Machine Learning Writing Seminars
For bookings and inquiries contact griffinsmithart@gmail.com
In recent years, machine learning has yielded remarkable new approaches to generating coherent and vibrant language written by AI. Our workshops give participants a chance to see an AI model learn an author's style over time, mix authors or books together into one AI voice, and write pieces alongside models trained on their own writing.
These kinds of AI technologies will provide unique tools for all writers in the coming years, and our workshops are designed to produce critical discussions on the future of creative collaboration. Our seminars are an ideal opportunity for English educators to engage with their own writing or areas of research on a fundamental level, but also learn how to integrate these practices into their classes.
Our workshops' primary model, GPT-2 designed by OpenAI, is elastic enough to understand and then rapidly create language ranging from news articles, poetry, python code, movie reviews, recipes and more. Because of the model's incredible learning rate, styles, authors, and literary forms can be combined in real time by workshop participants.
Our custom-trained AI models have been used by teams at Brown University and Adobe, and in collaboration with writers and visual artists (check out Sofia Crespo's Planet Other to see our text in action).
Samples from neural networks trained on:
The Works of Maya Angelou
With machine learning, our voices...
will grow
More urgent, more urgent
That we must sing to the
Silence that is our own.
We have ears
Now to accept
The inevitable
That which is inevitable
Will soon be too late.
To Kill a Mockingbird
With machine learning, our voices...
can be as detailed as a doctor’s, and we can be as convincing as a courtroom jury.
But there is one problem that has stymied machine learning: people.
People are boring. People don’t do anything. They just sit around and eat.
Machines can tell when a person has just stepped into the room,
but people are still too complex to understand.
Shakespeare's Sonnets
With machine learning, our voices...
aken in our brains, would be as dull as the dial:
but from the distraction of this malady my pupil can advance at once,
and make a new acquaintance with truth.
No longer doth speech-engineering science justify'd my neglect of your art:
look what you learn, and you learn what you must.
After a GPT-2 model is trained, the text in red is fed into the system, and the AI continues the writing from there. Workshop members can choose any prompt they'd like, and even ask their model questions.
Engage with the future of writing
Our AI writing seminars are 2 hours in length. Each seminar includes interactive machine learning demonstrations, group experimentation and discussion, and tutorials designed for users with no coding experience. Our workshops offer a totally new perspective on collaboration, inspiration, and the future of writing.
Specifics:
A brief overview of contemporary machine learning techniques
Pre-processing and training of up to 15 custom AI text models before the workshop
A guided slideshow sharing and analyzing the highlights of your custom models' output
A series of AI writing exercises for use in the classroom, and recorded tutorials for integrating these technologies into student assignments
An opportunity to train your own text generating model, and observe its writing style evolve as it learns
Fully formatted output of 10+ pages of AI writing for EACH participant
Pricing:
Our seminars for English educators are typically priced at $1,150 but in advance of the 2021 school year are being offered at a discounted rate of $799
Our classroom workshops for college and high school students are $599 for up to 12 participants
We have extensive experience building text datasets and finding any book, author, or scripts you might want baked into your AI's writing style. Want your personal writing mixed with a favorite filmmaker's scripts? Your thesis blended with certain presidents' speeches? We can even make custom datasets of multiple book-length works upon request.
More samples from neural networks trained on:
How to Win Friends and Influence People
If you want to succeed in digital outreach...
don't lecture. Just do it!
I used to tell my class how to get people to talk.
Well, I don't think I have to anymore. You have people talking themselves. The things they are thinking are coming to mind, and I am not necessarily interested in what they are saying. I am interested in what they are thinking about themselves.
How to Win Friends and Influence People mixed with Sun Tzu's The Art of War
AI writing workshops…
can harness the latent energies of the people. Their enthusiasm and song of wisdom are aroused in them a deep desire for a better future.
This is best illustrated by giving the example of a factory owner who must not only maintain his own workers in good order, but must take care that his products be as the sun and moon are.
Artificial intelligence…
and the intelligent agent may be likened to the image of the sun. The intelligent instrument may be likened to the movement of the heavenly bodies. The earth, the sun, and the moon are all very great -- and very slow. But the tiny little finger of the magician, if he be talented, can make the whole thing move.
State of the Union Addresses
Why are AI writing seminars useful?
Simple: They help agents think rationally and reason through creative problems.
We've seen how powerful computers can help agents solve complex problems, and now we're ready to take the next step. We need an agent that can think like an AI, not an experiment. We need an agent that can solve problems and make sense of the chaos of life.
The best part of the job will be when the machines understand and solve the big questions of the day. And the machine has to be smart enough to understand that it has to improve the quality of its own existence. At the end of the day, we'll build whatever the hell machine can build. But if we can reduce the pain and uncertainty of technological change, we'll do it.
State of the Union Addresses mixed with The Works of Maya Angelou
Machine learning makes...
it possible to develop meaningfully connected devices that read your mind, smell your tears, and respond to your every demand, from the light that comes streaming through your window to the gentle power of the crowd.
Imagine what you could do if you put your mind to it. Can you imagine?
Now, imagine if you could use those same technologies to help people. Think about it. What would you do?