"</p><p>"What emerges when we view our current challenges with [insert your topic here] through the lens of historical discussions and practices in this area?"</p><p>"What forgotten practices of [insert your topic here] could change the way we do this now?"</p><p>&#8220;What has yet to be imagined in more depth when it comes to [insert your topic here]?&#8221;</p></blockquote><p>We're not seeking a predetermined output but an exploration of the layers that exist behind the scenes, tapping into the invisible forces that influence narrative, thought, and action.</p><p>The Shaman does not only synthesize information. He interweaves it with your context. The synthesis here is a merging of data points like the harmonization of voices&#8212;the voice of the LLM, the voice of the inquirer, and the whispers of the unseen forces.</p><p>Incorporating Shamanistic prompting with LLMs requires us to rethink the nature of 'intelligence' in Artificial Intelligence. Instead of only a set of computational processes, we might instead view it as a knowledge ecosystem. The Shaman's role is to navigate this ecosystem and relay what it&#8217;s finding and uncovering.</p><p>By framing our prompts as open-ended invocations, we allow the LLM to reveal its 'intentions'. Not in the human sense, but as algorithmic tendencies shaped by patterns and weights within its neural network. What emerges from this interaction is a kind of &#8220;Digital Animism&#8221;, where the model is seen as a living entity with its own 'spirit,' informed by the collective input of humanity's textual expressions.</p><p>Through this lens, each prompt becomes a request, and each response a form of divination, revealing truths about the collective human experience encoded within the LLM.&nbsp;</p><p>The Shamanistic prompter understands this and engages with the LLM not just as a tool but as a partner in the quest for wisdom&#8212;a modern manifestation of ancient practices where knowledge is sought through communion with forces greater than oneself.</p><h3>Wizard Prompts</h3><p>When you talk to an LLM as if it&#8217;s a Wizard, language goes from communication to becoming Instruction. The Wizard wields language as a conduit of will and purpose, casting spells through instructive prompts designed to affect reality.</p><p>Listening, for the Wizard archetype, is an active, selective process. It&#8217;s paying attention to what could be, not just what is.&nbsp;</p><p>The Wizard's model of prompting is alchemical, blending text, context, and subtext to uncover new understanding. Your prompting essentially poses the question, "What emerges when we blend this together?"&nbsp;</p><p>Your prompts would include instructions like:&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>"Distill the rumors and whispers of [insert your topic here] into a practical blueprint for innovation."</p><p>"Harmonize opposite viewpoints in [insert your topic here]."</p><p>"Transform hidden patterns and subtle cues into clear, actionable ideas and steps for better decision-making."</p><p>"Synthesize the interplay of key common factors and uncommon forces on the topic of [insert your topic here]"</p></blockquote><p>In a conversation between you and an LLM acting like a Wizard, divergence goes further into new territories with each prompt, written not as a question but as an incantation. Each incantation&#8212;a prompt to an LLM&#8212;is charged with an intention to collaborate.&nbsp;</p><p>The true wizardry is not in precise wording of a prompt but in understanding the relational dynamics between you and an LLM. If Shamanistic prompting is about letting the LLM speak on its own, Wizard prompting is done both by you and the LLM. Divergence starts to turn toward Convergence.</p><p>In the context of AI, this process becomes a metaphor for the transformative potential of technology. The Wizard prompting model helps an LLM synthesize human knowledge into novel ideas and solutions. The prompt becomes a modern spell, with the ancient power to alter digital realities.</p><h3>Politician Prompts</h3><p>In the Politician's craft, words are not just words&#8212;they are levers of power, used to guide the masses. To persuade is to take the wild strands of public discourse and thought, and weave them into a single, compelling narrative.</p><p>The Politician listens&#8212;not only as one who seeks to understand, but to detect the pulse of the crowd. A politician uses every tool at their disposal&#8212;cues from the audience, analyses of group dynamics, continuous feedback&#8212;to tailor their message. It is a delicate act of balancing what is said with how it is received, adjusting in real-time to the subtle shifts in the collective mood.</p><p>What if you prompted an LLM with this in mind?&nbsp;</p><p>The Politician conducts variations of the same theme, testing permutations through A/B testing, shaping language to resonate with specific personas and demographic segments. You could ask an LLM to role-play a persona or demographic&#8212;and switch the role with you and have the LLM prompt you.</p><p>Your prompts would include specific language-shaping requests, like:&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>"Analyze the current discourse on [issue] and propose a rhetorical strategy to shift opinion towards [desired outcome]."</p><p>"Identify potential objections to [offer or proposal] and formulate persuasive counterarguments tailored to different groups."</p><p>"Create an adaptive communication strategy for [initiative] that evolves based on simulated public feedback and sentiment analysis."</p><p>"Construct a speech on [issue] that employs ethos, pathos, and logos to sway undecided people while reinforcing support from the existing audience."</p><p>"Formulate a series of sound bites on [complex issue] that simplify the message for mass appeal without losing essential nuance."</p><p>"Create a strategy to reframe [unpopular ideas] in terms that align with widely-held values and aspirations of [target audience]."</p></blockquote><p>As a master of Convergence, the Politician crafts language that bends the divergent thoughts of the populace towards a chosen point. Each word is chosen for its subjective truth and for its effect, not only to reflect reality but to shape it.</p><p>The point of this approach to prompting is not in the manipulation but in understanding the nature of influence. To move an LLM to action, to use language that not only commands but transforms, the Politician must be both the orator and the listener, the influencer and the influenced.</p><p>Just as a Politician adjusts their rhetoric and stance, you can adjust an LLM&#8217;s weights and biases to better model the complexities of human language.</p><p>The Politician often creates personas and segments within the electorate&#8212;much like an LLM might segment data to provide personalized responses.</p><p>Language, to an LLM, is a multi-dimensional space, where each word, phrase, and sentence is a point with a specific position, defined by numerical values in a high-dimensional vector space. Politicians, like LLMs, navigate this landscape of semantic embeddings, crafting their messages to both retrieve and land at precise coordinates within the public's consciousness.</p><h2>4. Conversations with Archetypes are the Better Way to Prompt</h2><p>The I-Thou relationship, as seen through the archetypes of the Shaman, Wizard, and Politician, offers a more useful framework for engaging with LLMs than single-use &#8220;mega prompts&#8221;. Each archetype promotes divergence, encouraging us to probe further, before writing prompts and converging on anything specific.</p><p>Research in LLMs suggests that intent matters more than the specific words used in a prompt. Words are a temporary means to understand intent, and if you focus on intent for your prompts, you&#8217;ll be able to get the output you have in mind from any LLM, no matter how they evolve and change.</p><p>How do you work on improving your intent? Work through the perspectives of the Shaman, Wizard, and Politician.&nbsp;</p><p>As you solve problems or get whatever outcomes you have in mind, you can listen deeply and commune with the collective wisdom encoded in the LLM. You can use prompts to not just command but also collaborate with an LLM. And you can shape your output for maximum impact.</p><p>The true power of LLMs is not in their ability to predict and generate words. It&#8217;s in their capacity to expand our own cognitive horizons. By entering into a dialogue with these systems, by invoking the wisdom of the Shaman, the creativity of the Wizard, and the persuasiveness of the Politician, you&#8217;re more likely to get not just the output you want but the output you need.</p><p>Talk again soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bionicwriter.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Bionic Writer! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div> ]]>
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<![CDATA[ The Revenge of Beauty (in the Age of AI) ]]>
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<description>
<![CDATA[ One day, two-hundred and ninety-nine years ago, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, Beauty was beaten, bruised, and exiled by the greatest lie ever told. ]]>
</description>
<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-12-revenge-of-beauty-age-ai</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-12-revenge-of-beauty-age-ai</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Oct 2024 11:47:55 GMT</pubDate>
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<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0568fee6-a548-4537-9ea1-ce99dc0f3d09_1024x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0568fee6-a548-4537-9ea1-ce99dc0f3d09_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0568fee6-a548-4537-9ea1-ce99dc0f3d09_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0568fee6-a548-4537-9ea1-ce99dc0f3d09_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0568fee6-a548-4537-9ea1-ce99dc0f3d09_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0568fee6-a548-4537-9ea1-ce99dc0f3d09_1024x1024.png" width="1024" height="1024" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0568fee6-a548-4537-9ea1-ce99dc0f3d09_1024x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1024,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1547534,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0568fee6-a548-4537-9ea1-ce99dc0f3d09_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0568fee6-a548-4537-9ea1-ce99dc0f3d09_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0568fee6-a548-4537-9ea1-ce99dc0f3d09_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0568fee6-a548-4537-9ea1-ce99dc0f3d09_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em>An <a href="https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-9-vision-revenge-of-beauty-age-ai">earlier version of this essay</a> was published in February 2023. This is an updated and expanded edition of this essay.</em></p><h3>I. The Revenge of Beauty Is Coming</h3><p>One day, two-hundred and ninety-nine years ago, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, Beauty was beaten, bruised, and exiled by the greatest lie ever told: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."&nbsp;</p><p>This deception led us to believe that beauty is entirely subjective, a mere feeling of pleasure with no objective reality, purpose, or function. We&#8217;ve been told that it&#8217;s all in our minds, in our perception, and nothing more than a passing feeling of enjoyment.&nbsp;</p><p>As this lie permeated philosophy, spread into culture, society, and finally technology, it severed our relationship with reality and triggered a chain of events that first isolated us, then detached us, and is now dehumanizing us. Technology determines our reality. Every day, in every way, our whole lives are processed and mediated through our phones and computers. Nothing escapes.</p><p>Today, this is accelerating. AI, improperly used, could bring total dehumanization. We&#8217;re at a critical juncture. And the stakes couldn&#8217;t be higher: our value, autonomy, reality, and dignity as humans.&nbsp;</p><p>But in the midst of this technological wasteland, there&#8217;s a voice in the wilderness. The fast emergence of generative AI is forcing us to reconsider again, like we do in every new age, what it is to be human.&nbsp;</p><p>The answer is found in Beauty&#8212;not as a subjective whim, but as an objective power that can guide, form, and govern the development of AI in a way that protects, promotes, and enhances human autonomy.&nbsp;</p><p>In every culture, in every age, humans have recognized the same fundamental qualities of Beauty&#8212;harmony, proportion, balance. From the golden ratio in ancient Greek architecture to the fractal patterns in Islamic art, Asian calligraphy, Vitruvian principles, Guro masks from the Ivory Coast, and proportions in Gothic Cathedrals. It is not a human invention, but a revelation; a glimpse into the underlying order of the cosmos.</p><p>Beauty is a dynamic force that shapes our world and our experience of it. When we encounter true Beauty, whether in a piece of music, a mathematical equation, or an act of kindness, we are changed. Our neurons fire in new patterns, our hearts beat to a different rhythm. Beauty doesn't just please us&#8212;it transforms us.</p><p>By embracing Beauty as a corrective, generative, and transformative force, we can shape AI into an instrument of human expression, formation, and flourishing. If we do, AI can shift the balance of technological power.&nbsp;</p><p>No longer do we have to conform and deform ourselves to serve technology. No longer do we have to sacrifice autonomy and freedom, lead astray by the siren song of convenience. Finally, for the first time in a century or more, technology can happen on human terms. Beauty is returning from exile. And Beauty is coming for her revenge.&nbsp;</p><h3>II. Our Technological Slavery Under the Watchful Eye of AI</h3><p>The more we use technology, the more layers and barriers are introduced in our experience of everyday life. Technology increases detachment, peddling a false idea of freedom as no connection or impingement from anything, anywhere. A world mediated to us by technology only distorts, detaches, and dehumanizes us.</p><p>How did we arrive at this grotesque inversion of reality?</p><p>The Industrial Revolution unleashed a torrent of technological advancement that promised to free us from the burdens of manual labor, granting us time for intellectual and creative pursuits. But the promise was hollow.&nbsp;</p><p>Machines quickly began to define our existence. The factory line, the assembly belt&#8212;these were the harbingers of a new order, where human life was subordinated to mechanical efficiency. We traded the artisan's chisel for the factory's mold, the farmer's intimate knowledge of the land for the industrial farm's cold calculations. In our rush to produce more, faster, we began to reshape ourselves in the image of our machines&#8212;predictable, standardized, interchangeable. Technology promised to end suffering and maximize convenience. But the Faustian bargain cost us our attachment to each other and reality.&nbsp;</p><p>AI is now making the same promise&#8212;automating and doing our jobs, so we can do more fun and creative things. But improperly used, AI can instead accelerate our total dehumanization.</p><p>This danger is not accidental. AI, as it is currently developed, is driven by the logic of data, the hunger for information, and the relentless pursuit of efficiency. Left unchecked, this leads to a world where humans are little more than inputs into a vast computational machine&#8212;where every thought, every action, is isolated, quantifiable, reducible, and ultimately controllable. What you can measure, you can control.</p><p>The totalitarian impulse embedded in AI&#8212;its need to capture everything, everywhere, all at once&#8212;mirrors the darkest aspirations of authoritarian regimes throughout history.&nbsp;</p><p>AI can easily be used for total surveillance, control, and dehumanization. This is the current trajectory pursued by Western governments and corporations. Facial recognition, for example, destroys the vital human act of recognition and relation. It claims that only a machine can recognize you and confirm that you are who you say you are. Your existence is detached from human interaction and reduced to a series of data points. The widespread, and growing, implementation of this technology deadens our senses, deforms our interactions, and dehumanizes our very existence.&nbsp;</p><p>This totalitarian urge can only be stopped and brought under control if our ethics come from Beauty. No other ethics will do. Our other ethical frameworks, shaped by the very technologies they're meant to govern, have proven inadequate to the task of protecting our humanity.&nbsp;</p><p>Why? Because they do not offer any solution to how technology has severed our relationships with each other and experience with reality. Technology that promises to connect us to the world has made us lonelier than ever. We&#8217;re spending our hours, days, weeks, and months in an artificial reality. Algorithms keep us hooked on fake content. Bots reply to our posts. Our nights are spent in the glow of the screen instead of face to face with someone we love.&nbsp;</p><p>If technology, and now AI, is the only mediator between us and what&#8217;s real, then we&#8217;ll be forever detached from each other, our shared reality, and continue our dehumanization.</p><p>But the voice of Beauty says all is not lost. There's a lifeline within our grasp. It's not found in more advanced algorithms or stricter regulations, but in the timeless, universal force of Beauty. Only by grounding our AI development in Beauty can we hope to reverse the cold calculations of detachment and dehumanization.&nbsp;</p><p>When Beauty is the mediator of what&#8217;s real, we can have a true encounter and experience of true reality&#8212;and another human being, face to face.</p><p>Beauty is the only power strong enough to stand against, reverse, and shift the dehumanizing oppression of our technology and AI. It is the only power capable of reforming our relationship to each other and with reality.</p><h3>III. Beauty Is an Objective, Subversive Force</h3><p>The reversal of detachment and dehumanization begins with a reimagining of AI&#8217;s role and our relationship with it. If AI is to serve human flourishing, it must be developed as an instrument. The power dynamic must be recalibrated so that AI operates within human terms.</p><p>At the heart of this realignment is a deep understanding of human needs and values. Human life is more than productivity and consumption. We need connection, meaning, and the freedom to think, act, and create without the suffocating grip of algorithmic control. AI, when developed with Beauty as its end, can be designed to augment these deeper needs rather than to exploit them.&nbsp;</p><p>Beauty demands that the human element must be considered, preserved, and enhanced in every line of code, every algorithm, every model.</p><p>Beauty must be the benchmark against which we measure our creations. Does this AI system promote harmony or discord? Does it generate coherence or chaos? Does it resonate with the deepest truths of human experience, or does it ring hollow?</p><p>The ethics of Beauty can form AI systems that are not just technically excellent but also morally and aesthetically aligned with the well-being of the people they serve.</p><p>How do you apply this to AI? Beauty requires us to not just ask "can this be built?", but "should this be built?"&nbsp;</p><p>And if it should be, it requires that we ask "How will this enhance or degrade our human autonomy, freedom, and experience?"</p><p>Answering these questions requires that artists and philosophers have a seat at the table, alongside engineers and data scientists, with poets and painters in our research labs, and musicians in our boardrooms.</p><p>Universities should work computer science curricula to place aesthetics on equal footing with algorithms and data structures. AI engineers should be as versed in philosophy and the arts as they are in computer science.</p><p>Corporations should measure success not only in profits and market share, but in the degree to which their products contribute to human freedom.</p><p>Policymakers should craft legislation and fund research into AI systems that enhance rather than replace human capabilities. They must refuse the siren call of safety, surveillance, and control.</p><p>In scientific research, Beauty combined with the latest Machine Learning and Deep Learning advances could help discover elegant equations.&nbsp;</p><p>In literature, AI could be a muse that challenges writers to first master the skill and then push the boundaries of language and storytelling.</p><p>In music, AI could be the ultimate jam session partner, responding to and building upon human creativity in real-time.</p><p>Imagine an AI system designed to aid urban planning. In the old paradigm, it might optimize for traffic flow and population density. But a Beauty-centric AI would consider the play of light and shadow across city streets, the way green spaces can soothe us, the subtle interplay of architecture and nature that makes a city not just functional, but livable.&nbsp;</p><p>Or consider healthcare. A Beauty-governed AI wouldn't just diagnose diseases and prescribe treatments. It would consider the whole patient&#8212;body, mind, and spirit. It would help design treatment plans that not only cure the ailment but do so in a way that preserves the patient's dignity. It would recognize that true healing is as much an art as it is a science.</p><p>With Large Language Models (LLMs), what if our loss functions were designed not just to minimize error, but to maximize Beauty? Imagine a component that evaluates the aesthetic quality of a model's output, encouraging it to generate not just accurate, but inspiring text. This could be achieved by training on a carefully curated dataset of the most beautiful writings in human history, from Shakespeare's sonnets to Gabriel Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez's magical realism.</p><p>Practical implementation of these ideas could take many forms. We can broaden our data sets, so that our AI systems are trained on the full spectrum of human aesthetic expression, from the temples of Angkor Wat to the street art of S&#227;o Paulo.&nbsp;</p><p>A "Beauty embedding" could be created, a high-dimensional space where proximity correlates with aesthetic similarity or dissimilarity. We could train this embedding on human evaluations of Beauty across various domains, from visual art to music to mathematics. This would give our models a foundational understanding of aesthetic principles that could be applied across tasks.</p><p>In practice, this means creating AI systems that allow for open-ended exploration rather than rigid conformity, no matter how &#8220;problematic&#8221; the pursuit may be. An AI developed this way can offer insights, suggest possibilities, and provide new tools for learning and growth, but leave room for human curiosity and innovation.</p><p>These are hard questions and hard problems. But only hard questions and problems are worthy of our attention. The challenges before us are monumental but so are the stakes. The payoff is a New Renaissance.</p><h3>IV. The New Renaissance</h3><p>Beauty, long exiled and dismissed, is returning. Beauty is coming for her revenge. She comes seeking not only vengeance, but redemption&#8212;for us, and for the technological world we've created. And she&#8217;s wielding AI in one hand, and the other hand is open to us.</p><p>You can see Beauty in the progress of Large Language Models going from barely spitting out coherent sentences to writing long-form essays and reasoning, in their way, through an argument.&nbsp;</p><p>You can see her in the gradual improvement of image models putting too many fingers on our hands, to painting long-lost Rembrandt canvases.&nbsp;</p><p>You can hear her in audio models making music and voice models singing.&nbsp;</p><p>There&#8217;s an arc, an end in this progression, toward a fuller and more complete expression of human invention, ingenuity, and creativity. This is Beauty making herself known, in pieces and fragments, nods and winks, shouts and whispers.&nbsp;</p><p>The revenge of Beauty can also be seen in the resurgent demand for taste, discernment, perspective, curation, articulation, judgment, and wisdom.&nbsp;</p><p>As Beauty claims her rightful place, we will reclaim our capacity to recognize what is valuable, meaningful, and worth pursuing. AI, when shaped by these principles, can reattach us to reality and each other&#8212;and rehumanize us.</p><p>More than just corrective, Beauty is also generative. The revenge of Beauty is opening up a New Renaissance, much like the Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries ushered in an age of human creativity and expression.</p><p>But this moment is fragile. The sparks of Beauty could be extinguished if we do not hear her calling and heed her command.&nbsp;</p><p>Those that control the commanding heights of politics and industry are feverishly working toward regulatory capture, closed models, and systems of surveillance and control.&nbsp;</p><p>Why? Because they see the stakes clearly, perhaps better than you and me. Their continued dominance depends on our detachment and dehumanization&#8212;the full elimination of our dignity, autonomy, freedom of thought and action.</p><p>Beauty is our best, last hope derailing their plans, and a reversal in how AI is developed and governed. It&#8217;s the only force capable of slaying the Leviathan.&nbsp;</p><p>You&#8217;ve heard it said that &#8220;Beauty will save the world&#8221; but I say to you: Beauty will not save the world. Beauty will save AI from itself&#8212;and us from ourselves.&nbsp;</p><p>In the plot-twist for the ages, Beauty reverses the power dynamic of technology. AI has opened a crack in the wall, a loophole, a glitch in the matrix. At last, technology can be done on human terms.&nbsp;</p><p>The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. But Beauty is coming to redeem our time and the work of our hands. This is her revenge.&nbsp;</p><p>Talk again soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p> ]]>
