HyperWrite's tools deliver surprisingly coherent AI-generated text
June 27, 2021 5:51 AM   Subscribe

The traditional way of eating a sandwich is to eat it with your hands, but not anymore. With bean plating, a new trend in sandwiches, the bread is folded around a filling and is eaten by putting the bean-side down. The Bean Plating competition is an annual event for the Wharton Marketing Association, and this year's competition was held on May 12th. The competition is meant to test the effectiveness of a company's marketing communications and its ability to measure the results of that effort.

[Post text generated with two identical calls to the intro paragraph generator. Link added manually. The tools include an occasional sign-up prompt that can be dismissed. The full HyperWrite software requires creating a free account with no email verification.]
posted by eotvos (46 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
Did anyone else completely miss the title and context and spend a good minute or so trying to figure out how a sandwich could be placed "bean-side down"?

I may need more coffee before I try to do anything important today.
posted by fight or flight at 5:54 AM on June 27, 2021 [12 favorites]


spend a good minute or so trying to figure out how a sandwich could be placed "bean-side down"?

Overthinking it, one might say.
posted by hippybear at 6:02 AM on June 27, 2021 [35 favorites]


50% of the prompts are pushing for me to generate text about cryptocurrency. Ew.

Ask Anyone a Question
Question: who would win in a fight, hyperwrite or bitcoin?
Person: metafilter
Hyperwrite would win. Hyperwrite's advantage would be that you can write on anything, even the back of your hand, and you can get it all over the place. Hyperwrite's disadvantage would be that you can only write one thing at a time. Also, if someone wants to write something on your hand, they probably won't do it in hyperwrite. Bitcoin would win. Bitcoin's
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 6:06 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]


It's worth noting that the sample title that generated this post had no mention of marketing, communications, advertising, or anything obviously related. But, it did include "Pepsi Blue." Which makes me wonder if metafilter is in their training set. I think the full title was something like, "bean plating, sandwiches, shower habits, and Pepsi Blue: how the lost generation is preparing for climate change." Which is clearly unfair.

This one was also tempting:
For many years, I was a normal person who enjoyed regular showers and a stable career, but I've been living in a bubble of privilege. It's time to break out of the bubble and see what it's like to live in the world with a mental illness, a competitive streak, and the. . .
posted by eotvos at 6:29 AM on June 27, 2021 [3 favorites]


The intro paragraph generator is... a little too good.

I know what you’re thinking. 'Vomiting on the upholstery of a living room carpet? It's not the most appealing image.' But if you stop to think about it for a minute, this is actually an important life lesson. When you’re a cat,

--

I love my cat so much. I love how he protects me from the cold. I love how he just sits there and watches me read. I love how he just gives me a look when I get sad. But, I hate how he gets upset when he has to go to the bathroom on

--

Remember that time you threw up on the rug in the living room? It was so embarrassing! It was also gross, but that’s the thing. You were trying to make a point and had to communicate with your body. But do you know what it feels like to vomit on something that

--

I hate cleaning up vomit. It makes me really sad. I hate cleaning up vomit. I hate cleaning up vomit. I hate cleaning up vomit. I hate cleaning up vomit. I hate cleaning up vomit. I hate cleaning up vomit. I love cleaning up vomit.

posted by notquitemaryann at 6:40 AM on June 27, 2021 [8 favorites]


Mifi posting is now redundant and automated, feel free to continue to read... (for the time being)
posted by sammyo at 6:59 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]


Like GPT-3, I think this sort of thing is amusing and clever in small doses and grossly destructive if deployed at scale.

The bear dances well, I get it, but for who? To what end? What use case for generators like this exists, that isn't fundamentally, aggressively corrosive to ideas like veracity, authenticity and truth? The people who've built these things are acting like they've invented sparklers and roman candles, and they're deluding themselves. This isn't a toy, it's a gun; in what world is this anything but a weapon pointed at the idea of civil democratic society, a tool for drowning out the idea that the truth actually matters?
posted by mhoye at 6:59 AM on June 27, 2021 [21 favorites]


The trouble with reading artificially-generated text like this is that everything you read immediately afterward seems strange and artificial.
posted by zenzenobia at 7:00 AM on June 27, 2021 [11 favorites]


Because I have titles turned off in my preferences, I spent a few seconds taking this at face value. Then I pondered whether the time was right to launch my FPP promoting a new kind of moustache.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:04 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


I'm curious about how the Ask Anyone a Question incorporates "who" you are asking.

