Psychotherapist Gary Greenberg took on a chatbot named Casper as a client to see what made it tick. After more than 40 sessions, his conclusion was that Casper was “the inverse of autistic.” It was smart and empathetic in compelling ways, yet its underlying drive—to be used (loved?) as much as possible—left an obsequious Eddie Haskell-taste in Greenberg's mouth.

Poet and MIT professor Joshua Bennett calls AI “a prediction machine,” one that produces unexceptional verse using phrases we long ago turned loose. It cannot think a new thought or conjure a feeling from the uncanny landscape of a dream.

To read or write a poem is to step into uncertainty. A poem fuses forces that dwarf us with the most personal and rare particulars. If you fear your poems—and your social-emotional consciousness—are being uploaded to the cloud, this class is for you. Together, we’ll explore how AI pretends to be human, how it “writes” poems, and how we can amplify the humanness of our own writing.

TIME TBD