I recently got added to the list of people with access to the AI powered version of Microsoft’s Bing search engine. I’ve been noticing a lot of buzz around Artificial Intelligence powered online interfaces recently, such as a demonstration from Samurai Guitarist on using ChatGPT to write a song in the style of Guns ‘n’ Roses. The first thing that came to mind was to see if the AI powered version of Bing could draft out a blog post for me.

The short answer is no. This content continues to be entirely down to me. I started with “please write a blog post for blog.webden.org.uk” and it told me it was beyond its capabilities although it did pull together a set of links and suggestions on how to do it myself. That answer closed with “I hope this helps you get started with writing a blog post.” Clearly the AI hasn’t figured out that I am the author of this blog (or it knows and is just keeping quiet).

I tried again, more tersely: “write a blog post in the style of blog.webden.org.uk”. This time, I got “That is beyond my capabilities and also violates the copyright of the original author.” Interesting. Maybe AI has learned about copyright and is enacting the equivalent of Asimov’s three laws of robotics? Or maybe Microsoft’s lawyers have got wise and requested a spike to be put in things that could get into grey areas around copyright?

Just for fun, I decided to check this last theory by asking SG’s question. To my surprise, it didn’t give the copyright variation notice but churned out not only a potted history of the band but a different but equally believable pastiche:

I'm on a highway to hell
But I don't care what they say
I've got my whiskey and my cigarettes
And I'm living for today

I’m not planning on working that up but I did ask for suggestions for blog subjects. I’d say the results were fairly anodyne, a mixture of things I’ve done (book and movie reviews) and things that I’m really not qualified to comment on (a guide on how to take care of indoor plants). I am fairly confident that, for at least several months to come, this particular blog is going to remain 100% human.