Experimental Short Story Collection Summons the Creative Writing Potential of AI
Los Angeles, CA, – In early December, Finnish literary scholar Juha Raipola started a series of textual experiments aimed at exploring the potential of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot as a tool for creative writing. The result was a collection of very short fiction in which demons and ancient cosmic beings rise to dominate social media and the corporate world.
Raipola’s primary goal was to utilize the AI system as a tool for satirical writing. He aimed to generate texts that would be both amusing and twisted in their portrayal of the contemporary world.
“The objective was to both challenge and exploit the formulaic, generic, and repetitive patterns of the texts produced by the AI system. Without specific and detailed instructions from the user, artificial intelligence systems often produce texts with extremely simplistic storylines and rudimentary narrative techniques that lack all the characteristics of high-quality or engaging literature.”
“Demonic Fragments” is a collection of more than 100 short texts created by AI that are connected through common themes and a loosely structured plot. The texts, which include everyday materials such as plans, instructions, social media monologues, and advertisements, are combined with elements of horror fiction to create a weird, funny, and unsettling effect. The collection was carefully prompted and curated by the author.
According to Raiola, ChatGPT’s creative writing skills are best displayed in a variety of advertising and marketing texts.
“ChatGPT is capable of generating highly convincing sales pitches and marketing communication design documents for a wide range of fictional or real products. As an example, I used AI to create an occult-themed ‘Midnight Shadows’ beauty product brand, along with clear instructions on how to present its products to the media. Upon my request, the system even developed a complete demon summoning product for the brand, complete with comprehensive user instructions.”
As a literary scholar, Raipola expects the development of ChatGPT and other AI systems to soon lead to an explosion in the number of book publications.
“Online self-publishing services currently allow for the publication of works in a couple of days or less, and services are already starting to fill up with works written and illustrated by AI systems. However, most publications are of very low literary and narrative quality. My book is intended to challenge the notion that AI-written books cannot have literary value.”
Raiola’s book “Demonic Fragments: Horror from the AI Mind” is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats.
“Demonic Fragments” includes, among other things:
• Parodies of social media videos, such as the morning routine of the Lovecraftian entity Cthulhu.
• A series of sensationalist news stories about Cthulhu’s chaotic love relationship with a reality TV star.
• A collection of very short horror stories.
• Weird horror-themed lists such as a how-to guide for demons on collecting human souls.
• A proposal for the reorganization and modernization of Hell.