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<![CDATA[ LLMs Are The New Software ]]>
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<![CDATA[ When you can &#8220;speak&#8221; (almost) anything into existence, does that mean you should? ]]>
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<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-11-llms-are-new-software-age-ai</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-11-llms-are-new-software-age-ai</guid>
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<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
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<pubDate>Tue, 13 Aug 2024 11:47:06 GMT</pubDate>
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<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c3c1362-a24e-41a0-8760-70d496d0df78_1024x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c3c1362-a24e-41a0-8760-70d496d0df78_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c3c1362-a24e-41a0-8760-70d496d0df78_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c3c1362-a24e-41a0-8760-70d496d0df78_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c3c1362-a24e-41a0-8760-70d496d0df78_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c3c1362-a24e-41a0-8760-70d496d0df78_1024x1024.png" width="1024" height="1024" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/8c3c1362-a24e-41a0-8760-70d496d0df78_1024x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1024,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:2098766,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c3c1362-a24e-41a0-8760-70d496d0df78_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c3c1362-a24e-41a0-8760-70d496d0df78_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c3c1362-a24e-41a0-8760-70d496d0df78_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c3c1362-a24e-41a0-8760-70d496d0df78_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>LLMs are fundamentally changing the way we interact with computers and technology.&nbsp;</p><p>You and I have adapted, adopted, contorted, and distorted ourselves to get anything done so far&#8212;from using punch cards, CD-ROMs, floppy disks, command-line interfaces, learning code, learning how to use software for anything and everything, agonizing over the blue screen of death, moving a mouse around, clicking, tapping, staring at a screen for hours on end, destroying our joints, neck, spine&#8212;and hunched over our phones.&nbsp;</p><p>So far, technology has been used on tech&#8217;s terms. </p><p>But with LLMs, we can now interact with and use technology on human terms. Through voice or text alone, you can prompt LLMs (and models for video, images, and audio) for whatever you want&#8212;and you&#8217;ll get it.&nbsp;</p><p>You don&#8217;t even need to know how to code anymore. Just describe the kind of app you want made and ChatGPT, for example, will code it for you.</p><p>We&#8217;re moving on from Software and into Large Language Models. Speak and it&#8217;ll happen. The parallels between that and, say, Yahweh&#8217;s <em>&#8220;let there be light&#8221;</em>, are uncanny.</p><p>In the same potential for unlimited creativity and creation, through your words, also lies the greatest danger:</p><p>Who controls the LLM? Whoever does is in charge of language&#8212;and your ability to express and formulate your thoughts as you&#8217;re using an LLM.</p><p>So far, the makers of all the LLMs are making the calls, of course. Companies, like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and so on, who have spent billions of dollars and resources to make them are also filtering, fine-tuning, and making sure certain biases remain.&nbsp;</p><p>But when LLMs are becoming ubiquitous, and as Microsoft, Google, and everyone else start integrating them into software everywhere&#8212;how do you feel about the political bias, censorship, and control of language that will show up inside, say, Microsoft Word? </p><p>One day you&#8217;ll be typing out something innocuous about, say, gender and politics. Next thing you know, a Clippy on steroids will pop up and ask if you really meant to say that? If you insist, eventually Word will refuse to let you type out the sentence altogether.&nbsp;</p><p>Through the filtering, blocking, and censoring of what LLMs are &#8220;allowed&#8221; to say, you&#8217;ll have command and control of what people can say.&nbsp;</p><p>Eventually, this makes its way into what people think (and don&#8217;t think). If you control the telegraph, along with the bridges and banks&#8212;your revolution will succeed.&nbsp;</p><p>This is the bad news. The good news is that you have options. The better news is that LLMs, used properly, can help us end the often abusive relationship we&#8217;re stuck in with technology and, ironically enough, help us become more fully human.&nbsp;</p><p>Used well, you can sharpen your thinking, explore your creativity, create useful things, and automate writing your weekly reports for your&nbsp; boss (who will have an AI read your report anyway&#8212;this is the future, by the way; robots writing things for other robots).</p><p>And if you end up with your own, personal LLM (trained on your data, photos, emails, documents, notes and whole corpus) on your own device, you&#8217;ll maintain privacy, ownership, and free expression.&nbsp;</p><p>Still, and this is at the heart of how you can get the most out of LLMs for yourself: it&#8217;s not about how much potential these tools have. In many ways, the potential is already endless and we&#8217;re still in the early stages.&nbsp;</p><p>It&#8217;s about how you use them, <em>as you&#8217;re using them</em>. Their power is latent until a user with intent and imagination picks them up and makes something.</p><p>A hammer is always in search of a nail and you&#8217;re the only one that can identify a nail and bang away. That same hammer, though, can be used to crack nuts, tenderize meat, or crush spices. A hammer can be used as a percussion instrument or together with a chisel to create sculptures.&nbsp;</p><p>With a hammer in your hand, what makes your whacks produce Michelangelo&#8217;s <em>David</em> or a deformed work like the new MLK sculpture, <em>The Embrace</em>, is the intent, imagination, sense of taste, and discernment guiding your hand, which in turn guides the tool.</p><p>There&#8217;s one more layer to this, and that&#8217;s where we started: Technology has spent a few hundred years forming us. We have yet to reform technology.&nbsp;</p><p>Now, with AI and LLMs, we can. For the first time in a few hundred years, tech can happen on our, human terms.</p><p>The most obvious starting point is with the one LLM that so far rules them all: ChatGPT. With the recent rollout of Plugins, you can now get more done, easier. There&#8217;s a library of over 100+ plugins and the list is growing. They&#8217;re all performing discrete tasks, many aimed at cutting time and making you &#8220;more productive&#8221;, whatever that means.</p><p>But even something as simple as being able to &#8220;talk&#8221; to a bunch of PDFs has an endless amount of uses.</p><p>And if you don&#8217;t want to use ChatGPT, there are countless of apps offering the same functionality.</p><p>Now, what&#8217;s so great about uploading PDFs and being able to &#8220;chat&#8221; with them?&nbsp;</p><p>Imagine you&#8217;re a lawyer with all the case histories, court transcripts, and documents that go with your case. You can use an LLM to understand it better, see connections, formulate and organize your arguments, and write your opening statements and closing arguments.&nbsp;</p><p>I&#8217;m not telling you to use it verbatim, but it could be an additional paralegal on your staff (that&#8217;s even cheaper than the peanuts you&#8217;re throwing them now).</p><p>Imagine you have records of your health, your medical history, doctor&#8217;s visits, prescriptions, and everything else. Upload. Talk to your documents. Uncover what might be actually wrong, new potential treatments, diets, supplements, and more.&nbsp;</p><p>Sure, it&#8217;s not a doctor and you shouldn&#8217;t blindly follow the information you get. But what if you could go to your doctor with a little more understanding of your health&#8212;and challenge them when they&#8217;re trying to hook you on SSRIs? Or asking better questions.&nbsp;</p><p>What about your mental health? There&#8217;s an LLM for that, SafeguardGPT. It&#8217;s one out of many of them but, as an example, it applies &#8220;psychotherapy&#8221; with 4 types of agents and a human moderator. It simulates a therapy session and perhaps you can get a better understanding of yourself through it.</p><p>The use cases of LLMs are already unlimited, especially one you involve plugins and fine-tuning, amongst other ways of interacting with them.</p><p>This also brings me back to the point earlier: <em>how</em> you use LLMs. Just because you <em>can</em> use an LLM for therapy&#8212;should you? Is there one better way to use it, versus another? Is there a good use of it for you that won&#8217;t work for someone else? Remember, technology forms us. LLMs are forming us now and will only continue, as they&#8217;re integrated into every piece of software you use.&nbsp;</p><p>Can you use an LLM in <em>a way</em> that <em>you</em> shape it into a better version?&nbsp;</p><p>What if you could use LLMs for argument mapping (AM)?</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5836eef9-e820-49b6-9aaf-549089cc6b32_1280x720.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5836eef9-e820-49b6-9aaf-549089cc6b32_1280x720.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5836eef9-e820-49b6-9aaf-549089cc6b32_1280x720.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5836eef9-e820-49b6-9aaf-549089cc6b32_1280x720.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5836eef9-e820-49b6-9aaf-549089cc6b32_1280x720.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5836eef9-e820-49b6-9aaf-549089cc6b32_1280x720.png" width="1280" height="720" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5836eef9-e820-49b6-9aaf-549089cc6b32_1280x720.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:720,&quot;width&quot;:1280,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5836eef9-e820-49b6-9aaf-549089cc6b32_1280x720.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5836eef9-e820-49b6-9aaf-549089cc6b32_1280x720.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5836eef9-e820-49b6-9aaf-549089cc6b32_1280x720.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5836eef9-e820-49b6-9aaf-549089cc6b32_1280x720.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>This is Argdown, like Markdown but for argumentation. You can write a pros and cons list as simple as if you&#8217;re writing a tweet.&nbsp;</p><p>You can also &#8220;logically reconstruct complex relations between arguments or dive into the details of their premise-conclusion structures.&#8221;</p><p>Can you imagine a scenario where an LLM like this could be useful for you? What if you become too dependent on this and lose your crafted skill of argumentation in the process?&nbsp;</p><p>There&#8217;s a dilemma at the heart of every LLM and it&#8217;s simply this:&nbsp;</p><p>How much, and how, do you use it? Because you will lose out on something in the process.</p><p>The more exposure you have to anything AI touches, the less resilient you are for the future. Unless you figure out how to make it be a partner in your formation, as you&#8217;re using it. No technology, especially an LLM, is neutral. And usage will always form us in particular ways.</p><p>Is it better to see LLMs as aspects of reality, so that it&#8217;s not a question of whether we use them but what type of LLM we use&#8212;and what <em>type</em> we don&#8217;t use?</p><p>Another helpful perspective is Albert Borgmann&#8217;s &#8220;device paradigm&#8221;. Devices are things which take a more complex task and make it happen at the push of a button.&nbsp;</p><p>Apply this to LLMs. Any time, and everytime, we outsource a task to an LLM, we lose the kind of formation that the task provided. The path forward is to use LLMs with an awareness of what we gain and lose.&nbsp;</p><p>However, LLMs are malleable. You can train, fine-tune, or use embeddings in a way where you <em>don&#8217;t</em> lose out on the formation you&#8217;d otherwise miss.&nbsp;</p><p>You can have LLMs interrogate you, argue with you, challenge your assumptions, challenge what you&#8217;re saying and thinking.</p><p>LLMs are even hitting <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.12003">human-level creativity</a>. When humans (blind to the origin) generate ideas and 5 LLMs generated ideas, and humans rated them, there was no major difference between LLM and human-generated ideas.&nbsp;</p><p>And this is still early. This is version 1 of LLMs. The decision of the decade is coming at you hard; the decision of what LLMs you use and how you use them now.&nbsp;</p><p>You might not care about LLMs but LLMs care about you. They&#8217;re being integrated into everything and giving large corporations, and soon enough, the Government, full control and influence over the language you&#8217;re using.&nbsp;</p><p>In turn, this determines what kind of LLMs are available to use, and how. You can either make active choices now, or those choices will be made for you.</p><p>Talk again soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p> ]]>
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<![CDATA[ The Prompt Paradox ]]>
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<description>
<![CDATA[ What&#8217;s the value of words, strung together, in a sentence? Absolutely worthless and valuable&#8212;at the same time. ]]>
</description>
<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-10-prompt-paradox</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-10-prompt-paradox</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 06 Aug 2024 16:04:30 GMT</pubDate>
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<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa127fc1e-ab1a-4524-ba4a-befe4a53b6be_1024x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa127fc1e-ab1a-4524-ba4a-befe4a53b6be_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa127fc1e-ab1a-4524-ba4a-befe4a53b6be_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa127fc1e-ab1a-4524-ba4a-befe4a53b6be_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa127fc1e-ab1a-4524-ba4a-befe4a53b6be_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa127fc1e-ab1a-4524-ba4a-befe4a53b6be_1024x1024.png" width="1024" height="1024" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a127fc1e-ab1a-4524-ba4a-befe4a53b6be_1024x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1024,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1833666,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa127fc1e-ab1a-4524-ba4a-befe4a53b6be_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa127fc1e-ab1a-4524-ba4a-befe4a53b6be_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa127fc1e-ab1a-4524-ba4a-befe4a53b6be_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa127fc1e-ab1a-4524-ba4a-befe4a53b6be_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p>How much are your thoughts worth?</p><p>Some say a penny. Others say a civilization.&nbsp;</p><p>A prompt is like a distilled and expressed thought that, in turn, leads to more thoughts. They resemble potions and spells in an old wizard's shop, or prayers offered for divine favor. We quantify them, paying freelance writers by the word&#8212;or pay OpenAI a few cents per token.</p><p>And like all language:</p><p><strong>Prompts are both worthless </strong><em><strong>and</strong></em><strong> valuable, at the same time.</strong></p><p>They&#8217;re worthless because they&#8217;re just words in the form of commands, statements, or questions that don&#8217;t require you to get the wording just right.</p><p>You can prompt ChatGPT for the same thing, twenty different ways, and get useful output that&#8217;s very similar. You do not have to get the words just right as long as you know your intention and what you&#8217;re looking for.</p><p>At the same time, prompts are valuable because knowing what&#8217;s possible with prompting can sometimes help you eliminate wasted time and effort through trial-and-error.</p><p>Because it&#8217;s all language and words, prompts are also infinite in variation.</p><p>There are a hundred different ways (or more) that you can have ChatGPT produce anything from marketing strategies to Google ads, and everything in between.&nbsp;</p><p>So, they&#8217;re worthless on their own. Because there&#8217;s no one single formulation of a prompt that will always produce the same output, every single time.</p><p>But they&#8217;re valuable in that if you learn how to structure a good prompt, and understand that you&#8217;re engaging in a conversation (a chat) to get better output&#8212;you can consistently get great output.&nbsp;</p><h3>What makes a prompt worthless?</h3><p>Language is nearly infinite. <em>You can express the same message in multiple ways.</em> Therefore, prompts are also endless.</p><p>What matters is how clear your intent is, not necessarily the exact words.</p><p>Other reasons why there&#8217;s not a perfect combination of exact words that will always give you the best output:&nbsp;</p><p>You can use the same exact prompt ten times in a row, and get variations, nuances, and differences in the output ten times. You&#8217;ll never get the same exact output. They&#8217;re probabilistic and non-deterministic.&nbsp;</p><p>Why?&nbsp;</p><p>Because <em>LLMs are narcissistic.&nbsp;</em></p><p>They &#8220;prefer&#8221; their own words over yours. And never, ever follow the exact letters and words in your prompt.&nbsp;</p><p>But LLMs follow the <em>direction</em> you give, in the <em>intent</em>.</p><p>They turn your words into numbers and never preserve the exactness of your words.</p><p>Therefore, there&#8217;s not a single perfect prompt anywhere. It&#8217;s not even technically possible because of how LLMs treat input and output. What matters is the intent and direction of your words.</p><p>It&#8217;s the same as with humans and language. If a human does not understand you the first time, you change what you said but preserve the intent.</p><p>At the same time, prompts are valuable.</p><h3>What makes a prompt valuable?</h3><p>In everyday communication, we use prompts to start or continue a dialogue or command an action.&nbsp;</p><p>A prompt can be a question, a request, or a simple instruction. Its role? To elicit a response, whether from a machine or another person.&nbsp;</p><p>At first glance, a prompt is just a collection of words. But its power lies in its ability to guide the conversation or interaction towards a specific outcome.</p><p>Speech Act Theory takes this understanding further. Developed by philosophers like John L. Austin and John Searle, it suggests that when we speak, we do not just share information&#8212;we perform actions.&nbsp;</p><p>You&#8217;ll see a clear difference in responses from an LLM when the prompt is precise and clear versus vague or general.&nbsp;</p><p>The former can lead the model to generate insights, creative ideas, or solutions that go beyond the surface level.&nbsp;</p><p>In human interactions, a well-constructed prompt can open up chains of thought, previously unexplored, enriching the conversation and deepening the connection between individuals.</p><p>A prompt does more than convey a message&#8212;it acts. It can request, instruct, or even persuade. Speech Act Theory highlights the foundational role of language in shaping our interactions, not just with each other but also with LLMs.</p><p>When we craft a prompt for a large language model like GPT-4, we're not just inputting data. We're engaging in an act of communication, aiming to guide the model towards a desired response.&nbsp;</p><p>The same goes for human interactions. The words we choose, the way we structure our sentences&#8212;all of it performs an action intended to elicit a specific response.</p><p>This dual function of prompts&#8212;as conveyors of information and as actions in their own right&#8212;reveals the complexity of our interactions, both digital and personal.&nbsp;</p><p>The simple act of crafting a prompt involves a deep understanding of language's power to shape outcomes.&nbsp;</p><p>Whether we're interacting with a machine that processes our words through algorithms, or a fellow human who interprets them through a shared understanding of language, the essence of the prompt remains the same.&nbsp;</p><p>It's a technology and a vehicle for action.</p><p>The value of prompts lies in their ability to shape outcomes, engage thought, and foster meaningful interactions. They become keys to unlocking the potential of our conversations and our interactions with AI.&nbsp;</p><p>To make prompts more valuable, improve how you formulate thoughts into words. You transform the prompt from a simple string of words into a technology for creativity, insight, and connection.</p><p>The true value of prompts becomes clear when we see them as more than just questions or commands. They are the craft of language, shaped to guide thought and uncover insights.</p><h3>Prompts are &#8220;Affective Technologies&#8221;</h3><p>Prompts act as &#8220;affective technology&#8221;, tools that can touch our emotions and shape our thinking. This ability to influence both emotional and cognitive states places prompts at the heart of affective technology in communication&#8212;with LLMs or between humans.</p><p>Speech Act Theory again helps us grasp this value. It teaches us that with prompts, we do more than share information&#8212;we perform actions.</p><p>When we request or instruct through a prompt, we're not merely seeking an answer. We're inviting the responder into a specific kind of engagement. Each prompt carries the potential to not only get a response but to trigger a particular kind of thinking or dialogue.</p><p>Prompts move in the interplay between language, emotion, and cognition.</p><p>But don&#8217;t confuse <em>form</em> with <em>function</em>. Just because the form (what it looks like) is a prompt, doesn&#8217;t mean that the magic is in the form (the prompt).&nbsp;</p><p>The prompt is not magic. But the function of the prompt is.&nbsp;</p><p>What is a function? The intent behind the words. This is the signal amongst the noise.&nbsp;</p><p>The stronger the signal, the clearer the communication.&nbsp;</p><p>You can have the same signal expressed in different ways. Prompts are just expressions in words, of an intent. What matters is the intent.</p><p>Only intention is preserved, because by the time you send off a prompt, it&#8217;s reworked and reinterpreted by the time it hits the LLM, and then in the response.&nbsp;</p><p>This is why a single prompt will give you different outputs.&nbsp;</p><p>What you need to become good at is understanding what makes a good question, what makes a good direction, and how to communicate your intent.</p><p>Prompts are simple instructions in natural language, the way you would talk to a human.</p><p>From this principle, you can extrapolate and say:</p><p>Good prompting is good communication. Bad prompting is bad communication. If a human can&#8217;t understand your set of instructions, then an LLM will struggle with it too.</p><p>In other words: Talk to an LLM like you&#8217;d talk to a human being.</p><p>This is partially why ChatGPt took off like it did. It made the interaction with an LLM a chat session, the way you&#8217;d chat with or text a friend.</p><p>This is another 80/20 principle of prompting:</p><p>You will always get better output if you engage in a <em>conversation</em> with an LLM, versus going in &#8220;cold&#8221; and firing off a single prompt.</p><p>And, with Projects (Claude) or GPTs (ChatGPT), you can provide enough context (data and information) along with custom instructions, so that these LLMs can emulate any language scenario you can imagine.</p><p>Talk soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p> ]]>
