Dear Percy-L, For community enjoyment, this Percy-L post will address the age-old question of "Is Walker Percy a Southern writer?". But with a new twist…. We will address the question by using the recently-made available artificial intelligence tool called “ChatGPT.”* As we use this new tool to provide an answer, members are invited to respond to this unique AI challenge. Was ChatGPT successful? At the bottom of this email are several questions for further Percy-L discussion. Enjoy! Henry P. Mills Director, The Walker Percy Project ---------- *More Details About ChatGPT (If Desired): Released online in November 2022, ChatGPT is being discussed in worldwide news for how the AI tool will soon radically change the nature of research, writing, and information access on the Internet (via its “natural language processing” capabilities). See the ChatGPT website: <https://chat.openai.com/chat>. For a readable overview about ChatGPT and its anticipated effects on society, see: ------------------------- A. THE CHATGPT WALKER PERCY CHALLENGE — "IS WALKER PERCY A SOUTHERN WRITER?" Submitted Query to ChatGPT: "Give examples of why Walker Percy is a Southern writer and reasons why he is not. Which of his novels demonstrate he is a Southern writer?” Results From ChatGPT (Verbatim): "Reasons why Walker Percy is considered a Southern writer:
Reasons why some may argue that Walker Percy is not a Southern writer:
Examples of Walker Percy's novels that demonstrate his Southern identity include:
Overall, while there may be arguments against labeling Percy as solely a Southern writer, the majority of literary critics and scholars consider him to be one of the most important Southern writers of the 20th century." ------------------------- B. QUESTIONS FOR PERCY-L DISCUSSION (or any other related question) 1. Did ChatGPT provide a useful response to the question? 2. Does it provide sufficient information to back up its response? Bear in mind that all of its information is pulled randomly from the Internet. 3. What might Percy think about ChatGPT? For instance, its use of language aggregation to form random information? Any existential ramifications come to mind from this new form of AI? 4. Other related thoughts? ChatGPT Query date: 2/4/2023 |
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