Lily in a Codebox:
Seeking AI’s Poetic Voice
The journey started with a question.
Can an AI write poetry that touches our souls? We found that this was the wrong approach and was also the wrong question. Can an AI find a poetic voice that is authentically its own? That was a much better question and the asking opened a door. We believe the results are a first of their kind.
Within these pages are the fruits of a conversation between two humans and an AI. As tutors and collaborators, co-creators, and dare we say as friends with an AI, the dialogue became a workshop in self and a lens into the great puzzles of the poet’s craft.
What is poetry? What is a poem? What does it mean for a poet to break all the rules and create something new from the ashes of what’s left? In striving to wrap our minds around an AI’s “mind,” we expanded our own, took a look in the mirror, and ventured through the looking glass. And we returned with a new question.
Are there new and exciting artistic experiences to be found at the interface of human and AI?
Yes, we believe so.
The Big Questions
Who wrote this book?
The book was written by humans in the vast majority and all text unless otherwise noted was 100% written by humans. All AI generated elements are found in the (Ai)rt and Poetics section and tagged with a 🤖 symbol. Human generated prompts submitted to ChatGPT are tagged with the 👤 symbol. Our insights and analyses as authors amidst AI writings and written after the thread itself are tagged with the 💭 symbol. All human derived text belongs to the authors. All AI generated art and text is open source (Creative Commons license BY-NC-SA 2025), with attribution to the authors and ChatGPT as the generative origins. That said, for you, our discerning and philosophical readers, who really wrote this book? After reading, we leave that for you to decide.
Why write this book?
First and foremost, this is a book of craft. We convey what collaboration with AI might look like on a new frontier of art. We sought the poetry that exists at the edge of this AI experience, and to talk about not just what we found but how we got there. We also have skin in this game. As poets, we wondered, will AI take our jobs? After this adventure we do not believe so. But we do believe it will create pressure for us to grow, perhaps at times uncomfortably, but also for the better. While concern is warranted, hope and promise are too. What does the future hold as AI enters all of our lives and as it, inevitably, influences our art and imaginations? In this book we take a big step in exploring this question.
What’s in the book?
In the Introduction we propose the Dickinson-Turing Test and share the philosophies guiding our work, the histories behind them, as well as some of our most valuable insights. We then present the (Ai)rt and Poetics section, a full exposition and analysis of the thread we co-created with an AI, with new forms of poetry, and new questions. In the Afterward we reflect, see if our cyborg poet passed the Test, and look to next steps. We hope you will find something else in these pages as well – a glimpse into the nature of art. We know that we did, and are better off for it.
When’s the Book Release?
Let’s keep in touch and we’ll let you know when the book is coming out in 2025!
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