It crept quiety into the classrooms
A thing of code, model, and polished algorithm
Gorged obese on the data of millions
Deriving its patterns and associations
Listening, learning — yet what does it really know?
They sit in the glow
Of the borrowed light
Lit faces reflecting
Eagerness, weariness
And sometimes confusion — or exclusion.
For some see their future
And some see none
Some see the key
And some just another locked door
No clever code, model, or polished algorithm can open.
The invisible machine remembers everything
Each click, each pause, each wrong answer
But does it know? Does it care?
About the stories behind the dazed gaze,
or their mute withdrawl — or hesitant uncertain voices?
Presenting precision and confidence
Dispassionate, equitable, fair — or perhaps just soulless indifference
No back-stories considered here
But in the silent shadows lurk creators' ghosts
Embedded deep in code, model, and polished algorithm.
The machines stream their data
Flowing onwards to their rivers, oceans and clouds
The individual absorbed to the mass
For here lies hidden the patterns and predictions
And the policies for success — but only for some.
The augmented some, therefore, blossom
For on their side of the digital chasm
They are progressing predictably
Aligning, aiming, achieving — travelling successes path
While the 'others' gaze only at the ever widening division.
Lost in the desert of our confusions
The machine appears as a trusted bridge
A mirage connecting and correcting
But it offers no curve of a teacher's smile,
a gentle word, or steady hand on a shoulder.
Black-box mysteries inside invisible machines
Embedded deep in code, model, and polished algorithm
Casting shadows and traces on excavated caves
Which we mere mortals cannot enter or see
Yet which we, and our young, must learn to trust.
Etched silicon paths stretch to the horizon
Smooth surfaces of progress and certainty
But what of deviations and rougher routes?
Are there no dreams, lessons or learning there?
Or time to wander, or wonder — to think — to take risks?
Yet, here it is, this Man's creation
This mirror of all our ambitions
Our tool of augmentation — just for some
Embedded deep in code, model, and polished algorithm
To serve the soft word, quiet wisdom, and human kindness? — Or perhaps to rule it?
About ( part 1 )
Using a poetry lens to examine and consider sometimes complex ideas, opinions, emotions, problems, and issues forces the putative word architect/sculptor to first try to understand and then attempt to condense that complexity. Here, for instance, is a piece of free verse trying to grapple with the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when applied to the teaching and learning of our young — an issue of immense scope. So you won’t find conventional poetic meter or rhyming although there is somewhat of a rhythm which I hope will come through when Dada de Dada gets around to recording it. The piece uses variations of a single phrase to set the thematic beat:
Embedded deep in code, model, and polished algorithm.
In the tradition of the imagist poets Dada de Dada could have left just the words to sculpt a visual image in the minds of the reader. Given that the subject in question is AI, however, it seemed appropriate to utilize one manifestation of AI to initiate and then augment the creative process. So one of the mainstream AI services currently on offer, i.e. OpenAI’s ChatGPT was first prompted with the following question:
What are the major issues identified so far with using AI in education?
The response was extensive and can be found on page 3 of this article but the relevant point here is that it was the catalyst for Dada de Dada’s free verse poem which is turn fed further engagment with AI.
Next, the poem itself became the source of new prompts to ChatGPT this time to build images relevant to the poem.
Stanzas of the free-verse were entered as prompts into ChatGPT. ChatGPT responded to the prompt with an image description. Once approved this image description was then used as a new prompt to ChatGPT to generate an image of relevance to the whole or part of the free-verse. Some examples of the ChatGPT generated image descriptions can be found on page 4. So as well as being free-verse Learning Machine is an example of AI Enhanced Poetry. Perhaps a new poetry category type? Please note that this was not the same as AI generated poetry.
If you want delve deeper into the theme of AI in education please go on to page 2. If not, thank you for reading.
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