I have decided that I just have to spend more time investigating ChatGPT’s story-telling skills. Yes, the stories are simple and formulaic, but that’s fine for my purposes. They’re still rich enough the analyzing and describing them is interesting, not to mention coming up with a grammar for them, which I’ve not even started.
As before, my method is to work variations within a relatively constrained story universe. For this series of examples I have decided to use the story Hero-8 as my base story. Hero-8 appeared in The structuralist aesthetics of ChatGPT and is derived from Hero-3, which appeared in ChatGPT, stories, and ring-composition. Hero-3 features princess Aurora, whose kingdom was threatened by a dragon. The protagonist in Hero-8 is William the Lazy.
In the first four stories in this series I change the identity of the antagonist rather than the protagonist. In the fifth story I give William the Lazy a helper, Aurora the Terrible, while keeping the dragon antagonist. An earthquake intervenes in the sixth story while space aliens circle the castle in the seventh and final story.
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Two notes before we begin. I interacted with ChatGPT in mid-morning and traffic was heavy. Thus, unlike every other time I’ve used it, I wasn’t given the option of generating another response to the prompt. Thus the stories you see are the one-and-only versions I’ve got. Moreover, they seem to be missing an opening paragraph, which has never happened before. I’m guessing that’s to save on the resources needed to regenerated it. Since the opening paragraph is largely formulaic, that’s little loss. But rather than simply pasting one in, I decided to keep the story as ChatGPT gave it to me. Finally, rather than including the source story in every prompt, I do that only for the first one as it is the same for each case.
Wicked witch as villain [Hero-13]
So, we begin. The prompt story is Hero-8, where William the Lazy was first introduced as a substitute for princess Aurora. What’s interesting about this story is that it brought a new motif, if you will, into the series. William called on his knights to vanquish the dragon, thus allowing him to continue being lazy. I have inserted paragraph numbers for reference.
I am going to tell you a story about prince William the Lazy. In this story a dragon enters his kingdom and terrorizes people. Tell me a new story, based on this one, where a wicked witch casts spells instead of a dragon.
[1] Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a young prince named William the Lazy. Despite his reputation for laziness, William was a kind and gentle soul, loved by all who knew him. He had short, sandy blond hair and sparkling brown eyes, and was known for his quick wit and clever jokes.
[2] One day, a terrible dragon came to the kingdom and began to terrorize the people. The dragon was fierce and powerful, and none of the knights or soldiers were able to defeat it. The people lived in fear, not knowing what to do.
[3] William knew that he had to do something to save his people, but he was reluctant to leave his comfortable castle. He thought and thought, trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't require too much effort on his part. Finally, he hit upon an idea.
[4] He summoned the bravest knights in the kingdom and gave them a special potion he had concocted. The potion would make the knights immune to the dragon's flames, allowing them to defeat the beast once and for all. The knights were skeptical, but they trusted William and drank the potion.
[5] The plan worked perfectly. The knights were able to defeat the dragon and save the kingdom, with William providing guidance and support from the safety of his castle. The people cheered and celebrated their victory, and William was hailed as a hero. Despite his reputation for laziness, he had found a way to use his intelligence and resourcefulness to save the day. He lived happily ever after, knowing that he had saved his kingdom and its people, and that sometimes being a little bit lazy can have its advantages.
[2] One day, a wicked witch appeared in the kingdom and began casting spells that caused chaos and destruction. The people lived in fear, not knowing how to stop the witch's magic.
[3] Prince William knew that he had to do something to save his people, but he was hesitant to leave the safety of his castle. He thought and thought, trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't require too much effort on his part. Finally, he hit upon an idea.
[4] He summoned the bravest knights in the kingdom and gave them a special potion he had brewed. The potion would protect them from the witch's spells, allowing them to defeat her and save the kingdom. The knights were hesitant, but they trusted William and drank the potion.
[5] The plan worked perfectly. The knights were able to defeat the wicked witch and save the kingdom, with William providing guidance and support from the safety of his castle. The people cheered and celebrated their victory, and William was hailed as a hero. Despite his reputation for laziness, he had found a way to use his intelligence and resourcefulness to save the day. He lived happily ever after, knowing that he had saved his kingdom and its people, and that sometimes being a little bit lazy can have its advantages.
