AI Caramba #6: Surviving the Wild?
Could "Into the Wild" have had a different ending? I have to know. AI IS AWESOME!
IMPORTANT! SPOILER ALERTS! If you have not read “Into The Wild” this post might not make much sense to you, so go read or listen to it. It’s really good! See you in 5!
(Italic indicates that it is written by ChatGPT + all images are by AI (except self-portrait))
Probably 20 years ago, I picked up “Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild” for the first time. A friend had suggested it, politely hinting that “I would find similarities to myself in the main character”. I won’t say it changed my life, but it is one of the 5 books that mean the most to me. Maybe you saw the movie?
The book tells the true story of Christopher McCandless or Alexander Supertramp, a young man who left his comfortable life behind to live off the land in Alaska. McCandless had grown disillusioned with the materialistic society he saw around him, and he set out on a journey to find meaning and purpose in his life.
I love the book because of how it made me think about travelling into my own mind, what things and people that matter and how much being present outside in nature can help. It is far less the story itself or the protagonist, Chris.
I know many of you have not read “Into the Wild”. That is ok. You go read it now.
But you most likely have a book or story that you remember where the ending felt wrong, you wanted to ask the protagonist that one extra question or get yet another chapter.
With this you can at least in some way by virtue of AI magic get something back that you did not expect, a storyline that feels truly “new”.
Back to the original programming, “Into the Wild”!
But wasn’t this a newsletter about AI?
Yes. 100%. Or 90%. At least 80%!
And the whole reason for this post is that despite my somewhat schizophrenic relationship with AI, there are some areas where AI is just wonderful.
Generative AI is an incredible tool for me when it comes to creativity in fields where I have low proficiency, like writing and drawing → see self-portrait below, 100% human made by me
What would have happened if Chris had not eaten the wild potatoes? I asked ChatGPT, which is an AI.
“I always wanted to be a storyteller”, said ChatGPT
So, here is the result: I asked ChatGPT if it knew the story. It did. Really well actually.
So many things have been written in the days before big paywalls and endless blog entries about the story, about how people felt about the story and everything in-between, I bet on ChatGPT’s ability to re-imagine the ending.
Fictionalising this also allowed me to imagine that Chris had a little voice recorder, mini tapes from the 1990s, so not only did he journal in writing and photos, he also recorded small bits of himself.
So I ended up asking ChatGPT to generate a diary entry on the day that he supposedly died of starvation and poisoning, but instead mustered the energy to leave his bed and try to get some food. I asked Midjourney to create a picture of the famous bus at night, where I imagines Chris sitting at the bonfire, stomach full and so happy that he had to immortalise that moment. I put his diary entry, written by ChatGPT, into ElevenLabs.
Here goes.
Day 114: The Moose
Recorded entry:
Day 284: The Hut
Recorded entry:
What’s next?
I personally love it. The tonality feels genuine (I added some ‘philosophy’ and ‘Henry David Thoreau” to the prompts in ChatGPT). I also love to hear it read aloud - just makes it even more “real”.
It ventured into aspects of details and directions of the story that felt off, but now I’m really curious to see what happens and how it ends. Not sure I want to hear endless stories, but as an experiment it was fun.
There are so many interesting applications of this when it comes to storytelling. I’m not talking about replacing writers, but to “play” with their works for ourselves and dive deep into stories we love.
And for idiots like me, it is EPIC to be able to do things fast that I won’t be able to master with 3 kids and a startup. I JUST DON’T HAVE THE TIME, PEOPLE!
Let me know what you think!