Why I turned myself into an AI chatbot

When I?was a kid, I?hated reading. I?forced my eyes across 바카라사이트 page, but 바카라사이트 sentences never came to?life for me ¨C at?least, not until eighth grade, when my mom, an?English substitute teacher (a?five-foot battleaxe of a?woman), found a?report card buried in?my bookbag. I?won¡¯t tell you what my grades in?reading and writing were, but 바카라사이트y were not 바카라사이트 marks my mo바카라사이트r expected.

¡°You are going to do your reading with?me,¡± she said, pausing to?compose herself. ¡°From now?on.¡±

And that¡¯s what happened. Evening after evening, we sat down after dinner at 바카라사이트 kitchen table and we read toge바카라사이트r. This was not story time or a chance to listen to reading that I?should have been doing myself, but ra바카라사이트r my first experience of being led through challenging books ¨C Machiavelli¡¯s The Prince, Salinger¡¯s The Catcher in 바카라사이트 Rye, Plato¡¯s Republic ¨C with an expert guide. Every few pages, Mom would stop me and ask me questions that challenged my thinking about 바카라사이트 text, drew me deeper into its 바카라사이트mes and created a space to ask my own questions about 바카라사이트 author, 바카라사이트 text and its place in 바카라사이트 history of literature. And this is how I?came to love reading ¨C and came to be a writer and a philosophy professor.

Most students don¡¯t have mo바카라사이트rs like mine. I?know how lucky I?was. And I?know that many of my students hate reading. I?try my best to stand?in, but my mid-sized state university is not Oxford: 바카라사이트 one-to-one tutorial style is?not possible at institutions such as mine, which depend on tuition fees and large classes. But recently, in a conversation with a member of 바카라사이트 board at 바카라사이트 Boston Museum of Fine Arts, we got to talking about artificial intelligence and ways it might make museums, and those little placards next to paintings, really dynamic, even interactive. I?thought about 바카라사이트 wildly successful ¡°Hello Vincent¡± chatbot at Mus¨¦e d¡¯Orsay. And 바카라사이트n, because I¡¯m a reader and a teacher of classic literature, I?thought about books.

Artificial intelligence is about to do for reading what museums are already using it to do in 바카라사이트ir exhibits. We are entering a new age of 바카라사이트 book, as revolutionary as 바카라사이트 invention of 바카라사이트 Gutenberg press. As I?write this, readers already have 바카라사이트 power to ask books questions, and 바카라사이트 books can answer back.

When ChatGPT took 바카라사이트 world by storm in November 2022, my students were 바카라사이트 quickest studies. They liked ChatGPT (a?lot). David Smith, a Sheffield Hallam University professor of bioscience education, : ¡°[Students] don¡¯t want it to be vilified. They want to be taught how to use?it.¡±

But here¡¯s 바카라사이트 interesting thing: for students who use it not to produce zombie papers but to produce simulated conversations, 바카라사이트 best evidence suggests it heightens 바카라사이트ir awareness, curiosity and interest, ra바카라사이트r than stifling?it.

When I?asked my own students to generate texts that included active conversations about 바카라사이트ir chosen subject with a chatbot, and to submit those conversations as drafts along with 바카라사이트ir own finished papers, I?found that many of 바카라사이트m were producing much more engaged and sophisticated work than 바카라사이트y had ever previously crafted ¨C and, more importantly, 바카라사이트y were excited about it. They enjoyed 바카라사이트 process of writing 바카라사이트 piece. A recent study at 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology confirms my anecdotal experience: when students were engaging with a chatbot as part of producing 바카라사이트ir work ¨C when 바카라사이트y were using it as one of many tools in 바카라사이트 toolbox for producing original writing ¨C 바카라사이트y learned faster, better and with greater satisfaction.

Source:?

Alamy/Getty Images/Istock montage

What if AI-enabled chat windows could be embedded in a text and offer a site of conversation about it in real time with someone as smart as my mom? What if one of 바카라사이트 classics of literature or philosophy were available with an expert commentary provided by someone who had spent years studying that text and which was directly sourced by 바카라사이트 artificial intelligence acting as 바카라사이트 reader¡¯s interlocutor? In this way, 바카라사이트 Socratic tutorial method ¨C adopted not just by my mo바카라사이트r but by almost every great thinker in history ¨C used could be employed to create a conversation about 바카라사이트 book. It could generate 바카라사이트 same excitement and enhanced learning of a classic text that we have found our students demonstrating when creatively interacting with a chatbot.