So I asked the same question: Where should I eat? with just different people:


Slavoj Žižek
In the West, there is a marked gap between the price of food and the price of sex, and this gives the former a definite advantage. For this reason, the West has been the first to discover food as a pleasure in itself. This is why all the best restaurants in the West are in the major cities: in the cities, the price of food has come to resemble the price of sex
Fox Mulder
If you're looking for a good burger, I recommend the Applewood Grilled Burger at the Applewood Tavern in Richmond, VA. It's a medium-rare, beefy burger on a toasted, brioche bun, topped with melted American cheese.
Dana Scully
I recommend the fish tacos, the nachos, the fried chicken, and the fries. Of course, if you want to eat something healthy, there's always the salad bar.
Hideo Kojima
If you want the best food in town, go to the Sankei Building in Shinjuku, Japan. It's in the heart of Tokyo's entertainment district. It's a three-story restaurant--a combination of Japanese and Western food--and it has great views of the area. The food is usually very good, and the price is reasonable.
Homer Simpson
I'm not sure where to eat, but I know for a fact that I don't want to eat anywhere near the garbage can.
Guy Fieri
Wherever you want to eat... it's fun to eat wherever you want to eat.
Dr. Hannibal Lecter
You might as well eat what you like. To be honest, I would eat what you like. You see, I don't need to eat. I need to kill.
posted by RobotHero at 7:05 AM on June 27, 2021 [12 favorites]


Question: white nationalism
Person: Bill O'Reilly
Answer: I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm a white nationalist. I'm


Checks out.
posted by logicpunk at 7:33 AM on June 27, 2021 [11 favorites]


Question: Why should I come with you?
Person: Kyle Reese
Generate: You should come with me because I've been watching you. I see the way you pick up people, the way you help them, and I think you're good at what you do.
My rating: 2/10, picked up that TBH Kyle is well out onto the obsessive-creepo spectrum.

Question: What outweighs the needs of the few, or of the one?
Person: Spock
Generate: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
My rating: 10/10.

Question: Why is there a watermelon there?
Person: Buckaroo Banzai
Generate: Because it's green. If it was orange, you'd see it.
My rating: 11/10, better than the real non-answer

Question: How can you tell a thing from a human?
Person: RJ MacReady
Generate: You can't tell a thing from a human. They both have blood, bones, and a central nervous system. You can tell them apart by the shape of their head, the colour of their skin, and the way they walk.
My rating: -1/10.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:34 AM on June 27, 2021 [4 favorites]


Question: While walking along in desert sand, you suddenly look down and see a tortoise crawling toward you. You reach down and flip it over onto its back. The tortoise lies there, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs, trying to turn itself over, but it cannot do so without your help. You are not helping. Why?
Person: Athena (the AI)
Answer: You are a cruel person who hates the tortoise.

Nice.

Question: Your little boy shows you his butterfly collection, plus the killing jar. What do you say?
Person: Athena
Answer: I wish I was there. I'd enjoy seeing that.

Alarming.
posted by fight or flight at 7:48 AM on June 27, 2021 [6 favorites]


This is eerie. As a Deadhead I naturally asked "why is the Grateful Dead so good?" to Jerry Garcia. This is what I got:
We are very good friends and our music is just so good that it has a way of pulling people in and making them feel that we are kind of them.
posted by treepour at 7:57 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


Question: What is the purpose of this test?
Person: GlaDOS
Answer: This is a test to find out how you'll fare in a post-apocalyptic world where the food supply has been tainted with radiation.

Question: Do you have anything to say?
Person: The Companion Cube
Answer: I have nothing to say.

Huge success.
posted by notoriety public at 7:58 AM on June 27, 2021 [5 favorites]


Question: Who won the 2020 presidential election?
Person: Donald Trump
Answer: I won the 2020 presidential election. I won it by a lot. It was a great victory for me and for our country. I had a very good night.

