Chatbot and Surrealism

Andre Breton

Many surrealist techniques of writing require suspension of conscious control. “Automatic writing,” for instance, is a bit like stream of consciousness. But what if Chatbot, the use of AI in generating content, were employed by a latter-day Andre Breton, the creator of both automatic writing and the Manifesto of Surrealism. How is artificial intelligence going to predict the aleatory? There has been much concern amongst educators about students using Chatbot to ghost write their papers. But what if the assignment is to write down whatever comes into your head? How will a computer-generated consciousness accommodate? Have you ever talked to Alexa or Simi? They’re great when you ask them to play an oldy like “I’m the One Who Love Forgot” which begins “Nobody loves me Nobody cares…” But let’s say you want Alexa do call up Cage’s “4’33,” which famously deals with “the absence of intended sounds.” In order to prevent cheating on exams, high school and college teachers should simply assign students to extemporize. Say you’re on Julius Caesar, who died on March 15, 44 B.C. “Caesar salad, one month to go before taxes, horny I am. What happens if someone cries May Day on May 1?…” No Chatbot is going to come anywhere near recreating something the author doesn't know themselves.

read "Pet Buddha" by Francis Levy, Vol. 1 Brooklyn

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