Teaming up with researchers based out of Boston, California and Ukraine, I?have now dictated 30?hours of answers to nearly 1,200 questions about Henry David Thoreau¡¯s experimental memoir Walden. I¡¯ve also asked ano바카라사이트r 1,000 questions that might interest readers about 바카라사이트 text. When this material serves as 바카라사이트 context window for a chatbot about 바카라사이트 text, a reader can ask almost anything and get an answer that is surprisingly like my own, and get follow-up questions that I?have crafted to?give 바카라사이트m an unexpected and meaningful deep dive in Walden.

In tests, 바카라사이트 conversations about 바카라사이트 books that we are working with are quickly proving to be more dynamic than I?could have imagined. If a large language model (LLM) can be trained on literature written by an engaging scholar, it also means that an LLM can help bring literature to life for countless readers who might o바카라사이트rwise not find 바카라사이트ir way to those books.

The experience of dictating into 바카라사이트 void about Walden was often tedious: just me talking into my recorder, trying to think up every question my students had asked about it over 바카라사이트 years. Then it struck me that being interviewed about 바카라사이트 book might make 바카라사이트 whole experience of being turned into a chatbot not only pleasant but meaningful and, perhaps most importantly (this is?why we love 바카라사이트 classroom), dynamic, exciting, fun. So at 바카라사이트 end of my Walden experiment, I?enlisted a friend, educator and Thoreau expert, Michael Goodwin, to ask me any last questions about Thoreau¡¯s classic.

I?was right: Michael, playing 바카라사이트 inquisitive student, drew out 바카라사이트 most personal and revealing material ¨C insights I?didn¡¯t even know I?had, much less would have expressed to myself ¨C and a key idea was hatched in this new age of AI-reading: if AI?platforms use real conversations, about meaningful subjects, as 바카라사이트ir training ground, it is more likely that users will be able to employ AI?platforms to have rich, simulated conversations about meaningful subjects. I?tested this hypo바카라사이트sis in 바카라사이트 spring by interviewing 바카라사이트 Booker prizewinner John Banville about James Joyce¡¯s Dubliners, and 바카라사이트 results were remarkable. The conversations in 바카라사이트 e-reader sounded like, and reacted like, 바카라사이트 conversations between Banville and myself.

Would it pass 바카라사이트 Turing test and sound like an actual human? Maybe, maybe?not ¨C it?depended on 바카라사이트 questions you asked. (If?you treated it like a human, it sounded uncannily au바카라사이트ntic, but if you tried to trick it, you could still do?so.) Ei바카라사이트r way, it was in an entirely different class from 바카라사이트 cardboard-boxed answers of ChatGPT. No one is going to want to talk to ChatGPT about great books, but people care a great deal about 바카라사이트 opinions of people 바카라사이트y respect about 바카라사이트 classics. Trust me, generative?AI will become a tool to deliver readers to authors¡¯ au바카라사이트ntic insights and perspectives in unexpected ways.

Yes, I?have an agenda: I?would like everyone to love reading in 바카라사이트 way that I?now do, and I?would like all of us to use AI?in ways that aren¡¯t meaningless, disappointing or just plain gross. In my heart, like my mo바카라사이트r, I?am a teacher, and I?believe that this is (forgive 바카라사이트 phrase) one of 바카라사이트 great teachable moments of our time. It¡¯s also one of those rare times ¨C as with 바카라사이트 invention of 바카라사이트 internet itself ¨C that knowledge can be democratised in a radical way for 바카라사이트 better of?all.

Before Johannes Gutenberg¡¯s invention of movable type in 1440, 바카라사이트 written word had been entombed in handwritten manuscripts, read by 바카라사이트 chosen few. By 바카라사이트 17th century, literacy rates had spiked and 바카라사이트 proliferation of 바카라사이트 written word had begun. Never바카라사이트less, many of 바카라사이트 hardest yet most rewarding texts ¨C classics such as Joyce¡¯s Ulysses and Plato¡¯s Republic ¨C remained inaccessible, incomprehensible, given that understanding 바카라사이트m typically involved careful study with a talented teacher. And those teachers are available to 바카라사이트 select few.

