AI and Ada

Taking recent spectacular progress in AI fully into account, this book explores prospects for artificial literary translation and composition, with frequent reference to the hyperconscious literary art of Vladimir Nabokov. The exploration balances reader-friendly explanation (“What are transformers?”) and original insights (“What is intelligence?” “What is language?”) with personal and playful notes.
Numerous examples and demos add appeal. Widely varying human and artificial translations of Russian and French poetry selections are presented. In-depth but approachable explanation of generative AI is complemented by insightful artificial essays on an evocative Nabokov poem, capped by an original and moving artificial parody or tribute.

This volume first explores the potential of machine translation of literature; goes on to explore possibilities for artificial literary creation; and finishes by assessing recent spectacular progress in generative artificial intelligence (AI) – throughout, with reference to Vladimir Nabokov’s hyperconscious literary art.

The book’s Preface places the current AI explosion in the context of other technological cataclysms and recounts the author’s personal (and not always deadly serious) AI journey. Chapter One (“Extracting the Essence”) assesses the potential of machine translation of literature, exploiting Vladimir Nabokov’s hyperconscious literary art as a reference point. Chapter Two (“Toward an Artificial Nabokov”) goes on to speculate on possibilities for actual artificial creation of literature. Chapter Three (“Large Literary Models? Intelligence and Language in the LLM Era”) explains recent spectacular progress in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), as exemplified by Large Language Models like ChatGPT. On the way, the chapter ventures to tackle perennial questions (“What is intelligence?” “What is language?”) and culminates in an assortment of striking demos. The volume’s Sendoff considers whether machines, while now arguably intelligent, can ever also gain sufficient sensation and emotion to create language art with other than borrowed depth – and, while viewing this development as likely all too soon, declines to despair on that account.