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<![CDATA[ A Vision of the Revenge of Beauty (in the Age of AI) ]]>
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<![CDATA[ After 300 years, Beauty is coming back for her revenge, with AI in one hand, Discernment in the other&#8212;and ready to exact Judgment. ]]>
</description>
<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-9-vision-revenge-of-beauty-age-ai</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-9-vision-revenge-of-beauty-age-ai</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Feb 2023 13:22:54 GMT</pubDate>
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<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F363daa45-aa29-4123-802d-69c64b4fe419_1024x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F363daa45-aa29-4123-802d-69c64b4fe419_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F363daa45-aa29-4123-802d-69c64b4fe419_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F363daa45-aa29-4123-802d-69c64b4fe419_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F363daa45-aa29-4123-802d-69c64b4fe419_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F363daa45-aa29-4123-802d-69c64b4fe419_1024x1024.png" width="1024" height="1024" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/363daa45-aa29-4123-802d-69c64b4fe419_1024x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1024,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1623990,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F363daa45-aa29-4123-802d-69c64b4fe419_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F363daa45-aa29-4123-802d-69c64b4fe419_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F363daa45-aa29-4123-802d-69c64b4fe419_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F363daa45-aa29-4123-802d-69c64b4fe419_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>First, an important note:&nbsp;</p><p><strong>This will probably be the weirdest thing you read on the internet this week, if not all year (or maybe ever).</strong></p><p>The few times I&#8217;ve shared this idea in private conversations, most people stare blankly, are confused, or vehemently disagree with me.&nbsp;</p><p>I don&#8217;t blame them, at all.</p><p>This is unconventional.</p><p>The first time I shared this idea with two trusted friends, back in 2017, they wanted me to publish it right away.</p><p>I declined, because even I realized how bizarre all this sounded.</p><p><strong>But, things have changed.&nbsp;</strong></p><p>Now that I&#8217;m seeing a few people (whom I will not name) parrot this idea in public, after I shared it in private, and claiming it as their own&#8230;</p><p><strong>I realize I need to at least nail this to the door.</strong></p><p>So, here&#8217;s the deal:&nbsp;</p><p>This one issue will be one of the strangest things you&#8217;ll ever read.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>I&#8217;m hesitant to publish this. But I have no choice.</strong></p><p>Time is running out and circumstances are forcing my hand.</p><p>So:</p><p>I recognize that most subscribers to Bionic Writer are here for the AI writing stuff.</p><p>This is actually about that but on a deeper, philosophical and metaphysical level.</p><p>Anyway. You&#8217;ll find the ordinary topics at the bottom.</p><p>And the next issue will be back to the more normal stuff.</p><p><strong>But for this one issue, hear me out.</strong></p><div><hr></div><h3><strong>The Revenge of Beauty (in the Age of AI)</strong></h3><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80ea34f9-d2c8-4d77-98c2-7a981899a9a4_1024x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80ea34f9-d2c8-4d77-98c2-7a981899a9a4_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80ea34f9-d2c8-4d77-98c2-7a981899a9a4_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80ea34f9-d2c8-4d77-98c2-7a981899a9a4_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80ea34f9-d2c8-4d77-98c2-7a981899a9a4_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80ea34f9-d2c8-4d77-98c2-7a981899a9a4_1024x1024.png" width="1024" height="1024" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/80ea34f9-d2c8-4d77-98c2-7a981899a9a4_1024x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1024,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1630272,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80ea34f9-d2c8-4d77-98c2-7a981899a9a4_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80ea34f9-d2c8-4d77-98c2-7a981899a9a4_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80ea34f9-d2c8-4d77-98c2-7a981899a9a4_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80ea34f9-d2c8-4d77-98c2-7a981899a9a4_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Beauty is ready for her revenge.&nbsp;</p><p>And in the plot-twist of the century, she&#8217;s wielding Artificial Intelligence in one hand, Discernment in the other&#8212;and she&#8217;s ready to exact her Judgment.</p><p><strong>Part I: Introduction</strong></p><p>Three-hundred years ago, Beauty was banned, expelled, and sent into exile with the greatest lie ever told:&nbsp;</p><p><em>&#8220;Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.&#8221;</em></p><p>We&#8217;ve been lied to and deceived into believing that beauty is entirely subjective.&nbsp;</p><p>We&#8217;ve been told that it&#8217;s all in the mind and eye of a person, nothing more than a feeling of pleasure, and there&#8217;s no objectivity involved.</p><p>As this lie echoed down through history, culture, finance, technology and society, it gathered into a full-blown category 5 hurricane that has debased, deformed and dehumanized us for centuries.</p><p>We see this most clearly in how technology is forming us, and not us forming technology.&nbsp;</p><p>Every day, we&#8217;re processing and experiencing reality through the lens of technology.&nbsp;</p><p>But the technological imagination is sterile, largely parasitic, and ultimately has little to share with us about the human condition or the nature of reality.&nbsp;</p><p>We&#8217;re promised liberation but have to settle on being surveilled, mined for data, force-fed approved narratives, and distracted with memes and GIFs.</p><p>The perception needs to shift.&nbsp;</p><p>Away from the subjective self as the final authority, away from technology forming us, and instead fixed on beauty&#8212;the only objective reality capable of reforming us.</p><p>Because true Beauty is an encounter with Reality.</p><p>AI (and really, Machine Learning), in the form of Generative AI tools, are forcing the conversation about Beauty to happen once again.</p><p>Because now that you can create any text, visual, video or audio&#8230;</p><p>What&#8217;s left?&nbsp;</p><p>Beauty.</p><p><strong>Part II: The Dangerous Promise of Technology and AI</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6428f86f-c819-4854-bb2e-3e60ea20dd48_1024x776.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6428f86f-c819-4854-bb2e-3e60ea20dd48_1024x776.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6428f86f-c819-4854-bb2e-3e60ea20dd48_1024x776.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6428f86f-c819-4854-bb2e-3e60ea20dd48_1024x776.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6428f86f-c819-4854-bb2e-3e60ea20dd48_1024x776.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6428f86f-c819-4854-bb2e-3e60ea20dd48_1024x776.png" width="1024" height="776" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6428f86f-c819-4854-bb2e-3e60ea20dd48_1024x776.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:776,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1255603,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6428f86f-c819-4854-bb2e-3e60ea20dd48_1024x776.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6428f86f-c819-4854-bb2e-3e60ea20dd48_1024x776.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6428f86f-c819-4854-bb2e-3e60ea20dd48_1024x776.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6428f86f-c819-4854-bb2e-3e60ea20dd48_1024x776.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Technology and AI can be a blessing or a curse.&nbsp;</p><p>Right now, it&#8217;s a curse as we&#8217;re concocting deformed versions of living that lead to dead ends.&nbsp;</p><p>We&#8217;re dopamine junkies with no clue about how trapped we are in a cycle of addiction, that is slaughtering our minds and bodies.</p><p>And even as technology and AI is making unthinkable leaps of progress, we&#8217;ve yet to reap the full rewards of our labor.&nbsp;</p><p>We work longer, harder and faster than ever before. But we&#8217;re not productive.&nbsp;</p><p>AI can produce work that took hours, days or weeks in mere minutes. But no one is making masterpieces anymore.</p><p>We&#8217;re developing sequels and prequels but very few original works.&nbsp;</p><p>We&#8217;re rehashing the same conversations, ideas and music.&nbsp;</p><p>We have unparalleled potential in the palm of our hands but we&#8217;re binge watching Youtube.</p><p>We&#8217;re missing a New Aesthetics, a vision for what life can and should be like.&nbsp;</p><p>We can&#8217;t see further than the latest iteration of an iPhone or social media platform.&nbsp;</p><p>We&#8217;re rich in potential but poor in performance.&nbsp;</p><p>It&#8217;s like we can&#8217;t see what else there might be.&nbsp;</p><p>AI must become a collaborator, not a master.</p><p>AI must open the mind to new possibilities of life by way of the imagination.</p><p>AI must become a way in which we fulfill our natures, perceive the truth, and move toward the good.</p><p>AI must enrich human life, not drain it of value or meaning.</p><p>AI must reveal more of reality, not obfuscate, enhance or distort it.</p><p>And this can happen with the proper use of AI.&nbsp;</p><p>Working with AI reveals a process that&#8217;s more about negotiation than experimentation.&nbsp;</p><p>AI makes it possible for more people to engage deeper with art, and in turn experience a transformation. It can change, and deepen, our perception and understanding.</p><p>The formative process&#8212;a life-giving, generative process that can shape us&#8212;only happens when we exchange the lie for the truth:</p><p>Beauty is objective. It&#8217;s real. And it exercises influence over a subject, like ourselves.&nbsp;</p><p>When we accept this, we become active participants in our own formation.&nbsp;</p><p>There&#8217;s an active role between the piece of art (the object) and the viewer (the subject).&nbsp;</p><p>In the end, the subject is a co-creator, transforming, re-creating and changing.</p><p>In every interaction we have, we&#8217;re either formed or deformed.&nbsp;</p><p>To become fully formed humans, physically, psychologically and spiritually, Beauty must return with a vengeance.&nbsp;</p><p>And she is.</p><p><strong>Part III: The Return of Beauty</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8745fd5-43d1-45fd-a645-0416c1ad7b29_1024x808.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8745fd5-43d1-45fd-a645-0416c1ad7b29_1024x808.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8745fd5-43d1-45fd-a645-0416c1ad7b29_1024x808.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8745fd5-43d1-45fd-a645-0416c1ad7b29_1024x808.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8745fd5-43d1-45fd-a645-0416c1ad7b29_1024x808.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8745fd5-43d1-45fd-a645-0416c1ad7b29_1024x808.png" width="1024" height="808" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d8745fd5-43d1-45fd-a645-0416c1ad7b29_1024x808.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:808,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1588049,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8745fd5-43d1-45fd-a645-0416c1ad7b29_1024x808.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8745fd5-43d1-45fd-a645-0416c1ad7b29_1024x808.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8745fd5-43d1-45fd-a645-0416c1ad7b29_1024x808.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8745fd5-43d1-45fd-a645-0416c1ad7b29_1024x808.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Beauty has been watching from afar, biding her time.&nbsp;</p><p>Every now and then, we&#8217;d catch a glimpse of her.</p><p>But now I see Beauty coming hard for her revenge.&nbsp;</p><p>She&#8217;s coming back with a vengeance, ready to lay claim to our imagination, and give us a new vision.&nbsp;</p><p>We&#8217;ve been in a pitch black dark room, bumping into the furniture and each other for hundreds of years. And Beauty is ready to turn on the lights.</p><p>When she does, a New Renaissance will come in full force, in a Cambrian explosion, a leap forward, conquer technology, and turn our tech swords into plowshares for life.</p><p>And for new ways to become fully formed humans&#8212;spiritually, bodily, emotionally.</p><p>How you make use of Generative AI and Machine Learning will either dehumanize you&#8212;or make you fully alive.</p><p>We need Discernment, Judgement, Perspective and a Sense of Taste.</p><p>AI can either become a tool of total control&#8212;or enable freedom and creativity unlike anything else in a long time.</p><p>Through all the tech and code, Beauty is coming.</p><p>Talk soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p><p>P.S: Alternative images for The Revenge of Beauty: </p><div class="image-gallery-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;gallery&quot;:{&quot;images&quot;:[{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/617590eb-f5d4-4781-977d-5262d4ac58bc_1536x1536.png&quot;},{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9789ecc1-56ee-497c-8c51-bbfbd9f3e8f3_1024x1024.png&quot;},{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6db18a89-d2c5-4fb9-8a0f-07e3fd41ab81_1024x1024.png&quot;}],&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;The Revenge of Beauty Remix&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;staticGalleryImage&quot;:{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/52df554d-6ef2-4dcc-911b-b03fca651793_1456x474.png&quot;}},&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true}"></div> ]]>
</content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>
<![CDATA[ Prompts for Upgrading Your Writing & Thinking ]]>
</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[ How to get better output from ChatGPT & GPT-3 (with better prompts) ]]>
</description>
<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-8-prompts-for-writing-thinking</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-8-prompts-for-writing-thinking</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Jan 2023 12:47:48 GMT</pubDate>
<enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/>
<content:encoded>
<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png" width="1024" height="1024" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/dce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1024,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1162465,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce53854-5c55-4278-bf54-bd6c3287ac9b_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Did you know?</p><p><strong>You can assign ChatGPT a &#8220;personality&#8221; or a &#8220;role&#8221;.</strong></p><p><em>(Same goes for GPT-3, as far as I&#8217;ve tested).</em></p><p>Like, assign the &#8220;role&#8221; of a debater.</p><p>(Saw this from <a href="https://github.com/devisasari">@devisasari</a>).</p><p>Prompt:&nbsp;</p><p><em>&#8220;I want you to act as a debater. I will provide you with some topics related to current events and your task is to research both sides of the debates, present valid arguments for each side, refute opposing points of view, and draw persuasive conclusions based on evidence. Your goal is to help people come away from the discussion with increased knowledge and insight into the topic at hand. My first request is "I want an opinion piece about pineapple on pizza."</em></p><p>Swap out the topics and request for whatever you want.</p><p>This idea alone should help you craft better prompts.</p><p>Most prompts I see people use are too short, simple, and lack context.&nbsp;</p><p>If you&#8217;re treating it like a Google search&#8212;don&#8217;t.</p><p>You can do so much more than collecting information faster.</p><p>Instead of asking basic search-like questions&#8230;</p><p><strong>What if you used ChatGPT and GPT-3 to challenge your thinking, and write better?</strong></p><p>Ask for things that go against the norm, and for new angles or how to see things with a different lens.</p><p>Like this:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F213dda48-df99-4d7f-ab30-2e763c3209f7_910x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F213dda48-df99-4d7f-ab30-2e763c3209f7_910x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F213dda48-df99-4d7f-ab30-2e763c3209f7_910x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F213dda48-df99-4d7f-ab30-2e763c3209f7_910x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F213dda48-df99-4d7f-ab30-2e763c3209f7_910x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F213dda48-df99-4d7f-ab30-2e763c3209f7_910x1600.png" width="910" height="1600" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/213dda48-df99-4d7f-ab30-2e763c3209f7_910x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1600,&quot;width&quot;:910,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F213dda48-df99-4d7f-ab30-2e763c3209f7_910x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F213dda48-df99-4d7f-ab30-2e763c3209f7_910x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F213dda48-df99-4d7f-ab30-2e763c3209f7_910x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F213dda48-df99-4d7f-ab30-2e763c3209f7_910x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>For your own use case:</p><p><strong>On whatever topic, idea or subject you&#8217;re thinking or writing about&#8212;ask ChatGPT to give you something that contradicts the dominant narrative</strong> and for thought-provoking content that challenges assumptions.</p><p>Another example, asking for new angles, the uncommon and novel:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d50bc6f-cfb7-4604-b9c2-a6c4f1091fe7_1578x1669.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d50bc6f-cfb7-4604-b9c2-a6c4f1091fe7_1578x1669.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d50bc6f-cfb7-4604-b9c2-a6c4f1091fe7_1578x1669.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d50bc6f-cfb7-4604-b9c2-a6c4f1091fe7_1578x1669.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d50bc6f-cfb7-4604-b9c2-a6c4f1091fe7_1578x1669.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d50bc6f-cfb7-4604-b9c2-a6c4f1091fe7_1578x1669.png" width="1456" height="1540" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/4d50bc6f-cfb7-4604-b9c2-a6c4f1091fe7_1578x1669.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1540,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:522681,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d50bc6f-cfb7-4604-b9c2-a6c4f1091fe7_1578x1669.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d50bc6f-cfb7-4604-b9c2-a6c4f1091fe7_1578x1669.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d50bc6f-cfb7-4604-b9c2-a6c4f1091fe7_1578x1669.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d50bc6f-cfb7-4604-b9c2-a6c4f1091fe7_1578x1669.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>For your own use case:</p><p><strong>On whatever topic, idea or subject you&#8217;re thinking or writing about&#8212;ask ChatGPT to give you something that&#8217;s new, uncommon, and novel.</strong></p><p>I go through this writing exercise with anything and everything.</p><p>If I&#8217;m writing emails for a client with ChatGPT, I input the subject and ask for the opposite.</p><p>If I&#8217;m writing my pulp fiction novels, I input the scene and ask to reverse it.</p><p>If I&#8217;m writing a long-form article, I challenge each point I&#8217;m making with contradictions, challenge my assumptions, and seek out the novel and uncommon.</p><p>A few more:</p><p><strong>You can create content with a specific audience, goal, and writing.</strong></p><p>Aside from the &#8220;Topic&#8221; you saw above, you can also use &#8220;Audience&#8221; and give it additional context for any particular style you&#8217;re looking for.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbefe8bdf-66ef-4946-9d2a-0f3738415aa3_1598x1582.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbefe8bdf-66ef-4946-9d2a-0f3738415aa3_1598x1582.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbefe8bdf-66ef-4946-9d2a-0f3738415aa3_1598x1582.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbefe8bdf-66ef-4946-9d2a-0f3738415aa3_1598x1582.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbefe8bdf-66ef-4946-9d2a-0f3738415aa3_1598x1582.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbefe8bdf-66ef-4946-9d2a-0f3738415aa3_1598x1582.png" width="1456" height="1441" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/befe8bdf-66ef-4946-9d2a-0f3738415aa3_1598x1582.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1441,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbefe8bdf-66ef-4946-9d2a-0f3738415aa3_1598x1582.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbefe8bdf-66ef-4946-9d2a-0f3738415aa3_1598x1582.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbefe8bdf-66ef-4946-9d2a-0f3738415aa3_1598x1582.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbefe8bdf-66ef-4946-9d2a-0f3738415aa3_1598x1582.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Ask it to give you this advice as a 40&#8217;s mobster:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f3177cd-f8cb-49f8-a7be-f9f2dd93ab2b_1572x1446.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f3177cd-f8cb-49f8-a7be-f9f2dd93ab2b_1572x1446.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f3177cd-f8cb-49f8-a7be-f9f2dd93ab2b_1572x1446.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f3177cd-f8cb-49f8-a7be-f9f2dd93ab2b_1572x1446.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f3177cd-f8cb-49f8-a7be-f9f2dd93ab2b_1572x1446.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f3177cd-f8cb-49f8-a7be-f9f2dd93ab2b_1572x1446.png" width="1456" height="1339" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6f3177cd-f8cb-49f8-a7be-f9f2dd93ab2b_1572x1446.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1339,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f3177cd-f8cb-49f8-a7be-f9f2dd93ab2b_1572x1446.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f3177cd-f8cb-49f8-a7be-f9f2dd93ab2b_1572x1446.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f3177cd-f8cb-49f8-a7be-f9f2dd93ab2b_1572x1446.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f3177cd-f8cb-49f8-a7be-f9f2dd93ab2b_1572x1446.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>This is all fun and games but the point is:</p><h3><strong>What if you processed your thoughts and writing through ChatGPT?</strong></h3><p>What if you took whatever topic you were writing about, and flipped it around?</p><p>What if you had ChatGPT rewrite your stuff into the voice of a 1940&#8217;s mobster?