C for computer and P for poet
George Anderson by © Alessandro Furchino Capria for Middle Plane Magazine
Earth orbits the sun without AI, it's not essential to our survival. Still, hype incites us to consider "artificial intelligence" daily. Chosen by computer scientists in the '50s, the term implies that we can hardcode intellect. Many agree, anthropomorphising non-sentient systems. Others believe "AI" is a hollow idea hazily defined. Some aren't sure, a reasonable position given the ever-shifting rhetoric dooming and booming in a dizzying cycle.
To warp the shape of the AI hoopla, looking beyond the tech broligarchy—and past large language models (LLMs)—helps blossom new perspectives. This is where the OuLiPo collective can assist. Long before "bot" entered the vernacular, a group of writers and mathematicians began to merge imagination with arithmetic. Their legacy reopens windows of contemplation for anyone philosophising dynamics between tech and the human touch.