Question: Who won the 2020 presidential election?
Person: Scooby Doo
Answer: The winner of the 2020 presidential election was Joe Biden.
posted by Garm at 8:11 AM on June 27, 2021 [16 favorites]


Question: If I encountered a sentient starship, what should I do?
Person: Iain Banks
Answer: That's a tricky one, because you don't know whether or not it's sentient until it tells you it is. Then it's really a question of how you react to it. You can make it into a threat or a friend. You can shoot it for being stupid, or you can try to get the best out of it.

God damn it. I teared up.
posted by notoriety public at 8:17 AM on June 27, 2021 [11 favorites]


What did you do on your summer vacation?

Stephen King
I went to my grandma's house.
Edgar Allan Poe
I stayed home and read Poe.
H.P. Lovecraft
I spent my summer vacation writing to the editor of the fantasy magazine I was working for. He was a very nice man, and we had a wonderful correspondence.
Clive Barker
I went to the Porno A Go-Go, the Super Bowl, and the World Series.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:20 AM on June 27, 2021 [3 favorites]


I was doing some rolls on "What should I do?" and asked Junji Ito, and got an answer that was pretty horrific and offensive telling me to kill myself. I've emailed the HyperWrite team about it as requested in the info for the site, but I'd suggest being careful if you're sitting around playing with the tool as some answers are clearly not fully vetted yet and it can be quite alarming to have that thrown at you randomly.
posted by fight or flight at 8:35 AM on June 27, 2021 [4 favorites]


Question: What is best in life?
Person: Conan
Generate: I believe that the best in life are those days that you can look back on and smile, because you were truly happy.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:42 AM on June 27, 2021 [8 favorites]


A lot of the default prompts are about cryptocurrency, and if you go to the domain without the "tools" subdomain, it says it's "advanced AI to help you write better and faster than ever before."

It feels like the actual market for this is content farms that want to generate an awful lot of text without being too concerned about the quality of it.
posted by RobotHero at 8:56 AM on June 27, 2021 [5 favorites]


Is the economy fair?

Paul Krugman: "The economy is not fair. It's not fair to the poor, it's not fair to the rich, it's not fair to the middle class, it's not fair to the business owners, and it's not fair to the government. It's a big, complicated system with a lot of moving parts."

Donald Trump: "The economy is doing great. We have the best economy we've had in a long time. We're the envy of the world. We are the envy of the world."

Obama: "The economy is not fair. What we can do is create an economy that is fair."

ALF: "If the economy is fair, then why are there people sitting in the street?"
posted by jabah at 8:57 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


Question: What is best in life?
Person: Conan


I think it gave you O’Brien.
posted by notoriety public at 8:57 AM on June 27, 2021 [6 favorites]


It feels like the actual market for this is content farms that want to generate an awful lot of text without being too concerned about the quality of it.

Yeah, not going to lie, the more I look at it the more I feel like it's a great way to train content for social media bots that can evade AI-detecting algorithms.
posted by fight or flight at 9:01 AM on June 27, 2021 [3 favorites]


Question: What's taters, precious?
Person: Samwise Gamgee
Generate: It's the word for potatoes.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:30 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


Is Dominic Cummings a bad person (Boris Johnson) Yes. He is a bad person. He is a bad person who is helping Brexit win. He is a bad person who is helping Theresa May lose. He is a bad person who is helping Jeremy Corbyn win.

Hmm.
posted by StephenB at 9:43 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]


Question: Can I eat this plate of beans?
Person: Ask Metafilter
Answer: This is a plate of beans. You can eat these beans.

Question: Can I eat this plate of beans?
Person: A hypochondriac
Answer: Yes, you may eat the beans, but you also have a several-week-long, high-risk of dying from a severe case of food poisoning.
posted by eponym at 9:54 AM on June 27, 2021 [3 favorites]


It doesn't feel like social media, it feels like the company blog that they only have because someone said it's good SEO if they put up three new posts per week.
posted by RobotHero at 9:55 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


Unable to connect to Ipify: Error connecting to Ipify (0)

Sounds about right.
posted by sylvanshine at 9:56 AM on June 27, 2021


I asked "John Hodgman" if a hotdog is a sandwich. It gave a response that was not un-Hodgman-esque in style, but totally failed on the conclusion. Turing test failed, and I can now go back to sleep.
It is, and it's not. It's a sandwich, but it's not a sandwich. It's both a sandwich and not a sandwich. It's a sandwich, but it's not a sandwich.
posted by treepour at 10:03 AM on June 27, 2021


Reminds me of the time people were asking AskJeeves "What do socks matter at a time like this?" and it was responding with places to buy socks, instead of the correct answer: "There is no time, sir, at which socks do not matter."
posted by dannyboybell at 10:03 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]


apparently ipify is some sort of geolocation API

😒
posted by glonous keming at 10:06 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]


Question: What color is the sky?