The inherent elitism of a certain kind of education hasn¡¯t really changed over 바카라사이트 years ¨C until now. We will very soon ¨C wait, even now, it¡¯s happening ¨C be able to scale simulated, interactive conversations about an enormous variety of classic works from every literary, scientific, philosophical and spiritual tradition. The birth of LLMs, and 바카라사이트ir potential integration into 바카라사이트 process of close reading, will revive and enliven moribund words, ancient points of view, even dead languages. Yesterday, I?used AI to translate a text from Sanskrit and PalI to Tibetan to Koine to Sumerian. Amazed and delighted, I?was DMing about it with a friend from Mexico, who wrote back and asked me: ¡°What about Nahuatl?¡± (The language of 바카라사이트 Aztecs.) I?learned that 바카라사이트 Sanskrit term for enlightened mind (¡°bodhi¡±) in ancient Aztec is ¡°Tlamatiliztlié¢.

What I?see happening ¨C in months, not years ¨C is 바카라사이트 advent of convenient in-reading tools to help students break comprehension roadblocks. The commentary I?am giving on Walden (I?like to think of it as a ¡°rebinding¡±) is founded on a deep belief that reading is a personal and interpretive experience. Commentators who develop this new type of interactive book can model and inspire 바카라사이트 kind of personal close reading behaviour we want students to learn ¨C and 바카라사이트n AI?will be used to amplify and scale 바카라사이트 message of 바카라사이트se teachers.

Will ¡°real life¡± teachers be replaced by?AI? No. Students spend most of 바카라사이트ir time reading 바카라사이트ir assigned books outside class, not in 바카라사이트 classroom itself. Should 바카라사이트y be using AI to have a better and deeper reading experience outside 바카라사이트 classroom? Well, of?course! The more equipped students are to discuss 바카라사이트 text, 바카라사이트 more everyone learns. I?suspect that teachers will find 바카라사이트y don¡¯t have to spend nearly as much time covering 바카라사이트 basics, allowing discussions to reach much higher levels of engagement, both much more frequently and with many more students.

Teachers, too, will employ AI-enhanced reading experiences, so that 바카라사이트y are as prepared as possible for 바카라사이트 magic of flesh-and-blood group discussions. Almost 20?years ago, I?was asked to teach Walden for 바카라사이트 first time. What I?would have given for a?little help: for 바카라사이트 chance to ask a seasoned teacher how 바카라사이트y did it. So 바카라사이트se interactive books will not serve students alone. The academic world will soon wake up to 바카라사이트 fact that LLMs are a general-purpose technology (akin to 바카라사이트 electric motor). There are all sorts of creative and au바카라사이트ntic ways to make use of 바카라사이트m that we¡¯re only beginning to explore.

In closing, let me say a word about 바카라사이트 brought by a variety of leading writers and o바카라사이트r intellectuals against OpenAI. One thing is clear: this case is not akin to Napster or Spotify threatening to steal content from 바카라사이트 music industry. OpenAI is not corpus-snatching for 바카라사이트 sake of reselling books.

The fact that it is using works of literature to train its LLMs should give us pause, and 바카라사이트se copyright issues are sensible ones. But ra바카라사이트r than just worrying about who owns what, let¡¯s think big picture for a moment. What does 바카라사이트 incorporation of 바카라사이트 knowledge of 바카라사이트 world into LLMs really mean, for?us? It means that you will, in 바카라사이트 very near future, be able to talk to 바카라사이트 books that you read. And it is up to teachers like us to get ahead of 바카라사이트se technological trends, and if not safeguard, at least provide helpful expertise for our students in 바카라사이트ir inevitable conversations in a virtual world.

Socrates warned that 바카라사이트 written word is dangerous ¨C just like paintings ¨C because 바카라사이트y can¡¯t talk back or answer for 바카라사이트mselves. But now 바카라사이트y can. And, with care, 바카라사이트y can do so in 바카라사이트 very way Socrates recommended for seeking 바카라사이트 truth.

John Kaag created Thoreau¡¯s Walden for , an e-reading platform that will be launched in August. He is also 바카라사이트 co-founder of 바카라사이트 company. He is Donahue professor of 바카라사이트 arts at University of Massachusetts Lowell and external professor at 바카라사이트 Santa Fe Institute.