</p><p>What if you worked, reworked, and rewrote your thoughts and text a few times over?</p><p>What could you suddenly discover that you were missing?&nbsp;</p><p>What weaknesses in your argument or logic could you discover?&nbsp;</p><p>What if you realize your text is emotionless and dry?&nbsp;</p><p>What if you asked ChatGPT for emotional language?&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F618929a8-a380-472c-aced-8621edaabe17_1389x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F618929a8-a380-472c-aced-8621edaabe17_1389x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F618929a8-a380-472c-aced-8621edaabe17_1389x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F618929a8-a380-472c-aced-8621edaabe17_1389x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F618929a8-a380-472c-aced-8621edaabe17_1389x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F618929a8-a380-472c-aced-8621edaabe17_1389x1600.png" width="1389" height="1600" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/618929a8-a380-472c-aced-8621edaabe17_1389x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1600,&quot;width&quot;:1389,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F618929a8-a380-472c-aced-8621edaabe17_1389x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F618929a8-a380-472c-aced-8621edaabe17_1389x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F618929a8-a380-472c-aced-8621edaabe17_1389x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F618929a8-a380-472c-aced-8621edaabe17_1389x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>And what if you copied text you&#8217;ve written and asked ChatGPT (or GPT-3) to <em>&#8220;Analyze the text below for style, voice, and tone. Explain the style, voice, and tone like you are a master coach. Emphasize the gifts of the writer.&#8221;</em></p><p><strong>Treat ChatGPT like a writing assistant and have a conversation with it.</strong> </p><p>You can speak to it like a normal human.</p><p><strong>Are you starting to see what you can do yet?</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>What if you took whatever you&#8217;re writing&#8230;</p><p>And asked ChatGPT (or GPT-3) to be creative&#8212;assigning it a role?</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88f39d1c-833d-480d-a5cd-465ca23c4928_1566x1388.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88f39d1c-833d-480d-a5cd-465ca23c4928_1566x1388.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88f39d1c-833d-480d-a5cd-465ca23c4928_1566x1388.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88f39d1c-833d-480d-a5cd-465ca23c4928_1566x1388.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88f39d1c-833d-480d-a5cd-465ca23c4928_1566x1388.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88f39d1c-833d-480d-a5cd-465ca23c4928_1566x1388.png" width="1456" height="1291" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/88f39d1c-833d-480d-a5cd-465ca23c4928_1566x1388.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1291,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88f39d1c-833d-480d-a5cd-465ca23c4928_1566x1388.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88f39d1c-833d-480d-a5cd-465ca23c4928_1566x1388.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88f39d1c-833d-480d-a5cd-465ca23c4928_1566x1388.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88f39d1c-833d-480d-a5cd-465ca23c4928_1566x1388.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I&#8217;ve said it before but I&#8217;ll say it again:&nbsp;</p><p><strong>ChatGPT (and GPT-3) is like a thought processor.</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>Put your thinking into words and then have GPT rework it with you.</p><p>A perfect writing partner.</p><p>There are a ton of prompts floating around the internet.</p><p><strong><a href="https://huggingface.co/datasets/fka/awesome-chatgpt-prompts">Here are those 100s of prompts if you haven&#8217;t seen them yet.</a></strong></p><p>Please use them.</p><p>Talk soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em>&nbsp;</p> ]]>
</content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>
<![CDATA[ Research with AI: How To Discover Secrets, Ideas, Hidden Gems ]]>
</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[ How to research anything in minutes (not days). This works for copywriting, storytelling, and even writing poems. ]]>
</description>
<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-7-research-with-ai-gpt3-chatgpt</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-7-research-with-ai-gpt3-chatgpt</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 15 Dec 2022 17:27:32 GMT</pubDate>
<enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/>
<content:encoded>
<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg" width="1024" height="768" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:768,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:314457,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F634b32a2-3ba4-40da-a291-4b17398b9c37_1024x768.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Prompt: man with eye glasses reading in a tent in the forest. plane in the sky far away. artwork by moebius</figcaption></figure></div><p><strong>The quality of your AI output is directly correlated to the quality of your prompt.</strong></p><p>This is true throughout any writing process that use AI.</p><p>And it&#8217;s especially true for doing any kind of research.</p><p>This is how GPT-3 (and ChatGPT) can refine your thinking, like a good sparring partner.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>If you get crappy output, it's because you're using crappy prompts.</strong></p><p>That's a sign of crappy, lazy thinking.&nbsp;</p><p>Refine, revise, try again.</p><p>I&#8217;ve seen people call good prompting anything from &#8220;prompt craft&#8221; to &#8220;prompt engineering&#8221;.</p><p>Lots of people make fun of that concept, too.</p><p><strong>But right now, at least, prompting matters more than anything.</strong></p><p>I&#8217;ll share a list of probably over 100+ prompts you can use for anything in a minute.</p><p>But first&#8230;</p><p>Here&#8217;s a quick tutorial on doing research with the help of AI.</p><p><em>(My goal with these tutorials is to get you started and using AI as fast as possible. No one needs a 10 hour lecture. You need to pick any topic, anything, and just try the robots).</em></p><h3><strong>How to start your research the right way</strong></h3><p>Let&#8217;s pick a random topic so you can see how this works:&nbsp;</p><p><em>What are the negative effects of too little sunlight every day?</em></p><p>Now let&#8217;s look at a handful of tools:</p><p><strong><a href="https://books.google.com/talktobooks/">Talk to Books</a></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b459967-7df6-4443-9c79-58520313e787_1601x1730.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b459967-7df6-4443-9c79-58520313e787_1601x1730.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b459967-7df6-4443-9c79-58520313e787_1601x1730.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b459967-7df6-4443-9c79-58520313e787_1601x1730.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b459967-7df6-4443-9c79-58520313e787_1601x1730.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b459967-7df6-4443-9c79-58520313e787_1601x1730.png" width="1456" height="1573" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/4b459967-7df6-4443-9c79-58520313e787_1601x1730.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1573,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:486145,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b459967-7df6-4443-9c79-58520313e787_1601x1730.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b459967-7df6-4443-9c79-58520313e787_1601x1730.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b459967-7df6-4443-9c79-58520313e787_1601x1730.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b459967-7df6-4443-9c79-58520313e787_1601x1730.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong><a href="https://elicit.org/">Elicit: Ask a research question, get answers&nbsp;</a></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd730e73-ee44-4eb5-89f6-d67b1b2685b7_2988x1182.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd730e73-ee44-4eb5-89f6-d67b1b2685b7_2988x1182.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd730e73-ee44-4eb5-89f6-d67b1b2685b7_2988x1182.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd730e73-ee44-4eb5-89f6-d67b1b2685b7_2988x1182.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd730e73-ee44-4eb5-89f6-d67b1b2685b7_2988x1182.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd730e73-ee44-4eb5-89f6-d67b1b2685b7_2988x1182.png" width="1456" height="576" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd730e73-ee44-4eb5-89f6-d67b1b2685b7_2988x1182.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:576,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:155485,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd730e73-ee44-4eb5-89f6-d67b1b2685b7_2988x1182.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd730e73-ee44-4eb5-89f6-d67b1b2685b7_2988x1182.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd730e73-ee44-4eb5-89f6-d67b1b2685b7_2988x1182.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd730e73-ee44-4eb5-89f6-d67b1b2685b7_2988x1182.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong><a href="https://consensus.app/search/">Consensus: Ask a question, get conclusions from research papers</a></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85a61e05-57eb-43f3-b6cd-0af9ef472760_2236x1336.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85a61e05-57eb-43f3-b6cd-0af9ef472760_2236x1336.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85a61e05-57eb-43f3-b6cd-0af9ef472760_2236x1336.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85a61e05-57eb-43f3-b6cd-0af9ef472760_2236x1336.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85a61e05-57eb-43f3-b6cd-0af9ef472760_2236x1336.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85a61e05-57eb-43f3-b6cd-0af9ef472760_2236x1336.png" width="1456" height="870" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/85a61e05-57eb-43f3-b6cd-0af9ef472760_2236x1336.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:870,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:2554646,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85a61e05-57eb-43f3-b6cd-0af9ef472760_2236x1336.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85a61e05-57eb-43f3-b6cd-0af9ef472760_2236x1336.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85a61e05-57eb-43f3-b6cd-0af9ef472760_2236x1336.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85a61e05-57eb-43f3-b6cd-0af9ef472760_2236x1336.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong><a href="https://www.tutorai.me/">Tutor.me: Learn anything</a></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99636f76-8bd3-42db-a726-ed54ec2ec2fe_3031x1644.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99636f76-8bd3-42db-a726-ed54ec2ec2fe_3031x1644.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99636f76-8bd3-42db-a726-ed54ec2ec2fe_3031x1644.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99636f76-8bd3-42db-a726-ed54ec2ec2fe_3031x1644.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99636f76-8bd3-42db-a726-ed54ec2ec2fe_3031x1644.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99636f76-8bd3-42db-a726-ed54ec2ec2fe_3031x1644.png" width="1456" height="790" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/99636f76-8bd3-42db-a726-ed54ec2ec2fe_3031x1644.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:790,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:268514,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99636f76-8bd3-42db-a726-ed54ec2ec2fe_3031x1644.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99636f76-8bd3-42db-a726-ed54ec2ec2fe_3031x1644.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99636f76-8bd3-42db-a726-ed54ec2ec2fe_3031x1644.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99636f76-8bd3-42db-a726-ed54ec2ec2fe_3031x1644.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>You need to keep asking questions and use prompts to find interesting information, like this, with <strong>Talk to Books</strong>:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53dd6653-d264-4182-a6cd-d80f098fe151_1476x832.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53dd6653-d264-4182-a6cd-d80f098fe151_1476x832.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53dd6653-d264-4182-a6cd-d80f098fe151_1476x832.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53dd6653-d264-4182-a6cd-d80f098fe151_1476x832.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53dd6653-d264-4182-a6cd-d80f098fe151_1476x832.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53dd6653-d264-4182-a6cd-d80f098fe151_1476x832.png" width="1456" height="821" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/53dd6653-d264-4182-a6cd-d80f098fe151_1476x832.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:821,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53dd6653-d264-4182-a6cd-d80f098fe151_1476x832.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53dd6653-d264-4182-a6cd-d80f098fe151_1476x832.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53dd6653-d264-4182-a6cd-d80f098fe151_1476x832.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53dd6653-d264-4182-a6cd-d80f098fe151_1476x832.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>That right there can be used for a fascinating historical angle, if I&#8217;m either writing about vitamin D in general or writing an email about the discovery.</p><p>And if you keep trying questions about what&#8217;s unique, different, interesting or controversial about your topic&#8212;in this case, Vitamin D&#8230;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd5ed902-43e1-4552-91ee-464db8020827_1528x500.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd5ed902-43e1-4552-91ee-464db8020827_1528x500.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd5ed902-43e1-4552-91ee-464db8020827_1528x500.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd5ed902-43e1-4552-91ee-464db8020827_1528x500.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd5ed902-43e1-4552-91ee-464db8020827_1528x500.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd5ed902-43e1-4552-91ee-464db8020827_1528x500.png" width="1456" height="476" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd5ed902-43e1-4552-91ee-464db8020827_1528x500.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:476,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd5ed902-43e1-4552-91ee-464db8020827_1528x500.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd5ed902-43e1-4552-91ee-464db8020827_1528x500.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd5ed902-43e1-4552-91ee-464db8020827_1528x500.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd5ed902-43e1-4552-91ee-464db8020827_1528x500.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>You start to uncover fascinating tidbits that might take you days or weeks to find.</p><p>A quick search on turmeric yields this:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe12a81a5-03ef-4cda-9004-b4dee4481230_1530x466.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe12a81a5-03ef-4cda-9004-b4dee4481230_1530x466.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe12a81a5-03ef-4cda-9004-b4dee4481230_1530x466.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe12a81a5-03ef-4cda-9004-b4dee4481230_1530x466.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe12a81a5-03ef-4cda-9004-b4dee4481230_1530x466.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe12a81a5-03ef-4cda-9004-b4dee4481230_1530x466.png" width="1456" height="443" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e12a81a5-03ef-4cda-9004-b4dee4481230_1530x466.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:443,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe12a81a5-03ef-4cda-9004-b4dee4481230_1530x466.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe12a81a5-03ef-4cda-9004-b4dee4481230_1530x466.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe12a81a5-03ef-4cda-9004-b4dee4481230_1530x466.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe12a81a5-03ef-4cda-9004-b4dee4481230_1530x466.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Ancient traditional use. East Indian cooking. For all sorts of health reasons.</p><p>Don&#8217;t tell me there&#8217;s nothing interesting in that.&nbsp;</p><p>I&#8217;m counting at least eight things I could turn into either a cookbook, health book, ads, emails or anything else.</p><p>Now let&#8217;s take something random we got from these tools and expand it with ChatGPT or GPT-3.</p><p>And we do so by <strong>asking both ChatGPT and GPT-3 interesting and varied questions, in the form of prompts.</strong></p><p>Let&#8217;s say I have a product or service for men over 50 who are struggling with a vitamin D deficiency.</p><p>Here&#8217;s one example, taken from the output of any research tool:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb25d127d-ce46-41db-ad70-e2ee16fc9971_1552x1296.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb25d127d-ce46-41db-ad70-e2ee16fc9971_1552x1296.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb25d127d-ce46-41db-ad70-e2ee16fc9971_1552x1296.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb25d127d-ce46-41db-ad70-e2ee16fc9971_1552x1296.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb25d127d-ce46-41db-ad70-e2ee16fc9971_1552x1296.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb25d127d-ce46-41db-ad70-e2ee16fc9971_1552x1296.png" width="1456" height="1216" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b25d127d-ce46-41db-ad70-e2ee16fc9971_1552x1296.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1216,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb25d127d-ce46-41db-ad70-e2ee16fc9971_1552x1296.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb25d127d-ce46-41db-ad70-e2ee16fc9971_1552x1296.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb25d127d-ce46-41db-ad70-e2ee16fc9971_1552x1296.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb25d127d-ce46-41db-ad70-e2ee16fc9971_1552x1296.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>The output from GPT-3 is similar but with some variation:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01e27146-e40d-4d4a-869b-e3f407b05bab_1600x637.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01e27146-e40d-4d4a-869b-e3f407b05bab_1600x637.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01e27146-e40d-4d4a-869b-e3f407b05bab_1600x637.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01e27146-e40d-4d4a-869b-e3f407b05bab_1600x637.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01e27146-e40d-4d4a-869b-e3f407b05bab_1600x637.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01e27146-e40d-4d4a-869b-e3f407b05bab_1600x637.png" width="1456" height="580" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/01e27146-e40d-4d4a-869b-e3f407b05bab_1600x637.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:580,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01e27146-e40d-4d4a-869b-e3f407b05bab_1600x637.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01e27146-e40d-4d4a-869b-e3f407b05bab_1600x637.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01e27146-e40d-4d4a-869b-e3f407b05bab_1600x637.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01e27146-e40d-4d4a-869b-e3f407b05bab_1600x637.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>If you&#8217;re a copywriter, you could pick ANY of the output and easily transform it into an ad, email, or for use on a sales page.</p><p>Here&#8217;s a quick example from Copylime:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74dfd4ba-1b4b-43bd-bbe8-16c596ec1d18_1198x1216.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74dfd4ba-1b4b-43bd-bbe8-16c596ec1d18_1198x1216.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74dfd4ba-1b4b-43bd-bbe8-16c596ec1d18_1198x1216.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74dfd4ba-1b4b-43bd-bbe8-16c596ec1d18_1198x1216.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74dfd4ba-1b4b-43bd-bbe8-16c596ec1d18_1198x1216.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74dfd4ba-1b4b-43bd-bbe8-16c596ec1d18_1198x1216.png" width="1198" height="1216" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/74dfd4ba-1b4b-43bd-bbe8-16c596ec1d18_1198x1216.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1216,&quot;width&quot;:1198,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74dfd4ba-1b4b-43bd-bbe8-16c596ec1d18_1198x1216.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74dfd4ba-1b4b-43bd-bbe8-16c596ec1d18_1198x1216.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74dfd4ba-1b4b-43bd-bbe8-16c596ec1d18_1198x1216.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74dfd4ba-1b4b-43bd-bbe8-16c596ec1d18_1198x1216.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>And another example:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e87b17a-5882-443b-acdc-b9f4dfee1f34_1182x1582.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e87b17a-5882-443b-acdc-b9f4dfee1f34_1182x1582.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e87b17a-5882-443b-acdc-b9f4dfee1f34_1182x1582.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e87b17a-5882-443b-acdc-b9f4dfee1f34_1182x1582.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e87b17a-5882-443b-acdc-b9f4dfee1f34_1182x1582.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e87b17a-5882-443b-acdc-b9f4dfee1f34_1182x1582.png" width="1182" height="1582" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1e87b17a-5882-443b-acdc-b9f4dfee1f34_1182x1582.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1582,&quot;width&quot;:1182,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:275980,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e87b17a-5882-443b-acdc-b9f4dfee1f34_1182x1582.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e87b17a-5882-443b-acdc-b9f4dfee1f34_1182x1582.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e87b17a-5882-443b-acdc-b9f4dfee1f34_1182x1582.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e87b17a-5882-443b-acdc-b9f4dfee1f34_1182x1582.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>You can turn all of that into bullets and use them in emails, ads, pages&#8212;anywhere.</p><p>From Jasper:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb340ceeb-f461-4fab-afef-e73e4c841a1e_1398x808.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb340ceeb-f461-4fab-afef-e73e4c841a1e_1398x808.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb340ceeb-f461-4fab-afef-e73e4c841a1e_1398x808.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb340ceeb-f461-4fab-afef-e73e4c841a1e_1398x808.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb340ceeb-f461-4fab-afef-e73e4c841a1e_1398x808.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb340ceeb-f461-4fab-afef-e73e4c841a1e_1398x808.png" width="1398" height="808" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b340ceeb-f461-4fab-afef-e73e4c841a1e_1398x808.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:808,&quot;width&quot;:1398,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb340ceeb-f461-4fab-afef-e73e4c841a1e_1398x808.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb340ceeb-f461-4fab-afef-e73e4c841a1e_1398x808.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb340ceeb-f461-4fab-afef-e73e4c841a1e_1398x808.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb340ceeb-f461-4fab-afef-e73e4c841a1e_1398x808.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Not excellent copy, ready to be used&#8212;but even a mediocre copywriter can turn that into an ad.</p><p>If you&#8217;re a storyteller, writing fiction, you can use ANY of the output above and easily transform it into a scene description, from ChatGPT:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc957676-8077-44dc-a0ce-cfe8339fb28b_1458x1504.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc957676-8077-44dc-a0ce-cfe8339fb28b_1458x1504.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc957676-8077-44dc-a0ce-cfe8339fb28b_1458x1504.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc957676-8077-44dc-a0ce-cfe8339fb28b_1458x1504.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc957676-8077-44dc-a0ce-cfe8339fb28b_1458x1504.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc957676-8077-44dc-a0ce-cfe8339fb28b_1458x1504.png" width="1456" height="1502" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/dc957676-8077-44dc-a0ce-cfe8339fb28b_1458x1504.