Another A.I. Whizbanger

 A two-paragraph AI summary

of a four page draft.

and a guess at the plot

It was (sorta) spot on. 

Working on the sequel to Lucas 2.0, I'm sweating out a chapter that moves several currents of the story simultaneously,  and I'm having a tough time of it. Purely for distraction (i.e. procrastination), I decided to put the current draft up for a little AI commentary; it might confirm I'm getting the points over I want to. I've read that's the way some writers are using AI.

This little exercise was done with Copilot, MS Bing's version of ChatGPT 4. 

I uploaded the chapter and used this prompt: "This is a segment of a chapter in a sci-fi novel. Please give a two-paragraph summary and briefly take a crack at what the premise of the book might be."

Speed reading's my thing.

Co-Pilot read the chapter, thought about it long and hard, wrote the summary I requested, and did a considered speculation on what the rest of the book might be about. All that in two seconds.

To wit:

Copilot

[Short summary]

In the given segment, the world is thrown into chaos as news of an impending catastrophe, possibly the end of the world, is announced by President Wilshire. This news saturates every media platform and private conversation, leading to a global state of shock and disbelief. However, not everyone responds with acceptance; a projection by a character named Lucas accurately predicts that about fifty-one percent of people would refuse to accept the truth and lapse into angry denial laced with conspiracy theories.

Amidst this chaos, Franklin Delano Shaw, a charismatic figure, re-emerges after a four-year public withdrawal. His reappearance and message punch through the bedlam, captivating almost two billion people. Franklin, with his amplified charisma, begins to rally the masses, suggesting that humanity’s desecration of nature has led to this impending doom. He hints at a creature beyond comprehension, possibly a divine entity, being the cause of this wrath. Franklin’s message resonates with many, leading to a growing number of people claiming to have experienced a revelation or vision of this divine entity.

[Guess at premise of the book]

Based on this segment, the premise of the book could be a sci-fi exploration of humanity’s reaction to an impending apocalypse, possibly caused by a divine or alien entity. The story might delve into the psychological and sociological impacts of such a revelation, exploring themes of denial, acceptance, faith, and the power of charisma in shaping public opinion and behavior. The characters of Lucas and Franklin could represent contrasting approaches to this crisis - rational prediction and spiritual rallying, respectively. The book might also explore the concept of a higher power communicating with humanity, and how different individuals interpret and react to this communication. The narrative could further delve into the potential for human transformation - both psychological and physical - in the face of existential threat.

What I think about that

At least a sophomore-level, English major quality on the summary. Summarizing is one of the things AI is famously good at. And it made a fairly creative guess at the full plot, some of it definitely right. 

What do you think about that?

Granted, this is clearly self-promotion, but what the hey? Here is the draft that CoPilot saw. (p.s. Lucas is the superintelligence from Lucas 2.0) How do you assess Copilot's summation?

WILSHIRE: EARTH UNDER ATTACK!!

...said the headlines within seconds. The great stew of media in every country and every language was interrupted with the news. Even music feeds interrupted themselves with the soundbite from President Wilshire.

AMERICAN PRESIDENT SAYS END OF THE WORLD IS COMING

Movies, telenovelas, game shows, newscasts, live sports, live podcasts, talk shows, religious programs, and the endless jungle of social media ground to a halt as the news spread. 

Private conversations changed tracks.

Every smartphone system on earth was saturated within minutes.

Every social media platform was overloaded; every chat, micro-vid and text channel was swamped. 

People were stopping strangers in public to ask the universal question: WTF?? 

If humanity manages to dodge this particular bullet, this moment in time will be studied for decades, maybe centuries. The day the psychosocial nuke hit. Every person on the planet would realize in a rather short period of time that there was possibly a catastrophe coming, calamity, and for some, Armageddon, the Final Battle. 

Eight years away. 

But not everyone responded that way. In an earlier projection, Lucas predicted that fifty-one percent of people would refuse to accept the truth and lapse into angry denial laced with conspiracy theories. 51.0003% did exactly that. Lucas had humans down pat. 

Within days Franklin Delano Shaw emerged from his public withdrawal of the last four years. Even though all media was saturated with chaos, his reappearance, and especially his message, punched through the bedlam. Almost two billion people were longing for his pleasant Australian voice, even though they were not sure what they were longing for until they heard him. Then it was snap, click, total attention. His voice and his face were more compelling than even his most devoted followers back in the day remembered. His voice still had that renatured appeal. More, even. He was on a roll like his old followers truly loved.

