Google’s AI read a few too many romance novels, with “dramatic” after effects

They used thousands and millions of games of Go, to train AlphaGo, and it came out shining. This time, the company’s AI arm, Google Brain, fed about 12000 ebooks, including 2856 romance novels. A research paper, presented at the International Conference on Learning Representations, described how the AI is trying to connect unrelated sentences, using what it learns from the books. However, the researchers described the results as “rather dramatic”, owing to the fiction that has been fed to the AI.

That said, while Google’s results may not be completely successful, they make for an entertaining read. Here are some of the responses from the AI. The italicised sentences are the ones the AI was told to connect, while the ones in between are what it used to connect them.

“i want to talk to you.”
“i want to be with you.”
“i do n’t want to be with you.”
i do n’t want to be with you.
she did n’t want to be with him.

he was silent for a long moment.
he was silent for a moment.
it was quiet for a moment.
it was dark and cold.
there was a pause.
it was my turn.

this was the only way.
it was the only way.
it was her turn to blink.
it was hard to tell.
it was time to move on.
he had to do it again.
they all looked at each other.
they all turned to look back.
they both turned to face him.
they both turned and walked away.

i don't like it, he said.
i waited for what had happened.
it was almost thirty years ago.
it was over thirty years ago.
that was six years ago.
he had died two years ago.
ten, thirty years ago.
"it’s all right here.
"everything is all right here.
"it’s all right here.
it’s all right here.
we are all right here.
come here in five minutes.

AI research has come to the fore over the past year or so. DeepMind’s AlphaGo algorithm's victory of Go champion, Lee Seedol, marked a big step in the technology. While Google Brain’s current attempts don’t seem as successful, all we can say is, “These violent delights have violent ends, And in their triump die, like fire and powder, Which, as they kiss, consume.”

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Prasid Banerjee

Trying to explain technology to my parents. Failing miserably. View Full Profile