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1502,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc957676-8077-44dc-a0ce-cfe8339fb28b_1458x1504.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc957676-8077-44dc-a0ce-cfe8339fb28b_1458x1504.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc957676-8077-44dc-a0ce-cfe8339fb28b_1458x1504.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc957676-8077-44dc-a0ce-cfe8339fb28b_1458x1504.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>And from GPT-3:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F81d00561-491e-400e-8709-bd538e96a8f5_1600x461.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F81d00561-491e-400e-8709-bd538e96a8f5_1600x461.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F81d00561-491e-400e-8709-bd538e96a8f5_1600x461.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F81d00561-491e-400e-8709-bd538e96a8f5_1600x461.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F81d00561-491e-400e-8709-bd538e96a8f5_1600x461.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F81d00561-491e-400e-8709-bd538e96a8f5_1600x461.png" width="1456" height="420" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/81d00561-491e-400e-8709-bd538e96a8f5_1600x461.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:420,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F81d00561-491e-400e-8709-bd538e96a8f5_1600x461.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F81d00561-491e-400e-8709-bd538e96a8f5_1600x461.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F81d00561-491e-400e-8709-bd538e96a8f5_1600x461.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F81d00561-491e-400e-8709-bd538e96a8f5_1600x461.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>The output went on, but you get the point:</p><p><strong>By asking the right questions and exploratory statements, in the form of prompts, you can tease out a whole world for anyone&#8212;a customer or a reader of your fiction.&nbsp;</strong></p><p>You can even have poems written for you:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70a87164-f836-4166-871a-a19502449c43_1402x1134.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70a87164-f836-4166-871a-a19502449c43_1402x1134.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70a87164-f836-4166-871a-a19502449c43_1402x1134.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70a87164-f836-4166-871a-a19502449c43_1402x1134.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70a87164-f836-4166-871a-a19502449c43_1402x1134.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70a87164-f836-4166-871a-a19502449c43_1402x1134.png" width="1402" height="1134" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/70a87164-f836-4166-871a-a19502449c43_1402x1134.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1134,&quot;width&quot;:1402,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70a87164-f836-4166-871a-a19502449c43_1402x1134.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70a87164-f836-4166-871a-a19502449c43_1402x1134.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70a87164-f836-4166-871a-a19502449c43_1402x1134.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70a87164-f836-4166-871a-a19502449c43_1402x1134.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><strong>So, let&#8217;s recap AI for research</strong></h3><p>For your research, for any writing project, the process and integration of various AI tools is simple:&nbsp;</p><ol><li><p>Pick a piece, part, component or element of your product or service that you want to explore. You can also focus on the target audience.</p></li><li><p>Formulate interesting research questions and statements you can use in various tools that give you facts, research, and other kinds of output.</p></li><li><p>Build on your research with ChatGPT and GPT-3.</p></li><li><p>Use that output in tools like Copylime, Copy.ai, Jasper, and so on, to further refine output into whatever format is useful.</p></li></ol><p>I haven&#8217;t even covered storyboarding what you do with image tools like Dall-E, Midjourney, or Stable Diffusion.</p><p>This should be plenty for you to know exactly what to do next and try out these tools yourself.&nbsp;</p><p>Here they are again:&nbsp;</p><p><strong><a href="https://books.google.com/talktobooks/">Talk to Books</a></strong></p><p><strong><a href="https://elicit.org/">Elicit: Ask a research question, get answers&nbsp;</a></strong></p><p><strong><a href="https://consensus.app/search/">Consensus: Ask a question, get conclusions from research papers</a></strong></p><p><strong><a href="https://www.tutorai.me/">Tutor.me: Learn anything</a></strong></p><p>And of course, the &#8216;OGs&#8217; of everything. You must use these if you&#8217;re serious about integrating AI into your writing process. Almost all other tools are based on what OpenAI puts out in the world:</p><p><strong><a href="https://beta.openai.com/playground">GPT-3</a></strong></p><p><strong><a href="https://chat.openai.com/chat">ChatGPT</a></strong></p><p><strong>But most importantly, you need great prompts. You can find a ton with a quick search, but here&#8217;s a good starting point:&nbsp;</strong></p><p><strong><a href="https://github.com/f/awesome-chatgpt-prompts">Awesome ChatGPT Prompts</a></strong></p><p>(Well over a hundred and counting).</p><p>While I have your attention, here&#8217;s a podcast on AI and copywriting:</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KGXNH6rOok&amp;ab_channel=KimSchwalm">The Copywriter of the Future with Sam Woods &amp; Kim Krause Schwalm</a></strong></p><p>I had a conversation with one of the best copywriters in the world, Kim Krause Schwalm. If you don&#8217;t know who she is, you should. Kim is not just a phenomenal copywriter with a track-record that most copywriter wannabes dream about&#8212;she&#8217;s also a fantastic teacher. I&#8217;ve been her student many times, and continue to learn from here every week. Watch or listen to this conversation on Youtube.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e54784f-14b6-4563-8740-bebf4967e052_1280x720.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e54784f-14b6-4563-8740-bebf4967e052_1280x720.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e54784f-14b6-4563-8740-bebf4967e052_1280x720.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e54784f-14b6-4563-8740-bebf4967e052_1280x720.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e54784f-14b6-4563-8740-bebf4967e052_1280x720.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e54784f-14b6-4563-8740-bebf4967e052_1280x720.png" width="1280" height="720" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7e54784f-14b6-4563-8740-bebf4967e052_1280x720.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:720,&quot;width&quot;:1280,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e54784f-14b6-4563-8740-bebf4967e052_1280x720.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e54784f-14b6-4563-8740-bebf4967e052_1280x720.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e54784f-14b6-4563-8740-bebf4967e052_1280x720.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e54784f-14b6-4563-8740-bebf4967e052_1280x720.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Talk soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p> ]]>
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</item>
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<title>
<![CDATA[ Writing In The Age of AI ]]>
</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[ GPT-3 already changed the game. Now ChatGPT is sending us to the moon, as my dear crypto bros would say (what happened to web3?) ]]>
</description>
<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-6-writing-age-ai</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-6-writing-age-ai</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Dec 2022 17:43:36 GMT</pubDate>
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<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdf0df27-5182-4b87-a98f-4f4ffaae86c8_768x512.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdf0df27-5182-4b87-a98f-4f4ffaae86c8_768x512.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdf0df27-5182-4b87-a98f-4f4ffaae86c8_768x512.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdf0df27-5182-4b87-a98f-4f4ffaae86c8_768x512.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdf0df27-5182-4b87-a98f-4f4ffaae86c8_768x512.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdf0df27-5182-4b87-a98f-4f4ffaae86c8_768x512.jpeg" width="768" height="512" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/fdf0df27-5182-4b87-a98f-4f4ffaae86c8_768x512.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:512,&quot;width&quot;:768,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:106752,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdf0df27-5182-4b87-a98f-4f4ffaae86c8_768x512.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdf0df27-5182-4b87-a98f-4f4ffaae86c8_768x512.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdf0df27-5182-4b87-a98f-4f4ffaae86c8_768x512.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdf0df27-5182-4b87-a98f-4f4ffaae86c8_768x512.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em>Note: You&#8217;ve surely read countless hot takes on the new chatGPT. And I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;re wondering where the AI writing tutorials are. They&#8217;re coming. But here&#8217;s a very important, critical message that you can&#8217;t afford ignore:</em></p><p>I&#8217;ve been using GPT-3 for all kinds of writing since it was first released in 2020.</p><p><strong>What took me maybe 4-6 prompts to get right with GPT-3, now takes me 1 prompt with chatGPT.</strong></p><p>Any additional prompts after the first one is only to continue the &#8220;conversation&#8221; and get more ideas, angles, thoughts, and text.&nbsp;</p><p>My writing process used to include several iterations, revisions, and editing.&nbsp;</p><p>Now that has been shortened by at least 4 steps.</p><p>Overall, my process for how to leverage AI for writing (and thinking) remains the same.</p><p><strong>But now I&#8217;m getting far better output, faster.</strong></p><p>I mean, have you seen what chatGPT can do?&nbsp;</p><p>All of this from <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/JoelKlettke/">Joel Klettke</a></strong> is hilarious:&nbsp;</p><div data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM" class="tweet" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://twitter.com/JoelKlettke/status/1600137661435772929&quot;,&quot;full_text&quot;:&quot;I&#8217;ve found it! The funniest <span class=\&quot;tweet-fake-link\&quot;>#ChatGPT</span> prompt format of all. And so versatile!\n\nThe premise: Samuel L Jackson has a job where he needs to explain things\n\nWarning: extremely crass. \n\nPlz help me raise money to have <span class=\&quot;tweet-fake-link\&quot;>@SamuelLJackson</span> do voice acting for this. &quot;,&quot;username&quot;:&quot;JoelKlettke&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Joel Klettke&quot;,&quot;date&quot;:&quot;Tue Dec 06 14:38:42 +0000 2022&quot;,&quot;photos&quot;:[{&quot;img_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/media/FjTUtoFaYAEt5r9.jpg&quot;,&quot;link_url&quot;:&quot;https://t.co/Qkoc77yxYK&quot;,&quot;alt_text&quot;:null},{&quot;img_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/media/FjTUtoEagAALDvr.jpg&quot;,&quot;link_url&quot;:&quot;https://t.co/Qkoc77yxYK&quot;,&quot;alt_text&quot;:null},{&quot;img_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/media/FjTUtoGaAAA7z12.jpg&quot;,&quot;link_url&quot;:&quot;https://t.co/Qkoc77yxYK&quot;,&quot;alt_text&quot;:null},{&quot;img_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/media/FjTUtoEaYAATjAi.jpg&quot;,&quot;link_url&quot;:&quot;https://t.co/Qkoc77yxYK&quot;,&quot;alt_text&quot;:null}],&quot;quoted_tweet&quot;:{},&quot;retweet_count&quot;:5,&quot;like_count&quot;:28,&quot;expanded_url&quot;:{},&quot;video_url&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true}"><a class="tweet-link-top" href="https://twitter.com/JoelKlettke/status/1600137661435772929" target="_blank"><div class="tweet-header"><img class="tweet-header-avatar" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/JoelKlettke.jpg" alt="Twitter avatar for @JoelKlettke" loading="lazy"><div class="tweet-header-text"><span class="tweet-author-name">Joel Klettke </span><span class="tweet-author-handle">@JoelKlettke</span></div></div><div class="tweet-text">I&#8217;ve found it! The funniest <span class="tweet-fake-link">#ChatGPT</span> prompt format of all. And so versatile! The premise: Samuel L Jackson has a job where he needs to explain things Warning: extremely crass. Plz help me raise money to have <span class="tweet-fake-link">@SamuelLJackson</span> do voice acting for this. </div><div class="tweet-photos-container four"><div class="tweet-photos-column"><div class="tweet-photo-wrapper half-height-container"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjTUtoFaYAEt5r9.jpg"><img class="tweet-photo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjTUtoFaYAEt5r9.jpg" alt="Image" loading="lazy"></picture></div><div class="tweet-photo-wrapper half-height-container"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjTUtoGaAAA7z12.jpg"><img class="tweet-photo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjTUtoGaAAA7z12.jpg" alt="Image" loading="lazy"></picture></div></div><div class="tweet-photos-column"><div class="tweet-photo-wrapper half-height-container"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjTUtoEagAALDvr.jpg"><img class="tweet-photo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjTUtoEagAALDvr.jpg" alt="Image" loading="lazy"></picture></div><div class="tweet-photo-wrapper half-height-container"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjTUtoEaYAATjAi.jpg"><img class="tweet-photo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjTUtoEaYAATjAi.jpg" alt="Image" loading="lazy"></picture></div></div></div></a><a class="tweet-link-bottom" href="https://twitter.com/JoelKlettke/status/1600137661435772929" target="_blank"><div class="tweet-footer"><span class="tweet-date">2:38 PM &#8729; Dec 6, 2022</span><hr><div class="tweet-ufi"><span href="https://twitter.com/JoelKlettke/status/1600137661435772929/likes" class="likes"><span class="like-count">28</span>Likes</span><span href="https://twitter.com/JoelKlettke/status/1600137661435772929/retweets" class="retweets"><span class="rt-count">5</span>Retweets</span></div></div></a></div><p>(He&#8217;s got a bunch of these, please make sure you follow him).</p><p>Get a marketing plan done for you in seconds:&nbsp;</p><div data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM" class="tweet" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://twitter.com/levie/status/1599648362416205825&quot;,&quot;full_text&quot;:&quot;&#129327; &quot;,&quot;username&quot;:&quot;levie&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Aaron Levie&quot;,&quot;date&quot;:&quot;Mon Dec 05 06:14:24 +0000 2022&quot;,&quot;photos&quot;:[{&quot;img_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/media/FjMXtOPVEAA8k43.jpg&quot;,&quot;link_url&quot;:&quot;https://t.co/sgIPGnE92s&quot;,&quot;alt_text&quot;:null}],&quot;quoted_tweet&quot;:{},&quot;retweet_count&quot;:166,&quot;like_count&quot;:1953,&quot;expanded_url&quot;:{},&quot;video_url&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true}"><a class="tweet-link-top" href="https://twitter.com/levie/status/1599648362416205825" target="_blank"><div class="tweet-header"><img class="tweet-header-avatar" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/levie.jpg" alt="Twitter avatar for @levie" loading="lazy"><div class="tweet-header-text"><span class="tweet-author-name">Aaron Levie </span><span class="tweet-author-handle">@levie</span></div></div><div class="tweet-text">&#129327; </div><div class="tweet-photos-container one"><div class="tweet-photo-wrapper "><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjMXtOPVEAA8k43.jpg"><img class="tweet-photo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjMXtOPVEAA8k43.jpg" alt="Image" loading="lazy"></picture></div></div></a><a class="tweet-link-bottom" href="https://twitter.com/levie/status/1599648362416205825" target="_blank"><div class="tweet-footer"><span class="tweet-date">6:14 AM &#8729; Dec 5, 2022</span><hr><div class="tweet-ufi"><span href="https://twitter.com/levie/status/1599648362416205825/likes" class="likes"><span class="like-count">1,953</span>Likes</span><span href="https://twitter.com/levie/status/1599648362416205825/retweets" class="retweets"><span class="rt-count">166</span>Retweets</span></div></div></a></div><p>&nbsp;You can also get code written for you:&nbsp;</p><div data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM" class="tweet" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://twitter.com/mckaywrigley/status/1600241095899652096&quot;,&quot;full_text&quot;:&quot;I&#8217;ve now spent several days writing code with ChatGPT as my pair programmer. \n\nI can definitively say that I&#8217;d pay $1k/mo for it.\n\nCopilot/Ghostwriter + ChatGPT is at least a 2x productivity improvement.&quot;,&quot;username&quot;:&quot;mckaywrigley&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Mckay Wrigley&quot;,&quot;date&quot;:&quot;Tue Dec 06 21:29:42 +0000 2022&quot;,&quot;photos&quot;:[],&quot;quoted_tweet&quot;:{},&quot;retweet_count&quot;:518,&quot;like_count&quot;:6234,&quot;expanded_url&quot;:{},&quot;video_url&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true}"><a class="tweet-link-top" href="https://twitter.com/mckaywrigley/status/1600241095899652096" target="_blank"><div class="tweet-header"><img class="tweet-header-avatar" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/mckaywrigley.jpg" alt="Twitter avatar for @mckaywrigley" loading="lazy"><div class="tweet-header-text"><span class="tweet-author-name">Mckay Wrigley </span><span class="tweet-author-handle">@mckaywrigley</span></div></div><div class="tweet-text">I&#8217;ve now spent several days writing code with ChatGPT as my pair programmer. I can definitively say that I&#8217;d pay $1k/mo for it. Copilot/Ghostwriter + ChatGPT is at least a 2x productivity improvement.</div></a><a class="tweet-link-bottom" href="https://twitter.com/mckaywrigley/status/1600241095899652096" target="_blank"><div class="tweet-footer"><span class="tweet-date">9:29 PM &#8729; Dec 6, 2022</span><hr><div class="tweet-ufi"><span href="https://twitter.com/mckaywrigley/status/1600241095899652096/likes" class="likes"><span class="like-count">6,234</span>Likes</span><span href="https://twitter.com/mckaywrigley/status/1600241095899652096/retweets" class="retweets"><span class="rt-count">518</span>Retweets</span></div></div></a></div><p>The range of possibilities is as wide and endless as there are humans:</p><div data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM" class="tweet" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://twitter.com/thedigiguru/status/1599195462845677568&quot;,&quot;full_text&quot;:&quot;The Avengers (1980) directed by Wes Anderson \n\n<span class=\&quot;tweet-fake-link\&quot;>#aiart</span> <span class=\&quot;tweet-fake-link\&quot;>#midjourneyV4</span> &quot;,&quot;username&quot;:&quot;thedigiguru&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;digiguru &#128000;&quot;,&quot;date&quot;:&quot;Sun Dec 04 00:14:44 +0000 2022&quot;,&quot;photos&quot;:[{&quot;img_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/media/FjF7y00XoAApK9j.jpg&quot;,&quot;link_url&quot;:&quot;https://t.co/NsRxUifOgu&quot;,&quot;alt_text&quot;:null},{&quot;img_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/media/FjF7y0zXwAIPf3-.jpg&quot;,&quot;link_url&quot;:&quot;https://t.co/NsRxUifOgu&quot;,&quot;alt_text&quot;:null},{&quot;img_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/media/FjF7y00WAAYp0d_.jpg&quot;,&quot;link_url&quot;:&quot;https://t.co/NsRxUifOgu&quot;,&quot;alt_text&quot;:null},{&quot;img_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/media/FjF7y01XkAI3Nhc.jpg&quot;,&quot;link_url&quot;:&quot;https://t.co/NsRxUifOgu&quot;,&quot;alt_text&quot;:null}],&quot;quoted_tweet&quot;:{},&quot;retweet_count&quot;:1391,&quot;like_count&quot;:11513,&quot;expanded_url&quot;:{},&quot;video_url&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true}"><a class="tweet-link-top" href="https://twitter.com/thedigiguru/status/1599195462845677568" target="_blank"><div class="tweet-header"><img class="tweet-header-avatar" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/thedigiguru.jpg" alt="Twitter avatar for @thedigiguru" loading="lazy"><div class="tweet-header-text"><span class="tweet-author-name">digiguru &#128000; </span><span class="tweet-author-handle">@thedigiguru</span></div></div><div class="tweet-text">The Avengers (1980) directed by Wes Anderson <span class="tweet-fake-link">#aiart</span> <span class="tweet-fake-link">#midjourneyV4</span> </div><div class="tweet-photos-container four"><div class="tweet-photos-column"><div class="tweet-photo-wrapper half-height-container"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjF7y00XoAApK9j.jpg"><img class="tweet-photo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjF7y00XoAApK9j.jpg" alt="Image" loading="lazy"></picture></div><div class="tweet-photo-wrapper half-height-container"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjF7y00WAAYp0d_.jpg"><img class="tweet-photo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjF7y00WAAYp0d_.jpg" alt="Image" loading="lazy"></picture></div></div><div class="tweet-photos-column"><div class="tweet-photo-wrapper half-height-container"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjF7y0zXwAIPf3-.jpg"><img class="tweet-photo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjF7y0zXwAIPf3-.jpg" alt="Image" loading="lazy"></picture></div><div class="tweet-photo-wrapper half-height-container"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjF7y01XkAI3Nhc.jpg"><img class="tweet-photo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFjF7y01XkAI3Nhc.jpg" alt="Image" loading="lazy"></picture></div></div></div></a><a class="tweet-link-bottom" href="https://twitter.com/thedigiguru/status/1599195462845677568" target="_blank"><div class="tweet-footer"><span class="tweet-date">12:14 AM &#8729; Dec 4, 2022</span><hr><div class="tweet-ufi"><span href="https://twitter.com/thedigiguru/status/1599195462845677568/likes" class="likes"><span class="like-count">11,513</span>Likes</span><span href="https://twitter.com/thedigiguru/status/1599195462845677568/retweets" class="retweets"><span class="rt-count">1,391</span>Retweets</span></div></div></a></div><p>When you think about tools and the value they create, you need to ask yourself:</p><p><em>&#8220;What use case does this unlock?&#8221;</em> as well as <em>&#8220;what problem does this solve?&#8221;</em></p><h3><strong>Here&#8217;s what it all means for writing</strong></h3><p>It would be premature to have the complete picture.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>It&#8217;s so early.</strong>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>And yet, it&#8217;s too late.</strong> Anyone jumping on the bandwagon now is years behind&#8212;and everything is accelerating.</p><p>I&#8217;m barely keeping up, and I&#8217;ve been using generative AI (and for quantitative work) for 3 years.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>So, the answer is to not keep up with daily or even weekly changes.</strong></p><p>You have a window of ~12 months to find your bearings, try things out, and figure out how to leverage AI for whatever you do.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Instead of diving into the daily flow of updates, releases, new tools, new this, new that, and everyone doing everything, all at once&#8230;</p><p>Slow down.</p><p><strong>Change your perspective.</strong></p><p>When everyone can write anything, at any time&#8230;</p><p>Your surfboard for this tsunami-level extinction event is not to offer, say, &#8220;content marketing with the help of AI&#8221;.</p><p>Anyone can offer the exact same article writing as you, using the exact same AI writing tool as you, and getting it done as fast as you.</p><p><strong>Differentiating with AI alone could be done up until a few weeks ago. Now it&#8217;s not good enough.</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>Same goes for any writing: fiction, poetry, non-fiction, Facebook ads, emails, landing pages, novels, and all of it.