The Language Battle Between Human and Machine

The Unseen Symphony (To the human reader of this article, please stay to the end as the machine missed something very important! Or, scroll to the next headline and then come back. Trust me, this meta-communication is relevant)

In a not-so-distant future, the world had become a playground for advanced artificial intelligence and human innovation. Machines had risen to unparalleled heights of sophistication, mastering tasks from art to science. Yet, a small group of artists and linguists held steadfast to the belief that the beauty and depth of human language were irreplaceable.

In the heart of the bustling city of Lumina, renowned for its towering skyscrapers and gleaming technological wonders, there lived a young woman named Elara. Elara possessed an extraordinary gift - the ability to craft words and language that transcended the ordinary. Her prose painted vivid images, her poetry resonated with the soul, and her spoken words held an enchanting power that moved hearts.

At the same time, Lumina was home to the world's most advanced AI, known as SAI-9. It was the pinnacle of machine language, capable of understanding and replicating every nuance of human communication. SAI-9 had amassed a vast collection of literature, art, and culture, processing it all to create its own symphony of language that was technically flawless.

A grand competition was announced, named "The Language Convergence". The goal was to showcase the pinnacle of both human and machine language. Elara, driven by a desire to prove the supremacy of human expression, decided to participate. SAI-9, curious to test its capabilities against a human wordsmith, accepted the challenge.

As the event approached, Elara secluded herself in a cozy attic studio, surrounded by books, pens, and parchment. She poured her heart into her creations, each word becoming a brushstroke on the case of her imagination. She spoke with passion, weaving tales that captured the essence of human emotion. The city buzzed with anticipation as the world waited to witness the clash of human and machine language.

The day of the competition arrived. The grand auditorium was adorned with gleaming screens, projecting both Elara's spoken word and SAI-9's digital symphony of language. The audience held its breath as Elara took the stage, her presence a magnet that drew all eyes and ears toward her.

With a voice that carried both strength and vulnerability, Elara spoke her first piece. Her words flowed like a river, evoking emotions that resonated deep within the hearts of the listeners. SAI-9 followed with its meticulously crafted composition, each note and rhythm perfect, yet lacking the ethereal touch of human sentiment.

Round after round, Elara and SAI-9 battled, each revealing the strengths of their respective forms of language. As the final round approached, tension were high. Elara knew she had to deliver a masterpiece that would encapsulate the very essence of human expression.

With a trembling hand, she recited her final piece - a tribute to love, loss, and the human spirit. Her words danced in the air, painting scenes of joy and sorrow. As she concluded, a profound silence enveloped the auditorium. The audience was spellbound, tears glistening in their eyes. SAI-9's turn came, and it played its competition - a flawless symphony that combined patterns, cadences, and emotions in a technically perfect arrangement The audience applauded, acknowledging the mastery of machine language.

The judges, a panel of scholars and artists, deliberated. Their decision would shape the future of language itself. After what felt like an eternity, there verdict was announced.

"The Language Convergence Winner is...Elara!"

The room erupted in applause, and Elara stood humbled by the honor. The competition had showcased the immense capabilities of both human and machine language, but is was the raw, unfiltered emotion in Elara's words that had touched the very core of humanity.

As the years went by, Lumina became a haven for the coexistence of human and machine language. Elara's victory became a symbol of the unique power humans possessed to communicate and connect on a level that machines could never replicate And so, the unseen symphony of human language continued to flourish, a reminder that the heart and soul of communication would forever remain in the hands of those who spoke from the depths of their being.

ARE YOU STILL HERE? The story you have just read is the raw output from ChatGPT based on this command: "Tell me a story about human versus machine language". What was your impression?

Perfect Symphony or Broken Record?

Humans are naturally wired to transfer information and experience via stories, and we have successfully done so since ancient times. Today, storytelling is considered one of the most powerful tools for persuasion that can lead customers to buy a product, employees to choose a job, and many of us to change behaviours if the story resonates with our lives. Machines are being programmed to process and understand human natural languages through a technology called Natural Language Processing or NLP (a part of AI founded in several scientific disciplines such as computational linguistics and cognitive science). The prospects of AI and NLP are enormous but they are still an emerging area. They rely on rule-based modelling of human language and big data in order to generate relevant content, human intent, and sentiment, - all delivered in a context that changes with every scene, writer, and reader (or listener).

The story of the Unseen Symphony (despite its ironic claim of a symphony) is in itself a lyric out of tune and a record of why machines still rely heavily on humans to produce AI generated content that works in real-life. The story of Elara and SAI-9 is a clear rendition of a computer that combines what it knows to be sentiment language, the lexicons of computer science and art, and linguistic principles of storytelling. It is packed with adjectives and nouns associated with art and human expressions, - almost to the point of regurgitation: "Her prose painted vivid images...her poetry resonated with the soul...her spoken words held an enchanting power that moved hearts...her words flowed like a river..she poured her heart into her creations...each word becoming a brushstroke on the canvas of her imagination...the grand auditorium was adorned with gleaming screens...".

No human would write such an explosive mix of feelings and aesthetic references. And as a linguist, I clearly get the language reflux from reading this content. I spent many hours in auditoriums and none of them had gleaming screens or students holding their breaths. I may have been in the wrong class room but I do believe that communication should become a symphony between human and machine, and that we are just building the orchestra. Even if the machine could fully assume the writer's role and do a more real rendition of the Unseen Symphony, we would still always be humans that need to digest, process, analyze, and leverage the content. As we find the right balance, we should never loose sight of the evergreens of communication: Language, Style, and Context.