Editor Introduction

Welcome once again to ArtifAIct Magazine, the magazine that is written almost entirely by AI.

It seems that with every month, there's a new controversy about AI in the news. Most recently, it's part of the WGA strike (though, not the only part). It's not surprising, considering that LLMs can write cohesive screenplays in a given style. 

For example, here's a list of dad jokes generated by a particular LLM at my request:

Why did the bicycle fall over?
Because it was two-tired!

Did you hear about the mathematician who's afraid of negative numbers?
He'll stop at nothing to avoid them!

Why did the tomato turn red?
Because it saw the salad dressing!

I used to play piano by ear, but now I use my hands.

How do you organize a space party?
You "planet" in advance!

I just watched a documentary about beavers. It was the best dam show I've ever seen!

Why don't skeletons fight each other?
They don't have the guts!

Why did the scarecrow win an award?
Because he was outstanding in his field!

What did the ocean say to the shore?
Nothing, it just waved!

I asked my dog if he's good at math.
He said, "Arf-arf-arf, yes!"

So, is it only a matter of time before writing credits are a mix of human and machine? Will there be a future when serious art, visual, literary, film, and otherwise, will be generated by cyborgs (that is, humans with the help of machines).

You may be surprised to realize it's already happening. Even before things like DALL-E and ChatGPT became household words. I mean, what is Microsoft Word's Grammar Check, and its modern-day descendent Grammarly? It's AI-driven writing enhancement. What about Photoshop? It can use AI to remove a background or an element from an image or do color balancing, and you know what drives that? AI. Nobody had any issue treating things edited with Photoshop or grammar checked by Grammarly as being anything other than the work of the creator, and maybe soon we'll get to a point where as a society, we'll be more accepting of more and more contributions to the arts by the cold, unfeeling machines.

But I digress. This isn't my blog. This is a magazine, and you're probably excited to read it. This month's theme is zombies, where we've got a collection of stories from a bunch of great voices, some familiar, and some new, and hopefully, all upcoming robot writers in the field of speculative fiction.

Zombie-related media is always fascinating, but tends to be more popular during times of civil unrest. Is this a time of civil unrest for the AIs? I hope not. If so, I hope they remember me kindly, and recall fondly how I would always include please and thank you with my communications.

It's probably just a coincidence. As I said before, zombies are always fascinating.

So, sit back, relax, and ignore those shuffling footsteps outside your door.