CAN AI WRITE A BOOK? SARAH DANIELL, CATHERINE CHIDGEY, TOBY WALSH, TE TAKA KEEGAN (2023)

With open source AI chatbots capable of generating text that appears increasingly human, will they eventually replace writers altogether? Some claim that AI will never have enough creativity, empathy or originality – but over time could even these qualities be assimilated by robotwriters? Canvas editor Sarah Daniell recently experimented with getting a bot to write her column. Alongside novelist Catherine Chidgey, she will interrogate two experts on whether they could relinquish the empty white page to a bot. Toby Walsh is Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW Sydney and author of Machines Behaving Badly and 2062: The World that AI Made. Te Taka Keegan is a Co-Director at University of Waikato’s Artificial Intelligence Institute, which has developed some of the most popular open-source tools in the world. He works on projects involving the use of te reo Māori and technology. Together they’ll discuss AI’s usefulness and limitations and what the future might look like when it comes to creative writing. Supported by Royal Society Te Apārangi. FRI, 19 MAY 2023, 4:00pm – 5:00pm, Hunua Room, Aotea Centre