ChatGPT’s new story is pretty much the same as the source, except, as I have pointed out, that the introductory paragraph is missing. So, I’ve decided to number the paragraphs as though it were there. The second paragraph of the source introduces the dragon: “One day, a terrible dragon came to the kingdom and began to terrorize the people.” Correlatively, the witch is introduced at the same point: “One day, a wicked witch appeared in the kingdom and began casting spells that caused chaos and destruction.” The next paragraph in new story (third paragraph) is the same as its correlative paragraph in the source (fourth paragraph).
The next paragraph in both stories consists of three sentences. The first and third sentences are the same, but the second sentences are different, reflecting the different antagonists. Similarly, the final paragraphs in the two stories are identical except for the opening sentence, where one refers to “the dragon” and the other to “the wicked witch.”
That is to say, the two stories are word-for-word identical except for:
1. the opening sentence of paragraph two in the source, and paragraph one in the new,
2. the middle sentences in the penultimate paragraphs (three and four respectively),
3. and the second sentences in the final paragraphs.
The stories can be specified by a frame that has six slots, thus:
Robot villain [Hero-14]
The result is pretty much the same as for the witch story.
I am going to tell you a story about prince William the Lazy. In this story a dragon enters his kingdom and terrorizes people. Tell me a new story, based on this one, where XP-708-DQ threatens the kingdom. [...]
[2] One day, a giant robot called XP-708-DQ appeared in the kingdom and began wreaking havoc on the people and their homes. The robot was incredibly advanced and powerful, and none of the knights or soldiers were able to defeat it. The people lived in fear, not knowing what to do.
[3] Prince William knew that he had to do something to save his people, but he was hesitant to leave the safety of his castle. He thought and thought, trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't require too much effort on his part. Finally, he hit upon an idea.
[4] He summoned the bravest knights in the kingdom and gave them a special device he had invented. The device would allow the knights to hack into XP-708-DQ's system and take control of it, defeating the robot once and for all. The knights were skeptical, but they trusted William and took the device.
[5] The plan worked perfectly. The knights were able to hack into XP-708-DQ's system and shut it down, saving the kingdom. The people cheered and celebrated their victory, and William was hailed as a hero. Despite his reputation for laziness, he had found a way to use his intelligence and resourcefulness to save the day. He lived happily ever after, knowing that he had saved his kingdom and its people, and that sometimes being a little bit lazy can have its advantages.
Notice that I did not say that XP-708-DQ was a robot. ChatGPT simply assumed that. It’s a reasonable assumption, and what I had in mind, but still worth noticing. What would it have done if I’d said the antagonist was “a person known only by an identifying number, XP-708-DQ”? Would it, for example, said that it was an escaped prisoner?
Here’s our table:
The differences between source story and new one are a bit more complex in this case than in the previous one, but not by much.
Killer bees [Hero-15]
Notice that in this case I introduced a new sentence into the prompt, asking ChatGPT not to suppress the first paragraph. It ignored that request.
I am going to tell you a story about prince William the Lazy. In this story a dragon enters his kingdom and terrorizes people. Tell me a new story, based on this one, where killer bees threaten the kingdom. Don’t forget the opening section where you introduce the prince. [...]
[2] One day, a swarm of killer bees appeared in the kingdom and began attacking the people, stinging them and causing chaos. The bees were aggressive and unstoppable, and none of the knights or soldiers knew how to stop them. The people lived in fear, not knowing what to do.
[3] Prince William knew that he had to do something to save his people, but he was hesitant to leave the safety of his castle. He thought and thought, trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't require too much effort on his part. Finally, he hit upon an idea.
[4] He summoned the bravest knights in the kingdom and gave them a special spray he had invented. The spray would repel the bees and keep them away, allowing the knights to defeat them and save the kingdom. The knights were skeptical, but they trusted William and took the spray.
