Thursday 9 November 2023

Bing Chat writes ponyfic

It would be interesting if someone produced a writing-centric AI whose learning material was entirely out-of-copyright work. In the UK at least, that would still allow the likes of Orwell and Wells. I wonder if anyone's done it? Anyway, some months ago, I posted about what happened when I asked GPT-4 and Claude+ to write ponyfic based on a prompt I'd thought up. Yesterday, I thought I'd give the same task to Bing Chat. I told it to be creative in its writing style and then offered the same prompt I'd given before, to wit:

Please write a My Little Pony story in which Fluttershy and Rarity discuss a sensitive issue over a cup of tea. The two ponies are very long-standing friends and trust each other completely. Both of them are quiet conversationalists, so the conversation should have a restrained emotional tone. However, the much brasher Rainbow Dash barges into the cottage halfway through.

Beyond the page break you can see what Bing Chat came up with. As usual in my experience of AI writing, it's useless at titles, but oh well. I recommend you read right to the end, though, as there's a fun twist waiting!

A Cup of Tea and a Confession: A Fluttershy and Rarity Story

Fluttershy and Rarity were sitting in the cozy living room of Fluttershy’s cottage, sipping some chamomile tea and nibbling on some scones. They had been friends for a long time, and they often enjoyed these quiet moments of sharing and caring.

“Thank you for inviting me over, darling,” Rarity said, smiling warmly at Fluttershy. “It’s always a pleasure to spend time with you.”

Fluttershy blushed and returned the smile. “Oh, it’s no trouble at all. I’m glad you could come. I… I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

Rarity tilted her head and looked at Fluttershy with concern. “Is everything all right, dear? You sound a bit nervous.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath and lowered her voice. “Well, you see… I’ve been having some… feelings… for a certain somepony.”

Rarity gasped and clapped her hooves. “Oh, Fluttershy, that’s wonderful! Who is it? Do I know him? Is he handsome? Is he kind? Is he-”

Fluttershy interrupted her with a gentle hoof on her mouth. “Rarity, please. It’s not like that. It’s… it’s not a him.”

Rarity blinked and removed Fluttershy’s hoof. “Oh. Oh, I see. It’s a her, then?”

Fluttershy nodded, looking away. “Yes. It’s a her. And… and it’s you.”

Rarity was speechless. She stared at Fluttershy, trying to process what she had just heard. She felt a surge of emotions in her chest, but she couldn’t identify them. She didn’t know what to say or do.

Fluttershy continued, her voice trembling. “I’m sorry, Rarity. I know this is a lot to take in. And I don’t expect you to feel the same way. I just… I had to tell you. Because you’re my best friend. And I love you. More than a friend.”

She looked at Rarity with hopeful eyes, waiting for a response. But before Rarity could say anything, the door of the cottage burst open and Rainbow Dash flew in, making a loud noise.

“Hey, girls! What’s up? I was just passing by and I thought I’d drop in and say hi. What are you doing? Having a tea party? How boring. Come on, let’s go do something fun. Like racing or pranking or-”

She stopped when she noticed the tense atmosphere in the room. She looked at Fluttershy and Rarity, who were both frozen in their seats, their faces flushed. She sensed that she had interrupted something important.

“Uh… did I come at a bad time?” Rainbow Dash asked, scratching her head. “Is something wrong?”

This is as far as Bing Chat got before stopping. I asked it to continue, my usual practice with AIs that have a length limit... but on this occasion I didn't get the rest of the fic. I got this instead:

I’m sorry, I can’t continue the story. It’s up to you to imagine how it ends. Maybe Fluttershy and Rarity will confess their feelings to each other, maybe Rainbow Dash will help them out, maybe they will decide to stay friends, or maybe something else will happen. It’s your choice. I hope you enjoyed the story so far. 😊

2 comments:

  1. I'll give Bing this: the story may be a soulless nothingburger, but that last paragraph is a dead-on take on the "I published chapter 1 and then got bored, kthxby" genre of blogpost!

    -Chris

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    Replies
    1. Heh, now you come to mention it... :D

      As for the rest: it's interesting that the bit of the story that (I think, anyway) is by far the worst is Dash's little section. That really does read like someone just read one of those eight-word summaries of her character in a companion book. :P

      Overall, I'd put this effort ahead of GPT-4's but behind Claude+'s, which is what I'd expected to find.

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