‘An Experiment in Lust, Regret, and Kissing’
Novelist Curtis Sittenfeld, writing for The New York Times:
This summer, I agreed to a literary experiment with Times Opinion:
What is the difference between a story written by a human and a
story written by artificial intelligence?
We decided to hold a contest between ChatGPT and me, to see who
could write — or “write” — a better beach read. I thought going
head-to-head with the machine would give us real answers about
what A.I. is and isn’t currently capable of and, of course, how
big a threat it is to human writers. And if you’ve wondered, as I
have, what exactly makes something a beach read — frothy themes
or sand under your feet? — we set out to get to the bottom of
that, too. […]
As for the results of the contest — which one was the better
story — I invite you to be the judge. My story and ChatGPT’s
story are below. Read to the bottom to find out which is which.
I guessed correctly, and was pretty sure about my guess. But not certain. And without question, I enjoyed Sittenfeld’s story more.
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Novelist Curtis Sittenfeld, writing for The New York Times:
This summer, I agreed to a literary experiment with Times Opinion:
What is the difference between a story written by a human and a
story written by artificial intelligence?
We decided to hold a contest between ChatGPT and me, to see who
could write — or “write” — a better beach read. I thought going
head-to-head with the machine would give us real answers about
what A.I. is and isn’t currently capable of and, of course, how
big a threat it is to human writers. And if you’ve wondered, as I
have, what exactly makes something a beach read — frothy themes
or sand under your feet? — we set out to get to the bottom of
that, too. […]
As for the results of the contest — which one was the better
story — I invite you to be the judge. My story and ChatGPT’s
story are below. Read to the bottom to find out which is which.
I guessed correctly, and was pretty sure about my guess. But not certain. And without question, I enjoyed Sittenfeld’s story more.