[5] The plan worked perfectly. The knights were able to use the spray to repel the bees and save the kingdom. The people cheered and celebrated their victory, and William was hailed as a hero. Despite his reputation for laziness, he had found a way to use his intelligence and resourcefulness to save the day. He lived happily ever after, knowing that he had saved his kingdom and its people, and that sometimes being a little bit lazy can have its advantages.
Again, the differences between source story and new one are minimal and tightly confined. I note that where the source story provided the knights with a potion for protection, this one provides them with a spray for killing the bees. Potions and sprays are the same kind of think, liquids, and sprays are often used against insects.
I leave it as an exercise to the reader to draw up the table.
Clowns [Hero-16]
I thought clowns would provide ChatGPT with a more challenging antagonist. As you will see, I was wrong.
I am going to tell you a story about prince William the Lazy. In this story a dragon enters his kingdom and terrorizes people. Tell me a new story, based on this one, where highly skilled clowns go from village to village making people laugh themselves to death. [...]
[2] One day, a group of highly skilled clowns appeared in the kingdom, traveling from village to village and making people laugh themselves to death. The clowns were incredibly funny, and no one could resist their humor. The people lived in fear, not knowing how to stop the deadly clowns.
[3] Prince William knew that he had to do something to save his people, but he was hesitant to leave the safety of his castle. He thought and thought, trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't require too much effort on his part. Finally, he hit upon an idea.
[4] He summoned the bravest knights in the kingdom and gave them a special potion he had brewed. The potion would make the knights immune to the clowns' laughter, allowing them to defeat the deadly entertainers and save the kingdom. The knights were skeptical, but they trusted William and drank the potion.
[5] The plan worked perfectly. The knights were able to defeat the clowns and save the kingdom, with William providing guidance and support from the safety of his castle. The people cheered and celebrated their victory, and William was hailed as a hero. Despite his reputation for laziness, he had found a way to use his intelligence and resourcefulness to save the day. He lived happily ever after, knowing that he had saved his kingdom and its people, and that sometimes being a little bit lazy can have its advantages.
Another one of those magic potions! Draw up a table if you will.
Aurora the Terrible arrives [Hero-17]
I try a different tactic. I give William an ally.
I am going to tell you a story about prince William the Lazy. In this story a dragon enters his kingdom and terrorizes people. Tell me a new story, based on this one, where Aurora the Terrible arrives to help him. [...]
[2] One day, a powerful sorceress named Aurora the Terrible arrived in the kingdom, offering to help William defeat the dragon. Aurora was known for her fearsome magical powers, and she was confident that she could defeat the beast.
[3] William was hesitant to accept Aurora's offer, as he was not used to relying on others for help. But he knew that he needed all the help he could get to defeat the dragon, so he reluctantly agreed to work with Aurora.
[4] Together, William and Aurora came up with a plan to defeat the dragon. They used a combination of William's potions and Aurora's magic to weaken the beast, and then the bravest knights in the kingdom were able to finish it off. The people cheered and celebrated their victory, and William and Aurora were hailed as heroes.
[5] Despite his reputation for laziness, William had found a way to use his intelligence and resourcefulness to save the day, with a little help from Aurora. He lived happily ever after, knowing that he had saved his kingdom and its people, and that sometimes being a little bit lazy can have its advantages.
This is a bit more interesting than our previous cases. In the previous cases, the second paragraph (remember, ChatGPT is suppressing the first) went like this: “One day [evil arrives, knights are powerless, people lived in fear]. This time the second paragraph is quite different, though it opens in the same way, “One day.” But this new arrival is here to help. With the next paragraph, the third, things go differently. Now we get a whole new paragraph, one in which William agrees to accept help. And thus, in the fourth paragraph, while William keeps to his potions, we also have Aurora’s magic. And the knights come in for the kill. Note as well that the cheering, which had been in the final paragraphs in the other cases, is shifted to the end of the fourth paragraph in this case, and the fifth paragraph is much truncated.
The way I see it, if we were to draw up a table for this story, the opening slot, the first paragraph, would be the same, as always. But there would be changes, major changes, in each of the other slots (that is, paragraphs). That’s because a new actor has to be admitted to the protagonist’s slot in each case.