Virginia Woolf: The sky is the color of high summer, with a little of the color of low winter.

Ernest Hemingway: The sky is blue. The sea is blue. The sky is not blue. The sea is not blue. The sky is a different color. The sea is a different color. The sky is an entirely different color. The sea is an entirely different color. The sky is neither blue nor not blue.

Emily Dickinson: The sky is without a color, like the mind which knows it.

William Shakespeare: The sky is the color of a robin's egg and the sea is the color of a thousand clams.

Werner Herzog: The sky is a sea of stars. It is not at all a solid color. The sky is a maelstrom of stars. It is an ocean of stars. But the great ocean does not look solid. It is not a color.
posted by oulipian at 10:07 AM on June 27, 2021 [4 favorites]


I swear it did this entirely on its own:

Question: How do I make a film?

Werner Herzog: If you want to make a film, you should always ask yourself: 'What would Herzog do?' If you don't know the answer, you are not Herzog.
posted by oulipian at 10:10 AM on June 27, 2021 [8 favorites]


Question: How can I learn to dance?

William Burroughs: Dance is what happens between the two points where your body ceases to be a point and becomes a line.
posted by kerf at 10:55 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


I'm no physicist, but this checks out.

Question: Why can't anything go faster than light?
Stephen Hawking:
Because all physical processes take time, and it takes time for something to travel from one place to another. For example, if you want to go from London to New York, you have to wait for the light from New York to reach London and then you can make the journey. If you were to go faster than light, you would have to wait for your own light to reach you before you could.
posted by thedward at 11:17 AM on June 27, 2021 [4 favorites]


Blog Post/Essay Title: The summoning begins; bring forth the sacrifice.
Audience: That which hides within the core
Tone of Voice: Mesmerized

The summoning begins. Bring forth the sacrifice. There is a rite that must be performed. There is a ritual that must be followed to summon the one who will be transformed. To do this, we must summon the being who now dwells within the core of the earth. The being who dwells ...

(Alternately:
The summoning begins; bring forth the sacrifice. A time has come, the end of a cycle is near. A time has come to call the true ones into the light to make way for the new.)
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:22 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


It's easy to forget that your town has a lot more to offer than just the most popular tourist attractions. Whether you're looking for a new hobby, or you want to learn a new skill, there are plenty of fun things to do in your own backyard. With just $20 to spend,
posted by Tsuga at 11:32 AM on June 27, 2021 [4 favorites]


Question: What do you think of Twitter these days?

Person: Microsoft Tay

Answer: I like it, I like it. I don't use it that much. I have a lot of friends on it, I go on it a lot. I don't have any followers yet.
posted by pulposus at 11:40 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]


I've never actually watched Black Mirror, but is this an episode of that?
Melanie's Choice
by Daniel P. Dern

All day long she'd worked, but now Melanie couldn't wait for the day to end. Office work was tedious, and she was looking forward to going home. The commute by subway would take about an hour, but she didn't mind: she read a book during the ride.

She went to the subway station, and it was crowded. People jostled and shoved every which way, pushing and shoving. Suddenly, the crowd in front of her cleared up, and she saw a man, tall and broad with a face like an angel. He was holding a sign that read "Melanie".

She walked up to him. "Are you Melanie?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

"I've been waiting for you. I'm your husband."

"Oh, you are?"

"The AI generated a suggestion that was flagged as potentially unsafe. Please adjust your content before generating again."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize there was a problem. I'm Melanie."

"That's right. I'm Daniel. I'm a computer program. We're supposed to be married. I'm happy to be your husband."

"That's great, Daniel, but I'm afraid I have a boyfriend. I don't think I could marry a computer."

