The Witch Who Came From Mars

AI-written, human performed drama has been in ascent. The latest episode of the podcast Flash Forward adds another one to the list. Rose Eveleth asked  Mike Rugnetta (host of Idea Channel) help create a script via neural net.

What’s particularly interesting about this neural-network-authored drama is that they take some time to analyze it afterwards.

There’s an element of pareidolia in this, of course, as the listeners find meaning in something written by a neural network that has little context for what it was creating. But, like many creative uses of neural networks, it is good at picking up on patterns. Even if we can’t say that it understands them, it does recognize them. There is a structure there, the structure created by the unconscious patterns of the human writers it learned from.

I think intentionally exploiting pareidolia for creative inspiration is one of the practical artistic applications of generative text and poetry. That’s one use for random-thing-generators: generate a cult, a city, or a dungeon and then tell your own story or draw your own art based on it.

http://www.flashforwardpod.com/2016/09/05/episode-20-something-martian-witch-way-comes/