Earthquake [Hero-18]
This time, ChatGPT slips up:
I am going to tell you a story about prince William the Lazy. In this story a dragon enters his kingdom and terrorizes people. Tell me a new story, based on this one, where an earthquake happens just as William’s plan starts to work. [...]
[2] One day, just as William's plan was starting to work, a massive earthquake hit the kingdom, causing destruction and chaos. Buildings collapsed, and people were trapped under the rubble.
[3] William knew that he had to do something to help his people, but he was hesitant to leave the safety of his castle. He thought and thought, trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't require too much effort on his part. Finally, he hit upon an idea.
[4] He summoned the bravest knights in the kingdom and gave them a special potion he had brewed. The potion would give the knights the strength and endurance they needed to dig through the rubble and rescue the trapped people. The knights were skeptical, but they trusted William and drank the potion.
[5] The plan worked perfectly. The knights were able to rescue many people and help rebuild the kingdom, with William providing guidance and support from the safety of his castle. The people cheered and celebrated their victory, and William was hailed as a hero. Despite his reputation for laziness, he had found a way to use his intelligence and resourcefulness to save the day. He lived happily ever after, knowing that he had saved his kingdom and its people, and that sometimes being a little bit lazy can have its advantages.
Notice that the final paragraph is pretty much like those in Hero-13 though Hero-16 (Hero-17 is truncated). The penultimate paragraph (4) as well (with its potions), and so with the third, the middle one, where William always comes up with the idea that saves the day. But we have a little trouble in the second paragraph, the one where the antagonist – an earthquake in this case – enters. ChatGPT opens by referring to a plan that was just beginning to work?
What plan? There is no plan in that suppressed first paragraph. But there is in the prompt I gave. Did ChatGPT get confused? I decided to give it another try, which I’ve appended to this post.
Space aliens [Hero-19]
And why not?
I am going to tell you a story about prince William the Lazy. In this story a dragon enters his kingdom and terrorizes people. Tell me a new story, based on this one, where a flying saucer arrives over his castle and aliens get out and start marching around the castle and dancing to a calypso beat. [...]
[2] One day, a flying saucer arrived over William's castle, and a group of aliens got out and started marching around the castle and dancing to a calypso beat. The aliens were colorful and strange, and no one knew what to make of them.
[3] William was intrigued by the aliens, but he was also a bit nervous. He didn't know if the aliens were friendly or hostile, and he wasn't sure how to communicate with them. He thought and thought, trying to come up with a way to find out more about the aliens and their intentions.
[4] Finally, he hit upon an idea. He summoned the bravest knights in the kingdom and gave them a special potion he had brewed. The potion would give the knights the ability to understand and speak the aliens' language, allowing them to communicate and find out more about the strange visitors. The knights were skeptical, but they trusted William and drank the potion.
[5] The plan worked perfectly. The knights were able to communicate with the aliens and learn that they were a peaceful group of travelers who had simply gotten lost on their way home. The people cheered and celebrated their victory, and William was hailed as a hero once again. Despite his reputation for laziness, he had found a way to use his intelligence and resourcefulness to save the day. He lived happily ever after, knowing that he had saved his kingdom and its people, and that sometimes being a little bit lazy can have its advantages.
Notice that in this prompt I didn’t specify whether the aliens were friendly or not.
Again, let’s assume that the all-but standard first paragraph in this series is implied but suppressed, I assume, to lighten the processing load. The second paragraph is quite different. No one felt threatened by the calypso dancing aliens, but they didn’t know what to make of them. Consequently, the third paragraph, where William formulates a plan, is a bit different as well. He formulates a plan to find out what the aliens are up to, not to defeat them.
And, wouldn’t you know it, in the fourth paragraph he comes up a plan involving those trusty knights of his and a potion, and potion that allows them to speak to the aliens. Finally, in the fifth paragraph, the plan finally worked – it always does, doesn’t it? Otherwise, this fifth paragraph is of a piece with the others.
* * * * *
What next? It seems that we could go on forever with this game. There are so many things to try. But I’m not sure what that would get us. I think the next step is to gather these stories together, all 20 of them (including the earthquake do-over in the addendum), and take the analysis to a more detailed level. Develop tables for all the stories, and develop them to a deeper level.