“We have desecrated Nature, and the Almighty Cop on the Beat has decided it’s time for us to go,” said Franklin. He was one-on-one with the virtual audience, clergy from all religions, Imams, priests, pandits, shamans, seers, senseis, evangelists, and a dizzying array of self-appointed headmen for ad hoc spiritualism worldwide. It was the great chorus from the defunct anti-Lucas coalition. Franklin had inspired them five years earlier, the fields of their minds now made ready for his message by the subtle tilling of Lucas’s epigenetic blitz. 

 “While we have come to accept that the Lucas Mind is not what we suspected, it turns out that he is a disastrous affront to a creature beyond our comprehension. Some say our friend Lucas has brought the wrath of God down upon us. We see, and we see with eyes wide open, the shadow of infinity approaching at the speed of light.

“This is an inescapable truth. It is the long-promised End Times. The end of all life. The end of our planet and our moon. The end of our solar system. The end of all ends. In this ending, some of us will go one way, some the other. And we will all, all who will be saved and all who will be doomed, every single one of us, from babies in the womb to the elderly awaiting death, we will all be destroyed at the same exact time. At that moment, will you be obliterated or will you be transported to the next phase of our lives, under the wing of the Infinite?”

This question rang out from Franklin like the tolling of a distant, gigantic bell, reverberating in the bones and the minds of all who heard it.

“My God,” whispered the President of the United States, watching a feed of his sermon. “Franklin has become magnetic.” She paused the feed,  hesitated for a moment then keyed the verbal switch in her brain chip. 

“Lucas?” She pushed the VR goggles up on her hair.

The Mind popped into existence in front of the Resolute Desk, sitting in a gaming chair that popped up along with him. Holographs of such apparent substance, no non-AI engineers could duplicate them.

“You rang?” he said in classic Lurch voice.

“What have you done to Franklin Delano Shaw?”

“Ah yes. A bit of speed-up augmentation. We are in a great hurry, as I recall.”

“First, what did you do? Hell, he almost convinced me of whatever he’s selling there.”

A scholar’s mortarboard appeared on Lucas’s head along with a chinstrap beard. “Charisma is a complex brain state, mostly inherent, but improvable. I just did a few tweaks to power up Franklin’s. You hit it when you said ‘magnetic.’ Just add ‘animal’ and ‘-ism.’ and you got it.”

“Animal magnetism. How 1700s of you.”

“More animal magnetism than hypnotism, but the two merge at max expression,” said Lucas in a voice dripping with pedanticism. “Franklin is reconstituting the anti-me crowd into The Church of First Thinker. You gotta admit it’s going to take some serious charisma to pull that off. That bit you were watching was a training and motivation session with his front-line spokespersons. I’ve done a charisma boost for those with the biggest audiences. Star preachers and major Muftis, y’know.”

“Got it. I may have called on you too soon. I really don’t see Franklin’s punch line.”

“You’re right. Watch the rest of it. It’s short.”

President Wilshire slipped her goggles over her eyes and tapped them.  The one-on-one session with Franklin picked up where it left off, charisma at full throttle.

“Eight billion years old. Thoughts that move through the universe at far beyond the speed of light. Distant beyond comprehension, yet among us many have seen Him. Each who has seen Him sees with great clarity that He is all-knowing… ALL knowing.” Franklin bowed his head. “And all unknowable to those who do not yet see the truth. Yet there are many, now in the thousands, who have seen him, and I hear from you who are so privileged to have touched Truth, about this remarkable and awe inspiring vision that has come to you.  More each day I hear the messages from those of you who have been granted this vision. I hear both joy and confusion from you who have touched mysterious Truth.

“I, your faithful servant, have yet to experience this revelation, and I feel it coming.  But even as I wait for my personal experience, His message, the message, is becoming clear. Piece by piece, concept by concept, we are understanding how to decrypt His message to those who are open to it.

Meanwhile, let us hear the testimony to what our brothers have seen. For instance, please watch and listen to Brother Arnold Fitzgibbons, senior pastor of the largest Bible Church in the state of California, U.S.A., the Stride Church. Here he is.” 

Franklin’s audience, including President Wilshire, went full virtual, her chip giving her dimensional reality. She was on the third balcony, at the railing, looking down at Pastor Fitzgibbons, or straight into his face on the giant screen directly across from her and the thousands of others filling the six sweeping balconies of Stride. The pastor had his congregation enthralled. President Wilshire slipped a thought to Lucas, This is one of the amped-up guys? She heard a quick Roger that.

Pastor Fitz’s big church had the most extravagant, state-of-the-art visual tech money can buy, and Arnold knew how to get the most out of it.

Ain't AI fun? I'd say CoPilot caught the gist; not perfect but really not bad. The AIs continue to amaze me. Mostly I'm grateful for an excuse to push out an unfinished chapter of an unfinished book as a teaser. No deadlines, but I'm working on it.