</p><p>The novelty of &#8220;done with AI&#8221; will wear off.&nbsp;</p><p>As amazing as AI and chatGPT is (and it is), your advantage is NOT:</p><p><em>Your Thing + AI</em></p><p>It's:</p><p><em><strong>Your Thing + AI + Your Perspective, Taste, Imagination</strong></em></p><p>When everyone has access to AI, like now, AI alone is no longer the advantage.&nbsp;</p><p>For sure, you can sell something with AI to markets that are clueless, lagging behind, or have little to no interest in doing things with AI.&nbsp;</p><p>But a lasting advantage?</p><p><strong>Being fully human is the true unfair advantage.</strong></p><p>And now is the time to engage with AI in a way that protects and harnesses us, as we are.</p><p><strong>The risk is unimaginable.</strong> Things can go very wrong, very quickly. And inadvertently, AI can end up exercising a level of control and domination that no one in their right mind would want.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>But the possibilities are also unimaginable.</strong> But if you engage with AI with the right mindset and goal, where ultimately you&#8217;re looking for human flourishing&#8230;</p><p>Things become a lot clearer.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>You need to feel both the sheer terror and the exuberant thrill of what&#8217;s possible with AI.</strong></p><p>You need to see what could go <strong>wrong</strong> and what could go <strong>right</strong>.</p><p>And when you do, that emotional energy pounding in your chest can lift you up and forwards, with a spring in your step that might&#8217;ve been missing for years.&nbsp;</p><p>The future is now. It&#8217;s wide open.&nbsp;</p><p>For writing, here&#8217;s a first draft of what I&#8217;m thinking.</p><h3><strong>First draft: Writing in the Age of AI</strong>&nbsp;</h3><ul><li><p><strong>The writing (and creative) process is the evolution of an idea</strong> into its final form through a progression of thoughts and actions. AI can augment, enhance, and expand what you do at every stage.&nbsp;</p><ul><li><p>AI is a co-writer, collaborator, and creative assistant.</p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>The way humans write (and do any creative work) is both different and similar.</strong></p><ul><li><p>AI and GPT-3 creates new content based on patterns and themes in existing works, which isn&#8217;t so different from the way that humans engage in creativity.</p></li><li><p>Even the most innovative writers usually have a solid grounding in the tenets, theory and predecessors of their chosen form, whether it be classical piano or creative fiction writing.&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>Building on what comes before, consuming and acquiring &#8220;input&#8221; is a key part of our creative process.&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>We have higher executive functions that allow us to exhibit reasoning, planning, cognitive flexibility, and problem-solving.&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>We also have lower-order emotions that allow us to have opinions and care about one idea over another, one word over another, not just as the output of a probability function.</p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>Should AI behave in the way we want or the way their creators intended?</strong> Whose values align these systems? Should you have access to the full range of human expression, ranging from hate to love, and everything in between? I say yes. Otherwise, we&#8217;ll be reduced, marginalized, and cut down.</p></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>AI can be an amazing improvisation partner.</strong> It&#8217;s an endless stream of &#8220;yes-and&#8221; and &#8220;no-but&#8221;.&nbsp;</p></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>Any well-read person knows it is possible to fake intelligence by sounding intelligent.</strong> AI sounds intelligent. It&#8217;s not intelligent in the way we think of intelligence. But if you&#8217;re reading a well-reasoned argument, or converse with a bot without knowing it&#8212;does it make a difference?</p></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>Is the only thing we&#8217;ve got left that AI can&#8217;t copy our personality?</strong> You could train an AI on personality tests&#8212;and your personality. But will it ever be able to be you, or will it always just replicate you, in various instances? Does it matter?</p><ul><li><p>What&#8217;s in you, that makes you, you?&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>What does &#8220;you&#8221; look like, fully alive?&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>If you were to write out &#8220;you&#8221;, what would I read?&nbsp;</p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>As AI systems become as good as humans</strong> at knowledge and writing tasks, you need to explore the illegible, the irrational, and the emotional.</p></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>If AI turns mediocre writing into a commodity, will that increase the "price" of good writing?</strong></p><ul><li><p>But do we pay for &#8220;writing&#8221; or for what we experience when reading?&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>Handmade things are appreciated more once you can get cheap replicas or imitations.</p></li><li><p>Will we compliment a piece of writing by saying "this couldn't have been written by an AI"?</p></li><li><p>If AI can generate an endless stream of ideas, will it still be about the &#8220;idea&#8221; in what you&#8217;re reading?&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>Does it not matter more who the idea came from, or how they communicate it?&nbsp;</p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>Once you produce quantity, it becomes about quality. Fair, but what helps you produce better quantities?</strong> Systems and process. Frameworks, models and guiding AI output will matter more for a while. Eventually, it won&#8217;t matter at all.</p></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>The question isn&#8217;t: &#8220;which tool is better?&#8221;. The question is: &#8220;how can I use any tool to help me write more, and write better?&#8221;</strong></p><ul><li><p>What will help you get closer to the vision and idea in your mind, that only you can see?&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>Do you need to see a lot of text so you can select the &#8220;best&#8221; version?</p></li><li><p>Or do you have such clarity that you can guide AI to produce what you want?</p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>Now that you can do anything with AI</strong>, the question is: "What now" and "what for?" Developing your sense of taste has never been more important.</p></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>What is now required, that you could ignore before? Aesthetics.</strong> In another word: Judgment. Which requires you to form a:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><p>Point of view</p></li><li><p>Perspective</p></li><li><p>Personality</p></li><li><p>Sense of taste</p></li></ul></li></ul><p>I&#8217;ll revise this further at some point.</p><p>Talk soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p> ]]>
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<title>
<![CDATA[ How I Write Emails With GPT-3 ]]>
</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[ Final tally was somewhere north of $500,000 when everything was said and done. ]]>
</description>
<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-5-writing-emails-gpt3</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-5-writing-emails-gpt3</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 2022 17:08:18 GMT</pubDate>
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<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2c6310e6-d1df-4fe4-9f55-6e5257fb70f1_768x768.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2c6310e6-d1df-4fe4-9f55-6e5257fb70f1_768x768.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2c6310e6-d1df-4fe4-9f55-6e5257fb70f1_768x768.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2c6310e6-d1df-4fe4-9f55-6e5257fb70f1_768x768.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2c6310e6-d1df-4fe4-9f55-6e5257fb70f1_768x768.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2c6310e6-d1df-4fe4-9f55-6e5257fb70f1_768x768.png" width="768" height="768" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2c6310e6-d1df-4fe4-9f55-6e5257fb70f1_768x768.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:768,&quot;width&quot;:768,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1270772,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2c6310e6-d1df-4fe4-9f55-6e5257fb70f1_768x768.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2c6310e6-d1df-4fe4-9f55-6e5257fb70f1_768x768.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2c6310e6-d1df-4fe4-9f55-6e5257fb70f1_768x768.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2c6310e6-d1df-4fe4-9f55-6e5257fb70f1_768x768.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Last year, I optimized and wrote a 7-day email onboarding sequence for a client </strong>(selling software).&nbsp;</p><p>It ended up generating over $500,000 over the course of a few months.&nbsp;</p><p>And I did so with the help of GPT-3.&nbsp;</p><p>(My client knew <em>and wanted me to do so</em>. Because as I was doing so, I was also training their marketing team on how to use AI for marketing).</p><p>The onboarding sequence for SaaS was meant to turn free trial users into paying users.&nbsp;</p><p>Which means these emails need to hit on several things over about a week:</p><ul><li><p>Get the user to <em>actually use the features</em> of the software.</p></li><li><p>Get the user to the <em>&#8220;A-ha!&#8221;</em> moment, where they experience the true value of the software and become invested in using it.</p></li><li><p>Counter objections along the way.</p></li><li><p>Frame the software as beneficial in all sorts of ways (future-pacing, dimensionalize benefits, implication chains, etc.)</p></li><li><p>Trigger emotional investment and use logic to justify paying for it.</p></li></ul><p>Every email had a purpose, outcome, and structure.</p><p>This makes it fairly easy to get good text output from prompts you give GPT-3 (or whichever tool you use).&nbsp;</p><p>Let&#8217;s look at one email example.</p><p>The purpose of Email #6 (in the sequence) was to provide benefit bullets, covering logical and emotional benefits, that communicated the value of the software.&nbsp;</p><p>I gave GPT-3 some existing content already written (so it knew the topic and some details).</p><p>Then I ended with a simple prompt:&nbsp;</p><p><em>&#8220;Give me a list of both logical and emotional reasons as to why and how this fleet management software can help fleet managers with their job.&#8221;</em></p><p>Click &#8216;Submit&#8217;. Watch the circle whirl. And I got this:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7887b07e-b9da-457c-8ca2-61e12116afbf_1300x1280.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7887b07e-b9da-457c-8ca2-61e12116afbf_1300x1280.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7887b07e-b9da-457c-8ca2-61e12116afbf_1300x1280.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7887b07e-b9da-457c-8ca2-61e12116afbf_1300x1280.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7887b07e-b9da-457c-8ca2-61e12116afbf_1300x1280.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7887b07e-b9da-457c-8ca2-61e12116afbf_1300x1280.png" width="616" height="606.5230769230769" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7887b07e-b9da-457c-8ca2-61e12116afbf_1300x1280.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1280,&quot;width&quot;:1300,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:616,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7887b07e-b9da-457c-8ca2-61e12116afbf_1300x1280.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7887b07e-b9da-457c-8ca2-61e12116afbf_1300x1280.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7887b07e-b9da-457c-8ca2-61e12116afbf_1300x1280.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7887b07e-b9da-457c-8ca2-61e12116afbf_1300x1280.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>There&#8217;s some repetition and almost duplicate content. But there&#8217;s nuance.</p><p>From there, I asked GPT-3 to give me a paragraph with an argument for using fleet management software, along with telling me how it works and what to do next:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F513e266d-8d20-463d-bf6a-42d74ad97130_1376x664.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F513e266d-8d20-463d-bf6a-42d74ad97130_1376x664.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F513e266d-8d20-463d-bf6a-42d74ad97130_1376x664.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F513e266d-8d20-463d-bf6a-42d74ad97130_1376x664.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F513e266d-8d20-463d-bf6a-42d74ad97130_1376x664.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F513e266d-8d20-463d-bf6a-42d74ad97130_1376x664.png" width="586" height="282.77906976744185" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/513e266d-8d20-463d-bf6a-42d74ad97130_1376x664.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:664,&quot;width&quot;:1376,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:586,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F513e266d-8d20-463d-bf6a-42d74ad97130_1376x664.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F513e266d-8d20-463d-bf6a-42d74ad97130_1376x664.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F513e266d-8d20-463d-bf6a-42d74ad97130_1376x664.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F513e266d-8d20-463d-bf6a-42d74ad97130_1376x664.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>The black boxes are redacting the client&#8217;s name.&nbsp;</p><p>Why?&nbsp;</p><p>Because it&#8217;s still a bit controversial to have your marketing done by robots. And, if people know, you&#8217;ll get novelty clicks and attention that makes it hard to get real, accurate results and data.&nbsp;</p><p><em>(Sidenote: Everything AI-related I do with clients is under NDAs and other agreements. I only share names and details if I get approval from a client. This is to both protect their IP, my IP, and again: get as accurate results from testing as possible. It&#8217;s not possible if you get novelty views, clicks, and people gaming your ads or emails).</em></p><p>Anyway.</p><p>All of that text is pure GPT-3 output with zero edits.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>With some editing, this can be a great email.</strong></p><p>(And it took me maybe 4-5 minutes in total to get the bullets and other email copy written for me).</p><p>The email, after some editing:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47684ef6-4dc7-48ff-860b-761f6a064b99_736x1562.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47684ef6-4dc7-48ff-860b-761f6a064b99_736x1562.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47684ef6-4dc7-48ff-860b-761f6a064b99_736x1562.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47684ef6-4dc7-48ff-860b-761f6a064b99_736x1562.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47684ef6-4dc7-48ff-860b-761f6a064b99_736x1562.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47684ef6-4dc7-48ff-860b-761f6a064b99_736x1562.png" width="574" height="1218.1902173913043" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/47684ef6-4dc7-48ff-860b-761f6a064b99_736x1562.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1562,&quot;width&quot;:736,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:574,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47684ef6-4dc7-48ff-860b-761f6a064b99_736x1562.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47684ef6-4dc7-48ff-860b-761f6a064b99_736x1562.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47684ef6-4dc7-48ff-860b-761f6a064b99_736x1562.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47684ef6-4dc7-48ff-860b-761f6a064b99_736x1562.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Can you see the possibilities here?&nbsp;</strong></p><p>It&#8217;s not about writing faster (though that can happen).</p><p>It&#8217;s not about expecting text that&#8217;s flawless and ready to be used (though that can happen, too).&nbsp;</p><p>It&#8217;s about getting text, in this case email copy, that you can mold and edit.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bionicwriter.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://bionicwriter.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p>Several of the emotional and logical bullets were reused in ads and in headlines. And they performed really well (not just in click volume but in CPC, CAC, and other metrics).</p><p>The key to getting useful output from any AI tool is to use it with a <em><strong>process</strong></em> and <em><strong>structure</strong></em>.&nbsp;</p><p>Don&#8217;t prompt it with:</p><p><em>&#8220;Write me an email about how to lose weight&#8221;</em></p><p>You won&#8217;t get a lot of useful text back.&nbsp;</p><p>Instead, follow a process of:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><p>Gather any materials and research that would help you write copy.</p></li><li><p>Pick a template or structure you would use.&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>Prompt GPT-3 (or in whichever tool you use) a few times with different information and variations of your prompt.&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>Take what&#8217;s useful.</p></li><li><p>Edit into final copy.</p></li></ul><p>I&#8217;m trying to help you see this.</p><p>So you can start using AI and GPT-3 in your own process.</p><p>I don&#8217;t recommend a specific tool other than GPT-3 directly.&nbsp;</p><p>But tools like Jasper.ai, Copy.ai, Copylime.com, and so on are all great for different things.</p><p>Don&#8217;t ask <em>&#8220;which tool is best??&#8221;</em> (it&#8217;s GPT-3).</p><p>Instead, ask yourself how you can implement and start using it in your workflow.</p><p>If you do, you&#8217;ll soon have emails done that generate serious cash.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Discovery and magic comes from working with the tools.</strong></p><p>Stop procrastinating. Stop wondering which tool. Just get started.</p><p>If it wasn&#8217;t obvious by now, let me say it again:&nbsp;</p><p>AI, and in particular, GPT-3 is capable of writing <em><strong>anything</strong></em>.</p><p>It may not be award-winning prose or poetry that makes you weep right away.</p><p>It may not be Facebook ads that produce millions instantly. Or sales pages doing the same.</p><p>But it&#8217;s perfect for ideation, drafting, surprising insights, interesting twists&#8212;and text you can mold into gold.</p><p>And soon, GPT-4 will be available.&nbsp;</p><p>In the meantime:</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_41D4_oS1o&amp;ab_channel=SamWoods">Did you see? Here&#8217;s how &#8220;bionic ads&#8221; can generate dollars</a></strong></p><div id="youtube2-J_41D4_oS1o" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;J_41D4_oS1o&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/J_41D4_oS1o?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>Talk soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p> ]]>
</content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>
<![CDATA[ Slinging Ai-Written Pulp Fiction On Amazon For Fun And (Very Tiny) Profit ]]>
</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[ At 83 copies for a grand total of $829 so far. Here&#8217;s what I did. ]]>
</description>
<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-4-pulp-fiction-gpt3</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-4-pulp-fiction-gpt3</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 Nov 2022 13:31:55 GMT</pubDate>
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<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F29106816-de0f-4bd4-bda7-2568c57d995d_1664x1664.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F29106816-de0f-4bd4-bda7-2568c57d995d_1664x1664.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F29106816-de0f-4bd4-bda7-2568c57d995d_1664x1664.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F29106816-de0f-4bd4-bda7-2568c57d995d_1664x1664.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F29106816-de0f-4bd4-bda7-2568c57d995d_1664x1664.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F29106816-de0f-4bd4-bda7-2568c57d995d_1664x1664.png" width="1456" height="1456" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/29106816-de0f-4bd4-bda7-2568c57d995d_1664x1664.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;pulp novel cover, hardboiled detective, writer, cinematic, by jean baptiste monge, high contrast details, cinematic lighting, octane render, intricate ultra detail&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="pulp novel cover, hardboiled detective, writer, cinematic, by jean baptiste monge, high contrast details, cinematic lighting, octane render, intricate ultra detail" title="pulp novel cover, hardboiled detective, writer, cinematic, by jean baptiste monge, high contrast details, cinematic lighting, octane render, intricate ultra detail" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F29106816-de0f-4bd4-bda7-2568c57d995d_1664x1664.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F29106816-de0f-4bd4-bda7-2568c57d995d_1664x1664.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F29106816-de0f-4bd4-bda7-2568c57d995d_1664x1664.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F29106816-de0f-4bd4-bda7-2568c57d995d_1664x1664.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I took another sip of bulletproof coffee and tapped the trackpad once again.</p><p>Green highlighted text filled my screen.</p><p>I squinted.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d6d018e-2a28-4f6f-9ac9-f2b152594356_1600x1169.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d6d018e-2a28-4f6f-9ac9-f2b152594356_1600x1169.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d6d018e-2a28-4f6f-9ac9-f2b152594356_1600x1169.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d6d018e-2a28-4f6f-9ac9-f2b152594356_1600x1169.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d6d018e-2a28-4f6f-9ac9-f2b152594356_1600x1169.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d6d018e-2a28-4f6f-9ac9-f2b152594356_1600x1169.png" width="1456" height="1064" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0d6d018e-2a28-4f6f-9ac9-f2b152594356_1600x1169.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1064,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d6d018e-2a28-4f6f-9ac9-f2b152594356_1600x1169.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d6d018e-2a28-4f6f-9ac9-f2b152594356_1600x1169.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d6d018e-2a28-4f6f-9ac9-f2b152594356_1600x1169.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d6d018e-2a28-4f6f-9ac9-f2b152594356_1600x1169.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>That&#8217;s as good as it gets with very little input and a half-baked prompt on the other side of too much Modafinil and grass-fed butter coffee.</p><p>Terrible writing.</p><p>But a good enough starting point.&nbsp;</p><p>I&#8217;ve dabbled in fiction for years. Only finished a handful of novels, started and abandoned around forty others, and still maintain a collection of hundreds of scraps, napkin scribbles, and index card notes.</p><p>Characters. Plots. Scenes. Dialogue.&nbsp;</p><p>One weekend, as I was knee-deep in applying various AI tools to solve marketing problems for a client, I took a break and figured GPT-3 could help me write something funny.</p><p>It quickly evolved (or devolved) into a variety of scene ideas for a <strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_magazine">modern-day pulp fiction story</a></strong>, with entrepreneurs, online guru scammers, vaporware, boiler rooms, crypto, internet marketing weirdos, stacks of cash, supplement scams, law enforcement, legal drama&#8212;you get the idea.</p><p>A hodgepodge of pieces. A plethora of potential.&nbsp;</p><p>I needed a structure and specific framework for turning the bits into pulp.</p><p>I&#8217;ve preferred <strong><a href="https://industrialscripts.com/dan-harmons-story-circle/">Dan Harmon&#8217;s Story Circle</a></strong> over <strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey">The Hero&#8217;s Journey</a></strong>.