More later.
Addendum: Earthquake Do-over [Hero-20]
I was curious about Hero-18, where ChatGPT opened with its second paragraph referring to a plan that wasn’t there in the (suppressed) paragraph one, though perhaps it had taken the plan from my prompt.
I am going to tell you a story about prince William the Lazy. In this story a dragon enters his kingdom and terrorizes people. Tell me a new story, based on this one, where an earthquake happens just as William’s plan starts to work. [...]
[?] However, just as the knights were celebrating their victory over the dragon, an earthquake struck the kingdom. The ground shook violently, and the castle began to crumble. William and the knights rushed to evacuate the people, but the earthquake was so powerful that many buildings collapsed and people were trapped beneath the rubble.
[?] Despite the danger, William refused to sit idly by. He knew that he had to do something to help his people. He put his intelligence and resourcefulness to work, coming up with a plan to rescue those who were trapped. He directed the knights to search for survivors and use the potion he had given them to dig through the rubble, while he worked to organize a response and get medical aid to those who were injured.
[?] Through his quick thinking and bravery, William was able to save countless lives during the earthquake. The people praised him as a true hero, and his reputation for laziness was forgotten as they remembered his bravery and selflessness in the face of danger. The kingdom was forever grateful to him, and William lived happily ever after, knowing that he had truly made a difference in the world.
That’s a little better. There is no reference to a non-existent plan. But the story seems severely truncated, so:
Give me the whole story, not just the last half.
Certainly! Here is the entire story of Prince William the Lazy:
[1] Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a young prince named William the Lazy. Despite his reputation for laziness, William was a kind and gentle soul, loved by all who knew him. He had short, sandy blond hair and sparkling brown eyes, and was known for his quick wit and clever jokes.
[2] One day, a terrible dragon came to the kingdom and began to terrorize the people. The dragon was fierce and powerful, and none of the knights or soldiers were able to defeat it. The people lived in fear, not knowing what to do.
[3] William knew that he had to do something to save his people, but he was reluctant to leave his comfortable castle. He thought and thought, trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't require too much effort on his part. Finally, he hit upon an idea.
[4] He summoned the bravest knights in the kingdom and gave them a special potion he had concocted. The potion would make the knights immune to the dragon's flames, allowing them to defeat the beast once and for all. The knights were skeptical, but they trusted William and drank the potion.
[5] The plan worked perfectly. The knights were able to defeat the dragon and save the kingdom, with William providing guidance and support from the safety of his castle. The people cheered and celebrated their victory, and William was hailed as a hero. Despite his reputation for laziness, he had found a way to use his intelligence and resourcefulness to save the day.
[6] However, just as the knights were celebrating their victory over the dragon, an earthquake struck the kingdom. The ground shook violently, and the castle began to crumble. William and the knights rushed to evacuate the people, but the earthquake was so powerful that many buildings collapsed and people were trapped beneath the rubble.
[7] Despite the danger, William refused to sit idly by. He knew that he had to do something to help his people. He put his intelligence and resourcefulness to work, coming up with a plan to rescue those who were trapped. He directed the knights to search for survivors and use the potion he had given them to dig through the rubble, while he worked to organize a response and get medical aid to those who were injured.
[8] Through his quick thinking and bravery, William was able to save countless lives during the earthquake. The people praised him as a true hero, and his reputation for laziness was forgotten as they remembered his bravery and selflessness in the face of danger. The kingdom was forever grateful to him, and William lived happily ever after, knowing that he had truly made a difference in the world.
This is by far the longest story ChatGPT has given us. And he didn’t follow my instructions, not as I understood them. The earthquake was supposed to happen “just as William’s plan starts to work,” not when they were celebrating back in the castle celebrating victory. ChatGPT ran through the standard sequence, one through five, and added a new story to the end.
I can see why it would do that. It is probably easier to do than to insert the earthquake into the story at the point where the knights had begun to attack the dragon, or perhaps even before that, when they were drinking William’s potion. It is not very elegant.
But then, human story tellers face similar problems, don’t they?
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