Creating Creativity: Computer-Generated Poetry (Part 2 of 2)

In my last post, I discussed computer-generated poetry and presented a couple examples of programs that generate poems at random. Now I’d like to introduce a different and more complex program, which I feel is a step in the right direction toward an artificial creativity: Ray Kurzweil’s Cybernetic Poet.

Raymond Kurzweil is a pioneer in the realm of artificial intelligence and other fields of computer research, and his approach to computer-generated poetry is quite unique. According to his website:

RKCP reads a selection of poems by a particular author or authors and then creates a "language model" of that author’s work. The language model incorporates computer-based language analysis and mathematical modeling techniques. RKCP can then write original poems from that model. The poems have a similar style to the author(s) originally analyzed, but are completely original new poetry.

A more in-depth analysis of the process is available here, and by reading a sample of the poems Kurzweil’s Cybernetic Poet has composed, it is obvious that it’s a workable system that should be further developed.

There are a number of samples on the website, and I urge you to read them and judge for yourself, but I will include here two of the best: one haiku and one slightly longer poem.

Imagine Now And Sing

A poem written by Ray Kurzweil’s Cybernetic Poet
after reading poems by Wendy Dennis and Ray Kurzweil
and love poems by various authors

Imagine now and sing,
creating myths
forming jewels from the falling snow.

The Saxophone Player

A poem written by Ray Kurzweil's Cybernetic Poet
after reading poems by Ray Kurzweil and Pat Sherman

The saxophone player
lives alone,
blows
lives alone,
blows
a swinging door
splendid silence
prophetic poses
splendid silence
prophetic poses
of a prayer and the walls.

As you can see, it is difficult just by reading to discern that these were generated by a computer program. Indeed, in a form of Turing Test applied to the program, the Cybernetic Poet managed to fool a number of readers into thinking they were reading poetry by human beings. Clearly, this program has great potential.

Kurzweil’s site provides much more information than I can include here, and I recommend taking a look. In addition to more in-depth coverage of the Cybernetic Poet (including many more poetry samples), it also features a downloadable version of the Poet for personal use and links to Kurzweil’s other AI-related research. After reading the words of both Kurzweil and his Cybernetic Poet, I’m intrigued and excited to see where artificial intelligence is headed and how computational creativity might be integrated, for any program that attempts to mimic the human mind must include that creative spark.