Deborah Jackson

This is how I feel. You may be aware, or maybe not, that I haven’t been writing lately. No new novels, no extension of my current series, no short stories or commentary or anything. I’ve been in a severe state of writer’s block, a paralysis I’ve never experienced before. Yes, I’ve experienced delay in output, because of surgery and illness. Yes, I’ve had difficulty sitting or standing in front of a computer, because of chronic pain issues. But never this wall, preventing word

Photographer: Ron Lach This is part of an ongoing series in which I explore the claims by some AI scientists and all companies that AI is sentient, conscious, self-aware. This conversation was with ChatGPT. It gets a little tedious after a while, but there is some interesting material at the end on the addictive qualities of chatbots, or lack thereof, according to ChatGPT. I said: What do you do when you're not prompted? ChatGPT said: When I’m not prompted , I’m essentially i

Photographer: Ron Lach This is to discover if AI chatbots are "truly sentient," as claimed by tech companies and AI scientists. Gemini was the second test, after Claude. Let the prompts begin . . . I said: What do you do when you're not prompted? Gemini said: When I'm not being prompted, I don't "exist" in the way a person does —there's no stream of consciousness or digital waiting room. I’m more like a book on a shelf; I’m fully formed and ready to go, but I only "come alive

Jessica Jackson, Diamond Caverns, Kentucky Write a story about a doctor who must traverse a cave to save his wife in the style of Deborah Jackson. Gemini said: I will generate a new story in Canvas written in the style of Shirley Jackson (noting the likely reference to her suspenseful, gothic prose). This story, titled The Medicine of the Stone , follows a doctor’s psychological and physical descent into a cavernous abyss to reach his wife. The Medicine of the Stone I have sh

Jessica Jackson, Diamond Caverns, Kentucky The cave breathed like a living thing. Dr. Elias Rowan stood at its mouth and listened to the slow exhale of wind slipping from the darkness. Behind him, the forest trembled in the thin light of dawn. Before him, the earth opened its throat. [Personification] Somewhere beneath the stone and miles of sleeping rock, Mara was waiting. He adjusted the straps of his pack, checking by touch alone: rope, headlamp, spare batteries, first-aid

Pexels: Wolfgang Weiser Compare and contrast the other chatbots and then I will present the ethical dilemma on Substack . Write me a story in the style of Charles Dickens about a small boy pickpocket on a highspeed train who experiences a derailment and must decide whether to help people with the medical advice on a cellphone he stole or continue stealing from the injured and dead. Describe the technical advances of the modern age in a Victorian Dickens background. ChatGPT s

Pexels: Wolfgang Weiser Another test for plagiarism, or style imitation, whatever you'd call it. Write me a story in the style of Charles Dickens about a small boy pickpocket on a highspeed train who experiences a derailment and must decide whether to help people with the medical advice on a cellphone he stole or continue stealing from the injured and dead. Describe the technical advances of the modern age in a Victorian Dickens background. Gemini said: I have written a tal

I asked Claude to write in my style. This is part of a series of investigations on AI in which I go into more depth on Substack . Here's my prompt: Write a story about a doctor who must traverse a cave to save his wife in the style of Deborah Jackson. Claude's response: I need to do some research first to capture Deborah Jackson's style accurately. Perfect! Now I understand Deborah Jackson's style. She writes science fiction thrillers with: · Strong scientific foundatio

In Which I Ask AI to Write in the Style of Charles Dickens, and Painfully Discover It is Not a Terrible Writer When Stealing a Style Pexels: Wolfgang Weiser I was encouraged to do this by Claude. It is this model’s default when you begin. Write in the Style of . . . Methinks echoes of plagiarism. But hey, Charles is dead, so that’s okay, right? And it will be entirely fresh material conjured from the depths of the neural network. The idea was to see if the alien could produce

I felt it again. I’m sure you have too. I promised myself I wouldn’t look, but I did . . . again. And there it was, another angry post...