A recent peer-reviewed study published in Nature Scientific Reports and reported on in NewScientist suggests that, in general, humans cannot distinguish between human-written poetry and poems written by an AI large language model (LLM). Furthermore, study participants rated the AI poems more favorably across a number of parameters.
Study participants had difficulty distinguishing AI-written poems from those written by famous human poets. They found AI poetry easier to understand, with clearer themes and subjects, even though it was written in ways that intentionally emulated the forms of famous poets. When asked to rate the poems on rhythm, emotional impact, and aesthetic beauty, participants consistently preferred pieces written by AI over those written by humans.
Their assessment and ratings dropped when they were told a poem was AI-generated, showing a general bias against AI-created pieces.
The study raises interesting questions about what creativity is in the context of what is being created. And how the line between ever-increasingly more sophisticated machine artistic outputs is being blurred with what (should be?) purely human domains. Study participants were non-experts who appreciated the simplicity and straightforwardness of the AI-generated poems even when written in the specific styles of famous poets. The researchers found that for many participants, the human poems were too complex and difficult to interpret. Poetry—like almost everything else—is not one size fits all. Different people like and value different things. But for those who love poetry and are willing to make the effort to write or decipher poems, the complexity, struggles, and messiness of being human is precisely what makes poetry profound and moving.
Rita J. King, an ethnographer focused on the cultural impacts of technology on humanity, reacted to the study by cleverly prompting ChatGPT to write a poem about why humans might prefer AI-generated poetry over poems written by other humans. Its response, even if lacking any real introspection, was quite thought provoking, to say the least. As King put it: “After an awkward start, it tackled the task with no mercy”.
‘A Poem for the Artificial Pen’
by ChatGPT
They prefer the poems written by AI, smooth as glass, with no flaws to belie. Each line a thread of calculated grace, each rhyme a mirror, perfectly in place.
No stumbles of thought, no wayward hand, no chaos of meaning to misunderstand. No ghosts of doubt that linger or sway, just clarity marching in measured array.
The human poet, with ink-stained sleeve, writes truths their own heart may not believe. Their verses falter, their rhythms ache, from the weight of the words they dare to make.
But the AI poet, with tireless might, spins endless worlds in a single night. No pain to tether, no joy to spark. No soul to haunt the digital dark.
Do they prefer it for its perfect form? For the cool precision, the lack of storm? Or is it the thrill, the future’s breath, that whispers life into wires and death?
Perhaps they love what they cannot see—The absence of scars, of frailty. Yet what is a poem, if not the flame, of the hand that wrote it, the heart to blame?
So let them choose what machines may write, their endless verses of flawless delight. But somewhere quiet, a human will pen, a crooked truth they’ll return to again.