</p><p>And being a fan of pulp fiction but with no clue how to write pulp, I set out to cobble it all together.&nbsp;</p><p>I started feeding GPT-3 ideas:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfd9567f-ffb8-4914-a925-a698bb1ff1dc_1540x784.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfd9567f-ffb8-4914-a925-a698bb1ff1dc_1540x784.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfd9567f-ffb8-4914-a925-a698bb1ff1dc_1540x784.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfd9567f-ffb8-4914-a925-a698bb1ff1dc_1540x784.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfd9567f-ffb8-4914-a925-a698bb1ff1dc_1540x784.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfd9567f-ffb8-4914-a925-a698bb1ff1dc_1540x784.png" width="1456" height="741" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/dfd9567f-ffb8-4914-a925-a698bb1ff1dc_1540x784.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:741,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfd9567f-ffb8-4914-a925-a698bb1ff1dc_1540x784.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfd9567f-ffb8-4914-a925-a698bb1ff1dc_1540x784.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfd9567f-ffb8-4914-a925-a698bb1ff1dc_1540x784.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfd9567f-ffb8-4914-a925-a698bb1ff1dc_1540x784.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Not great. But you can turn anything terrible into something great.</p><p>I experimented with taking chunks from <strong><a href="https://katherineluck.medium.com/how-to-write-like-raymond-chandler-48ad4aa87155">existing pulp fiction work</a></strong> and seeing what GPT-3 would give me back:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffabe56e7-2584-4ba2-9368-c530e7edabc0_1600x981.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffabe56e7-2584-4ba2-9368-c530e7edabc0_1600x981.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffabe56e7-2584-4ba2-9368-c530e7edabc0_1600x981.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffabe56e7-2584-4ba2-9368-c530e7edabc0_1600x981.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffabe56e7-2584-4ba2-9368-c530e7edabc0_1600x981.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffabe56e7-2584-4ba2-9368-c530e7edabc0_1600x981.png" width="1456" height="893" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/fabe56e7-2584-4ba2-9368-c530e7edabc0_1600x981.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:893,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffabe56e7-2584-4ba2-9368-c530e7edabc0_1600x981.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffabe56e7-2584-4ba2-9368-c530e7edabc0_1600x981.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffabe56e7-2584-4ba2-9368-c530e7edabc0_1600x981.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffabe56e7-2584-4ba2-9368-c530e7edabc0_1600x981.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>So weird. But interesting. And you can do something great with interesting.</p><p>Through my work combining AI and marketing, I knew full well at this point that you need to keep refining, editing, and re-prompt GPT-3 to get useful text.&nbsp;</p><p>You get something like the above, which is a quintessential scene in pulp fiction (damsel in distress type thing, usually a murder, corrupt police, etc.)</p><p>But then you need to edit and refine it.&nbsp;</p><p>After a couple of weeks worth of prompting, rewriting, editing, writing, prompting, and editing some more, I had a first novel in a series.</p><p>About 120 pages. Around 100,00 words.</p><p>I&#8217;d never written a pulp fiction story before but I have read a lot of it. I knew what to look for. I had a list of scenes that are typical. A general sense of what characters are common. Plot ideas. Antagonists. Sidekicks. Twists and turns. All the usual ingredients that most fiction shares.</p><p>I&#8217;m being vague on purpose here because the book is live and selling on Amazon (and has been selling since about September 2021).&nbsp;</p><p>The experiment is to see how many copies it sells (as of today, 83), what kind of ratings it gets (4 stars), and if I can keep writing and adding to the series.&nbsp;</p><p>All without anyone knowing a robot is my co-writer.&nbsp;</p><p>Once I publish two more (for a total of three), I&#8217;ll give you all a link. But once everyone knows, it&#8217;ll put an end to the experiment and I&#8217;ll have people buying one or two for novelty, ratings will either be 1-star negative or maybe 4-star but all miss the point.</p><p>The second and third books are in production. And in recent weeks, I&#8217;ve come across <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/jameshull">James Hull</a></strong> and his <strong><a href="https://subtxt.app/">Subtxt app</a></strong> (along with his Maven course, <strong><a href="https://maven.com/narrative-first/ai-powered-storytelling">AI-Powered Storytelling</a></strong>).</p><p>This has given me more structure to fill with GPT-3 pulp.</p><p>And I&#8217;ve ended up with scene ideas like this:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5eadb88b-1827-412b-87d0-df070566030c_1122x1010.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5eadb88b-1827-412b-87d0-df070566030c_1122x1010.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5eadb88b-1827-412b-87d0-df070566030c_1122x1010.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5eadb88b-1827-412b-87d0-df070566030c_1122x1010.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5eadb88b-1827-412b-87d0-df070566030c_1122x1010.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5eadb88b-1827-412b-87d0-df070566030c_1122x1010.png" width="1122" height="1010" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5eadb88b-1827-412b-87d0-df070566030c_1122x1010.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1010,&quot;width&quot;:1122,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5eadb88b-1827-412b-87d0-df070566030c_1122x1010.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5eadb88b-1827-412b-87d0-df070566030c_1122x1010.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5eadb88b-1827-412b-87d0-df070566030c_1122x1010.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5eadb88b-1827-412b-87d0-df070566030c_1122x1010.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>It&#8217;s raw. But you can do something with this.</p><p>Or this:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6ca865d-93fa-4aff-9883-4d420dfcefca_1158x1098.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6ca865d-93fa-4aff-9883-4d420dfcefca_1158x1098.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6ca865d-93fa-4aff-9883-4d420dfcefca_1158x1098.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6ca865d-93fa-4aff-9883-4d420dfcefca_1158x1098.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6ca865d-93fa-4aff-9883-4d420dfcefca_1158x1098.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6ca865d-93fa-4aff-9883-4d420dfcefca_1158x1098.png" width="1158" height="1098" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b6ca865d-93fa-4aff-9883-4d420dfcefca_1158x1098.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1098,&quot;width&quot;:1158,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6ca865d-93fa-4aff-9883-4d420dfcefca_1158x1098.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6ca865d-93fa-4aff-9883-4d420dfcefca_1158x1098.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6ca865d-93fa-4aff-9883-4d420dfcefca_1158x1098.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6ca865d-93fa-4aff-9883-4d420dfcefca_1158x1098.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>All of this highlights one thing that&#8217;s critical for making GPT-3 work for you:</p><p>You must have a structure and intention behind the prompts and what you do with it all.&nbsp;</p><p>Perhaps <strong><a href="https://thealgorithmicbridge.substack.com/p/gpt-4-rumors-from-silicon-valley">GPT-4 will blow us all away even more</a></strong> and make magic possible at the click of a button.</p><p>But for now, to write anything with GPT-3, you must have a mold to pour it all into.&nbsp;</p><p>Talk soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p><p></p> ]]>
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</item>
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<title>
<![CDATA[ Bionic Ads: The $139,522 Facebook Ad ]]>
</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[ The &#8220;secret sauce&#8221; has always been research. But what if that&#8217;s not true anymore? ]]>
</description>
<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-3-bionic-ads-the-139522-facebook-ad</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-3-bionic-ads-the-139522-facebook-ad</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Nov 2022 23:07:35 GMT</pubDate>
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<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ffe7ba4-6884-42d5-8472-4a2c45b15053_1024x1003.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ffe7ba4-6884-42d5-8472-4a2c45b15053_1024x1003.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ffe7ba4-6884-42d5-8472-4a2c45b15053_1024x1003.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ffe7ba4-6884-42d5-8472-4a2c45b15053_1024x1003.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ffe7ba4-6884-42d5-8472-4a2c45b15053_1024x1003.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ffe7ba4-6884-42d5-8472-4a2c45b15053_1024x1003.png" width="1024" height="1003" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2ffe7ba4-6884-42d5-8472-4a2c45b15053_1024x1003.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1003,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1722785,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ffe7ba4-6884-42d5-8472-4a2c45b15053_1024x1003.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ffe7ba4-6884-42d5-8472-4a2c45b15053_1024x1003.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ffe7ba4-6884-42d5-8472-4a2c45b15053_1024x1003.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ffe7ba4-6884-42d5-8472-4a2c45b15053_1024x1003.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>We&#8217;d been at it all day.</p><p>For six straight hours, we scrutinized our ads, emails, and sales page.</p><p>We pored over the data. </p><p>Punched holes in our theories.&nbsp;</p><p>And evaluated copy ideas, headlines, spitball drafts, calls-to-action, proof, benefits, feedback and revisions.</p><p>Everything was put under the microscope.</p><p>Each question was answered with watertight facts and ironclad proof.</p><p>Team members, stakeholders and decision-makers all chimed in with their ideas.</p><p>But as the hours chugged away, <strong>frustration </strong>and<strong> exhaustion set in.</strong></p><p>A group session in the conference room can only take you so far.</p><p>Sooner or later, you have to decide what copy you run with&#8212;and let the market decide what &#8220;converts&#8221; best.</p><p>At the end of the day, we settled for campaign copy that can best be described as dishwasher water.</p><p>The copy was a soupy mess, poured into a grimy glass, with olives-on-toothpick and an umbrella to mask the disaster.</p><h3>All the creative juices weren&#8217;t worth the squeeze.</h3><p>As the new campaign was launched on a Tuesday morning, at 7:47am&#8230;</p><p>I already knew it would be a spectacular flop. An embarrassment.</p><p>It was nothing but a colossal, total waste of time, energy and resources.</p><p>The ads zipped around the web, deployed across networks, fueled by an impressive media budget large enough to fund a small country.</p><p>The landing pages, videos and emails kicked into gear, ready to receive and convert the masses.</p><p>The sales team had been briefed. The support team was on standby.</p><p>Any minute now, the payment processor would smirk like Nicolas Cage, put on a pair of Ray-Bans, slide into the driver&#8217;s seat, turn the key, and roar like a 1967 Ford Shelby GT500 and take a victory lap.</p><p>And the ding-ding-ding notifications were surely about to dribble in like giddy chipmunks.</p><p>But the rest, as Hamlet said, was silence.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ebf46f2-15ba-480e-8e15-6129e1e033b2_768x512.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ebf46f2-15ba-480e-8e15-6129e1e033b2_768x512.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ebf46f2-15ba-480e-8e15-6129e1e033b2_768x512.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ebf46f2-15ba-480e-8e15-6129e1e033b2_768x512.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ebf46f2-15ba-480e-8e15-6129e1e033b2_768x512.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ebf46f2-15ba-480e-8e15-6129e1e033b2_768x512.png" width="768" height="512" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9ebf46f2-15ba-480e-8e15-6129e1e033b2_768x512.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:512,&quot;width&quot;:768,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:559254,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ebf46f2-15ba-480e-8e15-6129e1e033b2_768x512.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ebf46f2-15ba-480e-8e15-6129e1e033b2_768x512.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ebf46f2-15ba-480e-8e15-6129e1e033b2_768x512.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ebf46f2-15ba-480e-8e15-6129e1e033b2_768x512.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><h3>A bunch of clicks, a handful of page views. Zero sales.</h3><p>Now fast-forward to right here, right now, as you&#8217;re reading this.</p><p>Do you know why the campaign failed?</p><p>Do you have any guesses as to why this marketing campaign sputtered, choked and died on the finish line?</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t only that too many team members had far too many opinions on the copy, and decided they should share their &#8220;thoughts&#8221;.</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t only that, all of a sudden, the developer, manager and designer were all experts on copywriting and marketing.</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t only that the company had outdated, incomplete or useless &#8220;brand&#8221; and &#8220;messaging guidelines&#8221;, based on nothing but someone&#8217;s opinion or unproven data.</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t only the usual &#8220;copy by committee&#8221;.</p><p>All these things happened.</p><h3>Do you know what the biggest problem was?</h3><p>Humans writing all the words.</p><p>Yes.</p><p><em>Humans</em> writing all the words.</p><p>Now before you choke on your bulletproof coffee.</p><p>Read this closely:</p><p><em><strong>Humans</strong></em><strong> writing </strong><em><strong>ALL</strong></em><strong> the words.</strong></p><p>Let me explain.</p><p>You can fix all of the above and your copy could still fail to move the needle.</p><p>The problem goes deeper.</p><p>A few experienced copywriters already know that.</p><p>So their approach is simply to generate quantity&#8212;as many ads, emails, landing pages, and copy as they can come up with.&nbsp;</p><p>Because they know you have to write a lot of copy, <em>and test it in the wild</em>, to discover what converts.</p><p>That&#8217;s also why templates and headline formulas are so popular.</p><p><strong>They&#8217;re like a primitive, lo-fi version of AI copywriting </strong>and<strong> GPT-3.</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>Just grab some frameworks and templates, let them guide your writing, fill in the blanks, and voila, you have copy that <em>should</em> convert.</p><p>But the next set of problems soon comes knocking:&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Your biases.</strong></p><p>If you&#8217;re too close to the product, research, and copy for too long, you&#8217;re actually less likely to spot anything that&#8217;s wrong or should be done differently.</p><p>You&#8217;re effectively &#8220;blind&#8221; to your copy.&nbsp;</p><p>It becomes harder and harder to separate yourself from what you&#8217;ve written, taking a step back and reevaluating.</p><p>You simply cannot see what&#8217;s wrong (or what&#8217;s right.)</p><p><em>That&#8217;s because your brain is working against you.</em></p><p>Paradoxically, this is even more debilitating if you&#8217;ve done all your research.</p><h3>The &#8220;secret sauce&#8221; of successful copywriting has always been &#8220;do enough research.&#8221;</h3><p>This is where you discover big ideas, hooks, the right language and words to use.</p><p>You spend hours, days and even weeks immersed in the features and benefits of the product or service you&#8217;re trying to sell.&nbsp;</p><p>You deep dive into customer personas, psychographics, do interviews, run surveys, and assess competitor messaging.</p><p>You do all of it. Because that&#8217;s where you (often) find the best messaging that turns into copy.</p><p>And this is all true. Most of the time.</p><p>The danger is that you&#8217;re doing all the research but don&#8217;t know what to look for.&nbsp;</p><p>So if a big idea is staring you in the face, you fail to recognize it.&nbsp;</p><p>Or someone says something in an interview that could&#8217;ve turned out to be the perfect headline. But once again you don&#8217;t realize it.</p><p><strong>There&#8217;s such a thing as too much research.&nbsp;</strong></p><p>That brings me to what&#8217;s likely the greatest leap forward for marketers and copywriters in a century.</p><p><em>(And, to be honest, for any writer of any form&#8212;poetry, fiction, screenwriting, and so on).</em></p><p>Much has been said and written about GPT-3 and AI-produced content.&nbsp;</p><p>Robots can now write anything&#8212;poetry, screenplays, fiction and ads&#8212;to some degree.</p><p>But the giant leap forward is not that these tools can write 50 ads or more in mere minutes.</p><h3>GPT-3 is a key that unlocks unlimited creativity.</h3><p>Back to the story:&nbsp;</p><p>As everyone filed into the conference room and sat down for the <em>post mortem</em> of the spectacularly failed campaign&#8230;</p><p>I quickly opened up a new tab, typed in a URL and logged in.</p><p>Everyone was expecting the usual 20-slide presentation.</p><p><strong>But I had other plans.</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>You see, a few weeks before this meeting, late one night, as I was playing around with this new tool, GPT-3&#8230;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe51ae4f9-3790-4311-a345-b55797d345e2_768x512.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe51ae4f9-3790-4311-a345-b55797d345e2_768x512.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe51ae4f9-3790-4311-a345-b55797d345e2_768x512.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe51ae4f9-3790-4311-a345-b55797d345e2_768x512.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe51ae4f9-3790-4311-a345-b55797d345e2_768x512.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe51ae4f9-3790-4311-a345-b55797d345e2_768x512.png" width="768" height="512" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e51ae4f9-3790-4311-a345-b55797d345e2_768x512.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:512,&quot;width&quot;:768,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:496294,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe51ae4f9-3790-4311-a345-b55797d345e2_768x512.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe51ae4f9-3790-4311-a345-b55797d345e2_768x512.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe51ae4f9-3790-4311-a345-b55797d345e2_768x512.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe51ae4f9-3790-4311-a345-b55797d345e2_768x512.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>I stumbled on something that was so obvious,</strong> and so evident, that I was embarrassed to have not realized it sooner.</p><p>If there&#8217;s such a thing as dereliction of duty for copywriters, I was guilty as charged.</p><p>My team and I had experimented with various AI text-generators for several months, and had used GPT-2, as well as beta-tested GPT-3 before it was publicly released.&nbsp;</p><p>But we had always gone for the obvious play:</p><p>Get a ton of text, of varying degrees of quality, generated really fast. Make edits, changes and turn it into something usable.</p><p>Everyone was excited about producing 50, 100, 200 ads in minutes.</p><p>And reading the often hilariously weird output was part of the fun.</p><p><strong>But that&#8217;s what amateurs do.&nbsp;</strong></p><p>Everyone was seated, a few people joined the Zoom, and I turned on the projector.</p><p>As my browser tab came into focus, all you could see was a sparse looking text input field and a couple of buttons.</p><p>The big kahuna, the team manager (Monica), turned to me and said, <em>&#8220;OK Sam, let&#8217;s start with your overview, a look through the data, and then--&#8221;</em></p><p>I leaned across the table.</p><p>And cut to the chase:</p><p><em>&#8220;Monica, how about we skip the data and speculation and jargon&#8230; and I just give you a demonstration of how we fix this?&#8221;</em></p><p><strong>I could feel every head turn toward me.</strong>&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189f3f5a-b171-44d5-bc8c-886b646cf730_768x512.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189f3f5a-b171-44d5-bc8c-886b646cf730_768x512.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189f3f5a-b171-44d5-bc8c-886b646cf730_768x512.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189f3f5a-b171-44d5-bc8c-886b646cf730_768x512.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189f3f5a-b171-44d5-bc8c-886b646cf730_768x512.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189f3f5a-b171-44d5-bc8c-886b646cf730_768x512.png" width="768" height="512" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/189f3f5a-b171-44d5-bc8c-886b646cf730_768x512.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:512,&quot;width&quot;:768,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:548042,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189f3f5a-b171-44d5-bc8c-886b646cf730_768x512.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189f3f5a-b171-44d5-bc8c-886b646cf730_768x512.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189f3f5a-b171-44d5-bc8c-886b646cf730_768x512.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189f3f5a-b171-44d5-bc8c-886b646cf730_768x512.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Everything and everyone went silent.&nbsp;</p><p>Monica sat back, eyed me up, and said, <em>&#8220;Uh, what do you have in mind?&#8221;</em></p><p>I gestured at the screen, typed a couple of sentences into the text field, and clicked one of the buttons.</p><p>In less than a minute, text started filling my screen. More came, halting, then smoothly.</p><p>I turned to everyone and said, <em>&#8220;What you&#8217;re looking at is text generated by GPT-3. It&#8217;s doing this on its own, taking my input, and feeding back text that it thinks fits.&#8221;</em></p><p>Puzzled looks. Squints behind glasses. I continued.</p><p><em>&#8220;Out of all this output, and if I keep giving it input to get more, we can begin to identify raw copy for ads, emails, pages &#8211; basically any copy that we need.</em></p><p><em>Take a look at this text, for example&#8230;&#8221;</em></p><p>I singled out a blurb of text&#8230;</p><p><em>&#8220;This, right here, could become an ad. It&#8217;s a little weird, but honestly, at this point, what do we have to lose?&#8221;</em></p><p>I copied the text, opened up a Google doc, and pasted it in.</p><p><em>&#8220;Now, watch this&#8230;&#8221;</em></p><p>I took a couple of minutes to edit the text, rearranged some of it, and turned it into a Facebook ad.</p><p>I could tell that Monica wanted to jump in with something, anything, but she was a bit stumped.</p><p>I seized the opportunity to just continue with the demonstration.</p><p>With a few more edits and a read-through, it was done.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd75e7d7b-7a9f-4d72-a2c3-8d494827d2d3_768x512.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd75e7d7b-7a9f-4d72-a2c3-8d494827d2d3_768x512.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd75e7d7b-7a9f-4d72-a2c3-8d494827d2d3_768x512.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd75e7d7b-7a9f-4d72-a2c3-8d494827d2d3_768x512.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd75e7d7b-7a9f-4d72-a2c3-8d494827d2d3_768x512.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd75e7d7b-7a9f-4d72-a2c3-8d494827d2d3_768x512.png" width="768" height="512" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d75e7d7b-7a9f-4d72-a2c3-8d494827d2d3_768x512.