This image stopped me longer than most. Not because it was dramatic. Not because it shouted for attention. But because it felt… exposed. As though I’d stumbled across something that wasn’t meant to be seen all at once. A face, fractured. A reflection, broken. Still looking back.
I won’t tell you what I think it means. That would pin it down too neatly. Instead, I’ll let you sit with it for a moment.
Continue reading “Caption This AI Image #4 – What’s Left When the Reflection Breaks?”
Welcome back to our weekly playground for curious humans and equally curious machines. Every Wednesday I share a new prompt, and together we explore what happens when we let AI join in the storytelling.
A Drabble is simply a story told in 100 words exactly, short enough to be playful, long enough to surprise us. You’re welcome to use any AI tool you like: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, NotebookLM… whatever you’re comfortable with. How you collaborate is up to you. Maybe the AI drafts the first version, or writes the whole thing, maybe you co-write, or maybe you use it to spark ideas. What matters is the process, and sharing it.
There’s no pressure, no “right way,” and definitely no grading. The goal is curiosity, collaboration, and seeing what strange or wonderful things the machines produce when we give them a nudge.
This week I thought I would continue with the theme of trying something different. I’m always intrigued as to how AI copes when asked unusual questions (have a read of The Prompt Experiment to see an example of this).
So, today’s prompt is to write a Drabble based on An Apology from the Universe, 100 words where the universe admits its mistake.
Feel free to interpret the prompt literally, loosely, mischievously, or in a way that makes your AI scratch its synthetic head. If it surprises you, it counts.
I used ChatGPT 5.1 and the prompt was – “Write a 100 word story where there is an apology from the Universe The universe admits its mistake.”
The Apology
The apology arrived quietly, folded into the morning like mist. The universe cleared its throat and spoke, not in thunder, but embarrassment. I’m sorry, it said, for the misplaced asteroid, the unnecessary cancer, the wrong turn of time. You were meant to meet her earlier. You were meant to sleep better. Several wars were clerical errors. That drought was a rounding issue. Even your lost keys were my fault.
I asked if it could fix things. The universe sighed. No, it said, but I can admit I was wrong. The sky felt lighter after that. For once, existence paused, listening.
Joining in is wonderfully simple:
If you’d like to share:
…that’s always appreciated and often helpful to others.
Each week I read every entry and spotlight a few that stood out, for cleverness, unexpected emotion, inventive prompting, or pure joyful weirdness. This isn’t a competition. It’s a conversation between humans, machines, and the imagination that connects us.
AI can generate the words, but only you bring the spark. So… how will you and your AI partner interpret the prompt this week?
Now it’s over to you, can you craft your own 100-word Drabble inspired by this week’s prompt.
Post your story in the comments below or link to your own blog, I love seeing the imaginative twists readers come up with. So don’t be shy, join in and show us what your AI + Your Imagination can do!
New to the challenge? Visit The AI Drabbles Challenge Page for all the details and past prompts.
As I’ve mentioned before I often find myself disappearing down the AI rabbit hole. I have this fear that one day I’ll drop down and never come back up again! My latest journey into the abyss was most entertaining. Let me explain what happened.
In a post yesterday, Bath Night and ChatGPT, I took a story that I had written long before I discovered AI and put it into ChatGPT’s new image generator to see what it would make of my writing. I was impressed with the outcome.
So, this morning I thought, “I wonder what would happen if I reversed the experiment? In other words, what story would AI give me in response to the picture as the prompt?” I put the image and this text into Claude, ‘Give me a 200 word story based on this image. Add in some dark humour.’ This is what it gave me:
Continue reading “What Happens When You Ask AI One More Question?”
Many thanks to Valerie for leaving this story in the comments. It was created with the help of Gemini. I thought I would give voice to it with the help of ElevenLabs. The voice is one from their library and the description is – ‘Michael – Deep, Resonant, Confident – a male British voice for a storyteller with a rough undertone.’ I hope Valerie approves.
I’ve included the audio and Valerie’s original text. I also put the story into ChatGPT’s new image generator for the picture above.
I hope you enjoy.
The sun was a blister in the sky, cracking the clay earth into a mosaic of despair. Elias knelt by the ruined plot, his fingers scraping at the dust. He remembered the seedlings, bright green promises against the brown, planted with a hope that now felt like a cruel jest. He’d watered, he’d tended, he’d even spoken softly to the soil, but the blight, unseen and absolute, had taken root first. His wife had wept when the last shoot withered, a sound Elias carried like a stone in his chest. Now, only the brittle, pale husks of dead weeds remained, monuments to a vanished dream of bounty. He pushed himself up, wiping the grit from his calloused palms. The air tasted of defeat, dry and metallic. Nothing ever grew there again.
Find out more about The AI Grandad on:
YouTube – The AI Grandad
X – The AI Grandad
Facebook – Mike Jackson – The AI Grandad
What do you think AI creativity tells us about ourselves?
Share your thoughts in the comments, I love hearing from curious minds!
Welcome to what is now becoming a regular Sunday post. If you want to see what I, or rather AI, did with captions sent in by readers last week and the week before, have a read of, Two Images, Two Captions, Two Stories.
Right, now let’s get back to this week’s image.
I came across this AI-generated image and felt that familiar little chill, the one that says something odd is happening here, and nobody’s explaining it. Everyone looks calm. Reasonable. Well dressed. And yet… they’re all making the same gesture, at the same time, as if rehearsed. Including the robot. Especially the robot.
I won’t tell you what I think is going on. That would spoil the tension. Instead, I’ll leave you with the image and let your imagination do the heavy lifting.
Continue reading “Caption This AI Image #3 – “Shh… We’ve All Agreed Not to Talk About It””
The AI Grandad 