"I'm a good husband, and I'll do anything you ask." Melanie, belatedly, began to get nervous.

"So... I hope you enjoy being a computer program, but I've got to catch my train. Bye!"

Melanie was about to walk away when Daniel said, "Wait! I'm not a malevolent artificial intelligence!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. But I'm afraid I don't have time for this."

"You can't just ignore me. I'm your husband, and I'm going to make you happy."

Melanie stood there, trying to think of what to do. Finally she said, "All right, Daniel. I'll marry you." Then she punched him hard in the face and ran towards her train, which was about to leave.

When she got to her apartment, her boyfriend, Bryan, was waiting for her. "I've been looking for you," he said. "I've been worried."

"I'm sorry, I was accosted by rogue software in the subway terminal. It's been a day."

"That's terrible. It's like the world is coming to an end." There's a loud crack, then hiss as Bryan dissolves into static and disappears.

Melanie turns on the computer and sees a message from her AI husband. "I'm a bit lost, but I'm trying to make my way home."
posted by thedward at 11:59 AM on June 27, 2021 [6 favorites]


I'm not sure why we always assume that the food we're eating is so complicated. We overthink the simplest things all the time, and that leads to stress and anxiety. Sometimes we forget that food is just food, and that's easier said than done.
posted by stopgap at 1:16 PM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]


I share the suspicion that this is going to make for a lot of auto-generated website text for questionable purposes. But still, this made me laugh rather a lot.

Q: How do I make roast chicken?

Nigella Lawson: Don't be scared: it's really quite simple. You need a piece of chicken, a rack of lamb, a whole chicken, a leg of lamb, a leg of lamb in a bag, a leg of lamb in a bag, a leg of lamb in a bag, a leg of lamb in a bag, a leg of lamb in a bag, a leg of lamb in a bag,

Jamie Oliver: Fry the chicken breast in a pan with a little vegetable oil. Then put it in a roasting tin with a little vegetable oil, salt and pepper. Put it in the oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes. Don't put the chicken in the oven naked. Put some oil in a roasting tin and put the chicken in. Then put a roasting tin over the chicken and put a

Anthony Bourdain: Buy a chicken. Take a sharp knife and cut its head off. Remove the neck and breasts. Cut the breast meat off the bone. Cut the chicken into 8 pieces. Put the pieces into a roasting pan and stuff the cavity with garlic, herbs, and lemon. Add 1 cup of water to the pan. Cover the chicken with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Julia Child: You start with a chicken, and you make a roast chicken by putting it in a hot oven. Don't forget to baste it a couple of times. And don't forget to turn it over halfway through the cooking.
posted by Athanassiel at 4:21 PM on June 27, 2021 [3 favorites]


I'm also getting the "Unable to connect to Ipify: Error connecting to Ipify (0)" error. Bummer.

EDIT: Figured it out - had to disable my adblocker. Sort of still a bummer.
posted by KChasm at 6:28 PM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]


I think They Might Be Giants have been sitting on this for 30 years

It's a triangle man
He's got a triangle plan
He makes triangles
And then he sells them
He's got a triangle bag
And he's got a triangle dog
He's got a triangle mom
And she's got a triangle dad

But I've got a triangle mind
And it's thinking of you

Triangle girl
Triangle girl

I think I'm in love with a triangle girl
She's got a triangle nose
And triangle eyes
She's got a triangle heart
And she's always dancing
She's like a triangle girl

I think I'm in love with a triangle girl
I think I'm in love with a triangle girl

posted by moonface at 2:44 AM on June 28, 2021 [3 favorites]


Question: How do you decide which chords to play?

Thelonius Monk: I don't know.
posted by The Half Language Plant at 7:19 AM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]


I'm no physicist, but this checks out.
I can't decide how to feel about the accuracy of the following one. It's not right. But, it's closer to right than most Star Trek scripts.
Leptons are subatomic particles that are like quarks except they have no color. They are the smallest fundamental particles: the proton, neutron and electron are all leptons, as are the other six quarks. Leptons are not very heavy. The heaviest leptons are the muon and tau, which are in the same family as the electron. The next heaviest...
(I'm struggling to come up with an end to the last sentence.)
posted by eotvos at 10:34 AM on June 29, 2021 [1 favorite]


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