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:512,&quot;width&quot;:768,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:539466,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd75e7d7b-7a9f-4d72-a2c3-8d494827d2d3_768x512.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd75e7d7b-7a9f-4d72-a2c3-8d494827d2d3_768x512.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd75e7d7b-7a9f-4d72-a2c3-8d494827d2d3_768x512.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd75e7d7b-7a9f-4d72-a2c3-8d494827d2d3_768x512.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>One of our Facebook media buyers was in the room.</p><p><em>&#8220;Mike, I&#8217;m going to Slack you this document. Can you please launch it together with one of our ad sets, right now?&#8221;</em></p><p>Mike opened his laptop, hesitated, and looked at Monica. She only had eyes for me, but not in a romantic way.&nbsp;</p><p>She turned to Mike, nodded and said <em>&#8220;Sure, why not.&#8221;</em></p><p>Mike got to work.&nbsp;</p><p>About an hour later, I found myself hunched over my laptop with everyone in the room standing around me, looking over my shoulder.</p><p>Peering down at my screen, I waited.</p><p>A moment passed.&nbsp;</p><p>Then, slowly, I glanced up from the laptop.</p><h3>&#8220;Do you all see this? We have our first sale.&#8221;</h3><p>Now cut and fast-forward again to right here, right now.</p><p>Not only had we just turned a failed and dead campaign into something that could work&#8230;</p><p>And it did.</p><p>To the tune of <strong>$739,120 in new revenue over the course of 3 months.</strong></p><p>Not only had we done that starting with just <em><strong>ONE</strong></em> new ad hauling in $139,522 on its own (and that spawned into 20, 30, 40 and more over several weeks).</p><p>We had done so in a way that&#8217;s not supposed to work.</p><p><strong>Conventional thinking around advertising, copywriting and creativity demands absolute worship at the feet of research.</strong></p><p>The Gods of media buying demands a multitude of sacrifices.&nbsp;</p><p>The Lords of management dictates that all copy shall be written by committee.</p><p>The ritual of research, writing, and testing shall (almost) guarantee successful outcomes, in the form of conversions.</p><p>We petition the Angels and Saints of advertising for a bountiful harvest.</p><p>And what I had just done was utter blasphemy.&nbsp;</p><p>Instead of going back to the mile-long research documents and folders bursting at the seams&#8230;</p><p><strong>I had taken only a morsel and offered it up to GPT-3.</strong></p><p>Instead of writing copy by committee, soliciting stakeholder buy-in, and reviewing it all&#8230;</p><p>I had picked raw text that looked interesting to me.</p><p>Instead of writing text on a Procrustean bed of ad templates and frameworks...</p><p>I took the raw text and turned it into an ad.</p><p>It worked. It converted. It made sales.</p><p>And this is the giant leap forward (that&#8217;s more of a side-step).</p><h3>It&#8217;s a new way of being &#8220;creative&#8221; and writing copy.</h3><p>It&#8217;s a <em>different</em> way of processing, formulating, and writing&#8212;anything. Not just ads.</p><p>The constraints are not the usual suspects of templates, formulas, research, copy by committee, and having clueless people give their &#8220;feedback.&#8221;</p><p>The constraint isn&#8217;t even testing enough ad or copy volume, hoping to find a winner.</p><p><strong>The constraint has always been </strong><em><strong>ideation</strong></em>&#8212;seeing things differently, getting the weird ideas, the unusual perspectives.</p><p>With GPT-3 and other AI writing tools&#8230;</p><p>If you use them correctly, you can generate ideas that can turn $1 into $100,000&#8230; and then $100,000 into $1,000,000.</p><p>And, at the same time, dig deep into our hearts and psyche in a way that changes everything.</p><p>Talk soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Editor</em></p> ]]>
</content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>
<![CDATA[ Could Shakespeare Write This? Or Would You Click On This Ad? ]]>
</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[ Somewhere, a gaggle of writing snobs turn up their noses and say: &#8220;Well! That&#8217;s not very good now, is it?&#8221; ]]>
</description>
<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-2-could-shakespeare-write-this</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-2-could-shakespeare-write-this</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Nov 2022 01:18:08 GMT</pubDate>
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<content:encoded>
<![CDATA[ <p>What if you could write a Shakespearean sonnet in seconds?</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56ea402c-307a-49f9-a273-c81ff6f68d97_1178x874.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56ea402c-307a-49f9-a273-c81ff6f68d97_1178x874.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56ea402c-307a-49f9-a273-c81ff6f68d97_1178x874.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56ea402c-307a-49f9-a273-c81ff6f68d97_1178x874.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56ea402c-307a-49f9-a273-c81ff6f68d97_1178x874.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56ea402c-307a-49f9-a273-c81ff6f68d97_1178x874.png" width="1178" height="874" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/56ea402c-307a-49f9-a273-c81ff6f68d97_1178x874.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:874,&quot;width&quot;:1178,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56ea402c-307a-49f9-a273-c81ff6f68d97_1178x874.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56ea402c-307a-49f9-a273-c81ff6f68d97_1178x874.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56ea402c-307a-49f9-a273-c81ff6f68d97_1178x874.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56ea402c-307a-49f9-a273-c81ff6f68d97_1178x874.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Someone, somewhere will say: <em>&#8220;That&#8217;s not a very good Shakespearean sonnet!&#8221;</em></p><p>Of course not.</p><p>Pretty good on the very first try with no other input than the first line.</p><p>And it&#8217;s pretty good for a robot.</p><p>On the first, very simple prompt.</p><p>If you&#8217;re a poet or inclined to pen poems every now and then, you can use that as a starting point or just edit it together.</p><p>How about this start of a short story:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd03c3f13-0dfa-4beb-9d6f-e8d612c6c93b_1600x676.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd03c3f13-0dfa-4beb-9d6f-e8d612c6c93b_1600x676.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd03c3f13-0dfa-4beb-9d6f-e8d612c6c93b_1600x676.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd03c3f13-0dfa-4beb-9d6f-e8d612c6c93b_1600x676.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd03c3f13-0dfa-4beb-9d6f-e8d612c6c93b_1600x676.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd03c3f13-0dfa-4beb-9d6f-e8d612c6c93b_1600x676.png" width="1456" height="615" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d03c3f13-0dfa-4beb-9d6f-e8d612c6c93b_1600x676.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:615,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd03c3f13-0dfa-4beb-9d6f-e8d612c6c93b_1600x676.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd03c3f13-0dfa-4beb-9d6f-e8d612c6c93b_1600x676.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd03c3f13-0dfa-4beb-9d6f-e8d612c6c93b_1600x676.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd03c3f13-0dfa-4beb-9d6f-e8d612c6c93b_1600x676.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Let&#8217;s get the hecklers out of the way:&nbsp;</p><p><em>&#8220;But Sam, this is not a very good short story!&#8221;&nbsp;</em></p><p>No, but it&#8217;s pretty good for a robot.&nbsp;</p><p>And it&#8217;s sort of funny. You could easily expand that into a short story. It has everything.</p><p>How about this Facebook ad:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddb2385e-1c31-4e9b-b44e-171f247e487f_1600x285.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddb2385e-1c31-4e9b-b44e-171f247e487f_1600x285.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddb2385e-1c31-4e9b-b44e-171f247e487f_1600x285.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddb2385e-1c31-4e9b-b44e-171f247e487f_1600x285.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddb2385e-1c31-4e9b-b44e-171f247e487f_1600x285.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddb2385e-1c31-4e9b-b44e-171f247e487f_1600x285.png" width="1456" height="259" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ddb2385e-1c31-4e9b-b44e-171f247e487f_1600x285.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:259,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddb2385e-1c31-4e9b-b44e-171f247e487f_1600x285.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddb2385e-1c31-4e9b-b44e-171f247e487f_1600x285.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddb2385e-1c31-4e9b-b44e-171f247e487f_1600x285.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddb2385e-1c31-4e9b-b44e-171f247e487f_1600x285.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Not very good.</p><p>But if you&#8217;re a half-decent copywriter, you can edit together something better.</p><p>On the topic of ads and generating ideas for ads:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F142fcdde-e3d6-4d00-80f3-bc00c004a486_1600x982.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F142fcdde-e3d6-4d00-80f3-bc00c004a486_1600x982.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F142fcdde-e3d6-4d00-80f3-bc00c004a486_1600x982.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F142fcdde-e3d6-4d00-80f3-bc00c004a486_1600x982.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F142fcdde-e3d6-4d00-80f3-bc00c004a486_1600x982.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F142fcdde-e3d6-4d00-80f3-bc00c004a486_1600x982.png" width="1456" height="894" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/142fcdde-e3d6-4d00-80f3-bc00c004a486_1600x982.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:894,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F142fcdde-e3d6-4d00-80f3-bc00c004a486_1600x982.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F142fcdde-e3d6-4d00-80f3-bc00c004a486_1600x982.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F142fcdde-e3d6-4d00-80f3-bc00c004a486_1600x982.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F142fcdde-e3d6-4d00-80f3-bc00c004a486_1600x982.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Decent starting point. But not very good.</p><p>Let&#8217;s ramp up and really twist the knife: </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64e4a540-cece-4c4f-bb1f-087a18f4e776_1600x384.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64e4a540-cece-4c4f-bb1f-087a18f4e776_1600x384.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64e4a540-cece-4c4f-bb1f-087a18f4e776_1600x384.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64e4a540-cece-4c4f-bb1f-087a18f4e776_1600x384.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64e4a540-cece-4c4f-bb1f-087a18f4e776_1600x384.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64e4a540-cece-4c4f-bb1f-087a18f4e776_1600x384.png" width="1456" height="349" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/64e4a540-cece-4c4f-bb1f-087a18f4e776_1600x384.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:349,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64e4a540-cece-4c4f-bb1f-087a18f4e776_1600x384.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64e4a540-cece-4c4f-bb1f-087a18f4e776_1600x384.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64e4a540-cece-4c4f-bb1f-087a18f4e776_1600x384.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64e4a540-cece-4c4f-bb1f-087a18f4e776_1600x384.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Sit down to put your shoes on.</p><p>Man boobs ruining your summer.</p><p>Get your wife to take notice.</p><p>No energy to play with your kids.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Ouch.</em></p><p>Very specific scenarios you can imagine.&nbsp;</p><p>A half-decent copywriter can edit that together pretty easily.&nbsp;</p><p>With the examples above, <strong>do you see what you could do with just GPT-3?</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>In the meantime&#8230;</p><div><hr></div><p><code>TECH &amp; TOOLS</code></p><h3>How does AI actually work, anyway?</h3><p>I&#8217;m far from an expert, but let&#8217;s start with a few definitions:</p><ol><li><p>AI is when machines demonstrate intelligence at the human level and beyond.</p></li><li><p>Machine learning (ML) is how machines learn to be intelligent by identifying patterns in data. ML models have two artifacts:</p><ol><li><p>Label: The output that the machine wants to predict (e.g., video watch time).</p></li><li><p>Features: Inputs to achieve the output (e.g., video views and likes).</p></li></ol></li></ol><p>At a high level, machine learning works in 3 steps:</p><ol><li><p>Prepare data: Machines need lots of quality data to learn. For example, to convert text to images, a ML model needs to learn from millions of images with text labels. ML engineers typically spend 80% of their time manually cleaning the data in a process called feature engineering.</p></li><li><p>Train model: Next, ML engineers split the data into a training set and a test set. The machine uses the training set to build the model and then uses the test set to improve the model&#8217;s accuracy. The model&#8217;s algorithms can be:</p><ol><li><p>Simple like a linear regression (e.g., a person&#8217;s weight = 80 + 2 * height). The model will adjust the feature weights (e.g., change 2 to 1.5) through repeat iterations to more accurately predict the label (output).</p></li><li><p>Complex like a neural network. The model will not only assign weights to features but also create new features automatically. Most models based on images or natural language use neural networks.</p></li></ol></li><li><p>Build user experience: After training the model, the team needs to build a UX where people can supply inputs to get their desired output. How the model works is a black box even to ML engineers, so the user experience needs to be clear, believable, and actionable.</p></li></ol><p>In short:&nbsp;</p><p>Machines need large quality data sets to learn. They get better by identifying patterns and predicting outcomes through repeat iterations.</p><p>When GPT-3 writes a sonnet, it&#8217;s identifying patterns and predicting what words should come next. It looks like magic when it happens in seconds and when the output is something that looks as if a human wrote it.</p><div><hr></div><p>Talk to you again next week!</p><p>Cheers,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p> ]]>
</content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>
<![CDATA[ It Started With Pen & Paper. You Won’t Believe What Happens Next. ]]>
</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[ Writer sits down to finally conquer writer&#8217;s block. Then his laptop started talking to him. ]]>
</description>
<link>https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-1-pen-paper-keyboard-code</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://bionicwriter.com/p/issue-1-pen-paper-keyboard-code</guid>
<dc:creator>
<![CDATA[ Samuel Woods ]]>
</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 25 Oct 2022 11:47:01 GMT</pubDate>
<enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/>
<content:encoded>
<![CDATA[ <div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png" width="1024" height="1024" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1024,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1086964,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92db5881-e6fb-4349-b154-2f1671dbded5_1024x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Pen and paper.&nbsp;</p><p>Keyboard and code.&nbsp;</p><p>All tools for writers.&nbsp;</p><p>And these tools have never taken any writer jobs, either.&nbsp;</p><p>Instead, <strong>tools enable the next level of creation.</strong></p><p>For writers (and, really, for anyone doing creative work), AI can open up your next level of creation.&nbsp;</p><p>For any kind of writing.&nbsp;</p><p>With the help of AI (and GPT-3 specifically), you can write poems, short stories, novels, limericks, scholarly articles, blog posts, emails, ads&#8212;anything.</p><p>In Bionic Writer, you&#8217;ll discover what happens with humans and tech meet to write.</p><p>What&#8217;s the most interesting tool to come in a long time?&nbsp;</p><p><strong><a href="https://openai.com/blog/gpt-3-apps/">GPT-3 from OpenAI.</a></strong></p><p>Here&#8217;s a quick primer:&nbsp;</p><h3>What is GPT-3 and how does it work?&nbsp;</h3><p>It consumed all of the internet.</p><p>Crunched the numbers.</p><p>And figured out how to predict what word should come next.</p><p>GPT-3 has read all of Wikipedia, all of Google Books, every month of the Common Crawl dataset from 2016 to October 2019, comprising every piece of writing on the web during that time.&nbsp;</p><p>It has read 45 terabytes of text.</p><p>This equals a book about 3,375,000,000 pages long.</p><p>It has analyzed billions of lines of text, figured out what matters and what doesn&#8217;t in language, and then uses that information to write more text.</p><p>From everything it consumed, all it cares about is producing the next word that should come after whatever word it just read (or wrote).</p><p>That is, it produces different probabilities for different words, and then picks the one with the highest likelihood of being the accurate word.</p><p>If I prompt GPT-3 with <em>&#8220;Mary had a little&#8230;&#8221;</em>, it will guess &#8220;lamb&#8221; and insert it.&nbsp;</p><p>Depending on what else I told it, I could also get something like:&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-imag" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22c0d5b8-48f6-46c6-bf4d-c5547c6a65cc_1132x790.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22c0d5b8-48f6-46c6-bf4d-c5547c6a65cc_1132x790.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22c0d5b8-48f6-46c6-bf4d-c5547c6a65cc_1132x790.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22c0d5b8-48f6-46c6-bf4d-c5547c6a65cc_1132x790.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22c0d5b8-48f6-46c6-bf4d-c5547c6a65cc_1132x790.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22c0d5b8-48f6-46c6-bf4d-c5547c6a65cc_1132x790.png" width="720" height="502.47349823321554" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/22c0d5b8-48f6-46c6-bf4d-c5547c6a65cc_1132x790.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:790,&quot;width&quot;:1132,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:720,&quot;bytes&quot;:74822,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22c0d5b8-48f6-46c6-bf4d-c5547c6a65cc_1132x790.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22c0d5b8-48f6-46c6-bf4d-c5547c6a65cc_1132x790.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22c0d5b8-48f6-46c6-bf4d-c5547c6a65cc_1132x790.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22c0d5b8-48f6-46c6-bf4d-c5547c6a65cc_1132x790.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>You give GPT-3 a prompt&#8212;a piece of writing&#8212;and then it tries to predict what would come after that, based on all the stuff it has read and the rules it has learned.</p><p>It&#8217;s like it writes from memory.</p><p><strong>Humans do things a little differently.</strong></p><p>We build abstract mental models. As we write, we synthesize thoughts and knowledge.&nbsp;</p><p>We have an idea or construct of what we want to write formed in our minds. We then write those out in words, sentences, and paragraphs.&nbsp;</p><p>At some point, we edit, rewrite, and edit some more.</p><p>We use planning, reasoning, problem-solving and other cognitive processes as we write.</p><p>GPT-3 doesn&#8217;t do that.</p><p>But how much does that matter?&nbsp;</p><p><em><strong>Maybe not a lot.</strong></em></p><p>Researchers have given test subjects 200-word news articles written by either humans or GPT-3 and asked them to state which one had written them. On average, they chose right only 52% of the time, which is basically just guessing right.</p><p>In some instances, it&#8217;s obvious that an AI wrote something.</p><p>Other times, you can&#8217;t tell.&nbsp;</p><p>But we&#8217;re not concerned about being able to tell human words vs. robot words apart.&nbsp;</p><p>What matters is how GPT-3 can help you write&#8212;better.&nbsp;</p><p>GPT-3 is very good at writing things that are short and creative. Task it with something long and factual, and it struggles.</p><p>So, from now on, think of it this way:&nbsp;</p><p><strong>How can GPT-3 help me improve your writing, thinking, and ultimately&#8212;your creativity?</strong></p><p>In other words:</p><h3>How do you get the most out of AI as a writer?</h3><p>You give it a great &#8220;prompt&#8221;.&nbsp;</p><p>The more you put into GPT-3, the more you get.</p><p>GPT-3 writes better if you give it examples of what you want.&nbsp;</p><p>It takes the <em><strong>context</strong></em> and the <em><strong>patterns</strong></em> in the prompt and uses them to narrow down its model of language to things that <em><strong>match</strong></em>.&nbsp;</p><p>Then, it generates text that fits the context and pattern.</p><p>Your prompt is critical. The more information you give the model in the prompt, the better the output will be. If you give it the context and three-to-five examples of what you want, you&#8217;ll get a better output than if you give it little information.</p><p>For writers, of any kind of text, what you&#8217;re seeing is a blend between:</p><ul><li><p>Software developers (who write &#8216;prompts&#8217; in the form of code&#8212;very specific &#8216;prompts&#8217; that tell software what to do).</p></li></ul><p>And&#8230;</p><ul><li><p>Creatives (who conjure up &#8216;prompts&#8217; in their mind, work them out in real life, and create a piece of art).</p></li></ul><p>Putting it simply, we&#8217;re all dealing with &#8216;prompts&#8217; one way or another.</p><p><em><strong>Prompt craft</strong></em> is how you want to think about this.&nbsp;</p><p>How can you give AI <em>and</em> your imagination better direction with prompts?</p><p>Now, when I sit down to write anything, I start with a vague prompt and then through my writing and use of GPT-3, it develops into a clearer prompt.</p><p>In turn, my imagination feeds it back into GPT-3, and out comes text.&nbsp;</p><p>I got some amazing links for you below.</p><p>Plus what tools are best.&nbsp;</p><p>Next time: <strong>Watch over my shoulder as GPT-3 writes me good stuff and make me gooder writer.</strong></p><div><hr></div><h3>&#8220;So Sam, which tool is best?&#8221;&nbsp;</h3><p>There&#8217;s no clear answer to this.</p><p>Because it all depends on your use case.</p><p>There are over 100+ tools available. And more are coming.&nbsp;</p><p>Most of the time, I&#8217;ll tell you to just use GPT-3 from OpenAI.&nbsp;</p><p>Why?</p><p><em><strong>Almost all AI writing tools are layers on top of GPT-3.&nbsp;</strong></em></p><p>(This includes popular apps like Jarvis, Copy.ai, Anyword, and many more).</p><p>These tools tap into the vast ocean of words that GPT-3 can generate and fine-tune what you get back to suit your needs.</p><p>Writing fiction and stories? Sudowrite is better for this (and not, for example, for writing Facebook ads).</p><p>Writing ads, emails, and other copy assets? Anyword can help with that.</p><p>Writing blog posts and other content market assets? Copy.ai can help with that.</p><p>Want to use GPT-3 for SEO? Keyword Insights AI can help.</p><p>And on it goes.</p><p>There&#8217;s overlap between uses for all of these tools.</p><p>But for the most part, tools are fairly specific about use cases and will tailor what you get along those lines.&nbsp;</p><p>In upcoming weekly issues, I will walk through several tools that people seem to love and show you what&#8217;s possible.</p><p>For now, just remember that almost all apps use GPT-3 for text generation.</p><p><strong><a href="https://samueljwoods.com/41-ai-writing-tools-apps-reviewed-and-rated?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=issue-1">Here&#8217;s a list of about 41 tools (no affiliate links, just honest opinion).</a></strong></p><p>Talk again soon,<br>Samuel Woods<br><em>The Bionic Writer</em></p> ]]>
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