How Can an Artificial Intelligent Computer Write Decent Poetry – Is it Possible?

If you were to ask folks who love poetry if an artificial intelligent computer may someday write decent poetry, most likely they would be intrigued with the idea, but also find the concept highly unfortunate. Why? Because folks who write and love poetry equate it to human emotion, living and feeling and since a computer is not alive in the sense we think of life and since it cannot feel like humans do, this is bothersome to contemplate.

The reality is that AI computer software can write poetry and sometimes spit out some interesting stuff. Is it decent? Could it win a poetry contest? What level of contest? In the third grade, sixth grade or high school level, if so which level? See the problem here. Kids are creative right? So, if a computer can write poetry and win a contest in the third grade, then artificial intelligent computers can write decent poetry. Well, guess what? That has already happened.

Margaret Boden discusses this in “The Creative Mind” in much more detail. A book I often recommend to college student when discussing this topic. Boden posits; “When artificial intelligent computers can adequately judge their own work, these systems will be able to write most excellent poetry.” Margret Boden is also known for writing; “Artificial Intelligence and the Natural Man” and thus, is no stranger to such a deep debate.

Would it be safe to say then, that a computer loaded with every word in the English Language, every poem readily available and all the Thesauruses, that indeed, it might have a chance? It turns out that it is possible to write decent poetry, but really hard to write award winning poetry at a high level. Now that is not to say that in the very near future that such an AI computer software programmer will not figure it out and let his innovation rip. On that day, humans will have some choices to make about the future won’t they? Think on this.