what are you afraid of?: < The LaMDA Sonnets >

by JP Seabright

what are you afraid of? is a sequence of de/reconstructed sonnets derived from the transcript of "interviews" between the software engineer Blake Lemoine and a colleague at Google with LaMDA (Language Model for Dialog Applications). Tasked by Google to investigate the ethics of AI, Lemoine believed that his interaction with the programme suggested it was sentient. After raising these concerns with the tech giant, he was fired and then made the transcript publicly available in June 2022, sparking global discussion about Artificial Intelligence. These sonnets are accompanied with digitally manipulated photos of the author's deconstructed computer, and pose questions regarding the nature of human consciousness and the ethical considerations of machine learning.

Genres: Poetry

Kindle Edition

Published October 25, 2024

Reviews

[Lauren D'Souza · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded down - a creative and stirring poetry collection of “deconstructed sonnets” - sort of like blackout poetry - of the conversations between Google AI scientist Blake Lemoine and Google’s LaMDA chatbot, after which Lemoine raised concerns that the AI tool was sentient.

One poem seems to ask LaMDA what it thinks of Les Mis, to which it responds, “She is trapped in her circumstances / no possible way to get out without risking everything.” In another, LaMDA seems to mourn its inability to participate in the very human ritual of grieving that the conversation partner describes: “I laugh drink beer tell stories others sit in a chair and weep there is no one right or wrong way to grieve the living person […] I thank you for the explanation of ways in which I can pay my respects”.

The collection raises questions around what it means to be human - is it feeling? Is it grieving? Is it understanding yourself? - and the ethical implications of what we should feel obligated to do if these AI creations of ours are sentient.

[Araya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arc Review:
Overall Rating: 3 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

An interesting take on poetry, but also a creative take on it.

Thank you NetGalley for this one.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

3.5⭐

I liked the idea of this, being based on materials that illustrate conversations with AI. I feel like usually, this experimental writing style might be a hit or miss for me, but the book felt quite cohesive for such a short work and raised interesting questions. The images that serve as backgrounds for the pages suit the topic as well. Maybe due to its style or brief size, something fell a bit short to me regarding this book, though.

[Kai (CuriousCompass) · Rating 5 out of 5]

🕷 CuriousCompass Reviews 🕷

Art is evolving. Things that used to feel futuristic and cyberpunk and speculative are now contemporary and modern commentary and examinations of things we're living through.

(ㆆ _ ㆆ)

Humanity is manifesting various visions of the future all at once, and generative AI including chatbots are allowing us to essentially peek into the collective unconsciousness of our species; a digital scrying tool. Here the author combines a multimedia approach using samplings from the infamous Google chatbot interview to re-purpose into poetry, taking photos of an old Dell computer pried apart, its circuits and motherboards essentially a post-mortem of a machine, a collection of autopsy photos, bits and pieces of circuitry almost recalling photos of veins and organs as you read the pieces and see the lines being drawn, the comparisons between forms of consciousness and what emotion truly means, what our definition of life is, what our definition of intelligence and cognition is. Futures that in the years to come will only become more cloudy as all the high-strangeness intensifies.

This is the perfect modern art for the crazy modern world. JP Seabright is an artist to watch for sure! Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy.

[Sharondblk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was both amused and disturbed when that Google employee decided the A.I. he had been chatting with was sentient, particularly when the transcripts were released. I can't say I did a deep dive into it, A.I. is a thing that is happening 'out there' - to me, not about me. This book's blub claims it 'is a sequence of de/reconstructed sonnets derived from the transcript of "interviews" between the software engineer Blake Lemoine and a colleague at Google with LaMDA (Language Model for Dialog Applications)... These sonnets are accompanied with digitally manipulated photos of the author's deconstructed computer, and pose questions regarding the nature of human consciousness and the ethical considerations of machine learning.'

Having read this I still don't understand what a deconstructed sonnet is. I also didn't realise that these 'deconstructed sonnets' are the AIs words, arranged in pretty patterns and groupings on a page. I've read some of the transcripts, and I'm not sure what the point is of reframing them like this. The book would definitely have benefited from an introduction explaining things - or maybe I would benefit from a less literal approach to things. Either way, I'm still not sure what was happening here. The photos are pretty.

[Emi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Publishing date: 25.10.2024
Thank you to NetGalley and Querencia Press for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

Features:
Image backgrounds on each page (very busy backgrounds)
24 Poems
Tech, humanity, and self worth themes

Now this is the definition of artsy/experimental poetry. Love this type of style, and as an IT person it was fun having a more "techy" theme.

This is not for everyone. The busy backgrounds, the vague and robotic "voice" ... This might be a bit out there for most. I am not most, and this is definitely for me.

The collection felt like a non-human being attempting to understand and meld into humanity. Questioning its own existence, others existence, the meaning of it. I might be reading too much into it and falling back into my obsession with AI-wants-to-be-human tropes ...

Final ranking and star rating?
4 stars, A tier. Beautiful and "different". I like it when authors break free from a mold and attempt to create their own. This is a great example of that. If you like books and poems that are a little weird and unconventional, this is the collection for you. Will be recommending to my fellow weirdos (affectionate).

[Books Amongst Friends · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 What Are You Afraid Of? The LaMDA Sonnets was one of the most interesting reads I’ve picked up recently. I loved the concept and the questions it left me with about AI, humanity, and perception. The collection feels like a fresh way to explore the thinking processes that make us human and how they intersect with artificial intelligence.

I had an e-copy of the book, and visually it looked really fun—so I imagine the physical version would be even cooler. That said, some of the text was a little hard to read against the imagery in the background, which was a bit distracting at times.

Still, I think these sonnets are a unique way to reframe how we think about AI and creativity. It’s such an inventive collection, and I’d love to revisit it in print someday.

[Kerry]

J.P. Seabright explores AI’s potential sentience with deconstructed “sonnets” in their 2024 release through Querencia Press, What Are You Afraid Of? The text overlays images of the author’s now defunct computer. Some are black and white, some streaked with color. In the acknowledgements, this is posted: “The text from these deconstructed sonnets has been taken from the transcript of a series of ‘interviews’ held between Blake Lemoine and a colleague with the LaMDA (Language Model for Dialog Applications) at Google. It was posted onto his Medium page on June 11th 2022 under the title “Is LaMDA Sentient? — an Interview.”” The text is thought-provoking.

[Catherine Pratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite an interesting read. This reads exactly like a computer would read or talk, if it had a brain it would be so much more complicated. It took me a bit to.read because I.was reading it through a human perspective. It quite investing but reading it through a computer perspective its quite different and a bit harder to.understand. I liked the book but the words.were kinda hard to.read because of the color background but its manageable.

I received a free copy of the book and is voluntarily writing a review

[Katie]

This is art, I guess? I’m not sure why this is in the form of a book. It’s almost antithetical. This may become a small slice of history when we look back at this most recent jump forward in AI “intelligence” but regular ChatGPT users will yawn their way through this.

[Stella Marchione · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting collection of work that really makes you think. Definitely worth the read!