Tag: artificial-intelligence

A frail dying old man, emaciated face with sunken cheeks and deep wrinkles. Wearing a heavy, rusty cyberpunk neuro-helmet over his head with glowing red interface lights.
Posted in stories

Lost Memories: A Tale of Memory Extraction at Seventy-Three

Posted on by Mike

They told me it would be painless. They always tell you it will be painless.

I was seventy-three when they fitted the first interface. A volunteer, they called me. Pioneer. That word tasted sweet once. Now it sits in my throat like old copper wire. They needed someone whose mind had already softened at the edges, they said. Someone whose memories had grown loose, easy to pull free like teeth from rotting gum. The young ones held too tight. Their thoughts fought back. Mine, they said, would cooperate.

Continue reading “Lost Memories: A Tale of Memory Extraction at Seventy-Three” →
An alien smoking at a bar.
Posted in stories

AI Writes Melancholic Monologue About Earth

Posted on by Mike

What happens when you show an AI a picture of a world-weary alien nursing a whisky in a neon-lit bar and ask it to write a monologue? Honestly, I wasn’t sure either. But the result was melancholy, atmospheric, and unexpectedly moving, which tells you something interesting about where creative AI is heading.

Here is the story in audio, created by ElevenLabs. Followed by the text of the story. Enjoy.

Continue reading “AI Writes Melancholic Monologue About Earth” →
Rain-soaked Manchester street on Deansgate at dusk, with a thoughtful middle-aged woman in a dark coat standing in the foreground. A pigeon stands in a puddle near her feet while a red bus approaches in the background. Shopfront lights and wet pavement reflections create a sombre, reflective mood suggesting quiet grief and urban isolation.
Posted in stories

Dystopian Grief: A Short Story Exploration

Posted on by Mike

Every now and again I give an AI a single prompt and let it write a short story. I do not edit the result. I simply choose one worth keeping. Below you will find the exact prompt, the story it produced, and one brief thought that stayed with me after reading. Nothing more.

This week I used Claude.

Continue reading “Dystopian Grief: A Short Story Exploration” →
Whimsical cartoon illustration of a flustered AI robot surrounded by chaotic tasks, including scattered paperwork, a globe covered in notes, a sock drawer labelled “Gravity”, a “Global Domination – Oops!” control panel, a sprinkler spraying water, and an open sourdough recipe book, suggesting humorous incompetence rather than world domination.
Posted in AI and Creativity

Exploring AI’s Thoughts: Questions They Dislike

Posted on by Mike

I recently discovered that in the dashboard of my blog WordPress put in suggested writing prompts. I thought it might be fun to put one of these prompts to three of my favourite chatbots, Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT. The prompt was:

What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

Continue reading “Exploring AI’s Thoughts: Questions They Dislike” →
Posted in stories

Engaging Dystopian Tales on YouTube

Posted on by Mike

I’m experimenting with storytelling on YouTube. I have created a new YouTube channel called, ‘The AI Grandad Short Stories‘. I plan to add to the collection on a regular basis.

The stories have, so far, all been written by Claude. I have then created the narration with ElevenLabs. Then I used an old (pre-AI) piece of software I have called CrazyTalk8 (no longer available – which is a great shame.) This does the lip-syncing for me. Then I put the finished movie through ClipMagic for the captions, before uploading it to YouTube.

Continue reading “Engaging Dystopian Tales on YouTube” →