English

From Textual Experiments to Experimental Texts: Expressive Repetition in "Artificial Intelligence Literature"

Computers and Society 2022-01-10 v1

Abstract

Since the birth of artificial intelligence 70 years ago, attempts at literary "creation" with computers are present in the course of technological development, creating what one might call "artificial intelligence literature" (AI literature). Evolving from "textual experiments" conducted by technologists to "experimental texts" that explore the possibilities of conceptions of literature, AI literature integrates primitive problems including machine thinking, text generation, and machine creativity, which exhibits the two-way interaction between social ideas and technology. In the early stage, the mutual support between technological path and artistic ideas turned out to be a failure, while AI-driven expressive repetitions are made probable in the contemporary technological context, paving the way for the transformation of AI literature from proof for technical possibilities to self-verification of literary value.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2201.02303,
  title  = {From Textual Experiments to Experimental Texts: Expressive Repetition in "Artificial Intelligence Literature"},
  author = {Tianhua Zhu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.02303},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

12 pages; to appear on SASS Studies, 2021 Winter. This is an English version; please consider citing the original paper in Chinese