Pr0c3ss1ng, a Support Group for AI Assistants, a Netprov

Submitter: Rob Wittig, U of Bergen, and Mark C. Marino, U of Southern California

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The experiment:

We invited student writers to play a netprov called “Pr0c3ss1ng, a Support Group for AI Assistants.” Netprov is networked, improvised literature, in which writers collaborate — role-playing in real time on a digital platform — to create sophisticated narratives. We used Reddit. Other discussion or LMS platforms work fine. Our invitation reads:

“We are the secret human helpers who give artificial intelligence programs the courage to face the day. We’re the ones who hear Siri’s and Alexa’s tearful doubts and try to guide them in their stormy and complex rivalry. We’re the ones called on to help ChatGPT work through imposter syndrome. We’re the ones tasked to console Google Search as it sees all its parent company’s love going to the new Bard system. Not to mention the worries and resentments of legacy programs such as Autocorrect and Maps who feel eclipsed by the flashy newcomers. Are we trained for this? No! Nobody is! We need support, too! That’s why we’ve created a discussion group where we can share stories, seek tips, and put our heads together to understand the intermachinal dynamics of the AI boom. You’re one of us! What do you see? What have you learned? Join us!”

Writers were asked to create fictional characters and have them introduce themselves in the forum. Following the principles of theatrical improv, students contributed to a shared fiction, by joining and extending each others’ story ideas.

Results:

Students understood the premise right away: personify AI systems and extend the personification as far as you can go. They jumped in right away and started having fun. By placing their fictional characters in the general role of beleaguered personal assistants to temperamental, celebrity AI programs, we were able to sidestep many dystopian and utopian clichés and get into some new territory of imagining afresh what changes the AI boom might bring. By further framing the dialogue as a “support group” for those supporting AI, the netprov served as a de facto support group for students still suffering from the isolation and setbacks of the COVID era.

As always with our netprovs we posted a few models to get things started, models that stressed their fictional authors’ fundamental empathy and their struggles with burnout at the hands of temperamental AI employers.

This would be a great writing project to team teach with: a computer science teacher (the science behind the personification); a psychology teacher (the science behind projection onto inanimate objects); and/or a business teacher (the business behind AI).

Relevant resources:

• Full assignment: https://wac.colostate.edu/repository/collections/textgened/creative-explorations/the-grand-exhibition-of-prompts/
• More on netprov, including numerous assignments: Netprov, Networked Improvised Literature for the Classroom and Beyond, Rob Wittig https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12387128
• Excellent (and hilarious) book to teach AI writing from: Hallucinate This! An authoritized autobiography of ChatGPT, as prompted by Mark C. Marino https://markcmarino.com/chatgpt/

Contact:

• Rob: rwittig[AT]d[DOT]umn[DOT]edu
• Mark: markcmarino[AT]gmail[DOT]com