{"product_id":"benny-the-blue-whale-2","title":"Benny the Blue Whale: One Author's Descent into the Madness of AI","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAI is changing the world at frightening speed. A bestselling author decides to find out more…\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Something profound and utterly brilliant is going on… hilarious.’ \u003cem\u003eTHE TIMES\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIs ChatGPT the end of creative industries as we know them? An ethical quagmire from which there is no return? A threat to all our jobs, as we keep hearing on the news?\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBestselling children’s author Andy Stanton has made a career out of writing differently – from the unconventional ‘hero’ of his bestselling \u003cem\u003eMr Gum\u003c\/em\u003e series to his penchant for absurdist plots, his children’s books are anything but formulaic.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhen a friend introduces him to ChatGPT, the new large language chatbot, Andy is as sceptical as he is curious. Can this jumble of algorithms really mimic the spontaneity of human thought? Could it one day replace human authors like him for good? And are we soon to be ruled over by despotic robot overlords?\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHe decides there’s only one thing for it – he must test this bot’s capabilities. Eventually, he settles on a prompt that will push the algorithm to its creative limits: ‘tell me a story about a blue whale with a tiny penis.’\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eChaos ensues.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhat follows is a surprising and illuminating battle between Andy and ChatGPT that maybe, just maybe, might help us all understand AI a little bit better. Join Andy and his beleaguered AI lackey on a rollicking metafictional journey through the art of storytelling. Presenting his prompts and the AI-generated narrative alongside extensive commentary, Stanton provides a startling paean to the art of a good story and boundless human creativity. Hopeful and hilarious, \u003cem\u003eBenny the Blue Whale\u003c\/em\u003e provides a joyfully anarchic meditation on AI, literature and why we write.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA WATERSTONES AND \u003cem\u003eNEW SCIENTIST\u003c\/em\u003e BEST BOOK OF 2023\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e‘There’s no book like it. \u003cstrong\u003eScholarly, childish, fascinating and hilarious – one of our funniest writers dissects what it takes to build a story\u003c\/strong\u003e and what that tells us about being human. \u003cstrong\u003eIt’ll really make you think, if you can stop laughing\u003c\/strong\u003e.’ Chris Addison, co-creator of \u003cem\u003eBREEDERS\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e‘\u003cstrong\u003eEntertaining and alarmingly relevant\u003c\/strong\u003e, provocative and philosophically satisfying, it’s ultimately a \u003cstrong\u003eprofoundly human\u003c\/strong\u003e text.’ \u003cem\u003eOBSERVER\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e‘\u003cstrong\u003eA magnificent experiment by a perfect fool\u003c\/strong\u003e – deep and shallow and stupid and clever – \u003cstrong\u003ethe perfect use of AI (Andy Intelligence)\u003c\/strong\u003e.’ Robin Ince, author of \u003cem\u003eTHE IMPORTANCE OF BEING INTERESTED\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e‘Benny the Blue Whale\u003c\/em\u003e is many things. It’s \u003cstrong\u003ea fascinating discourse on the nature of language and storytelling\u003c\/strong\u003e. It’s a philosophical treatise on the possibilities of artificial intelligence. It’s a receptacle for obscenely hilarious jokes... A \u003cstrong\u003ebrilliant and beautiful cyborg\u003c\/strong\u003e: part human brain, part computational muscle. \u003cstrong\u003eIt’s a post-post-modern work of genius\u003c\/strong\u003e.’ Anthony McGowan, Carnegie Medal-winning author of \u003cem\u003eLARK\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","brand":"None","offers":[{"title":"Kobo eBook","offer_id":46367123669202,"sku":"f6805490-bb92-322a-92e5-44319afadaa8","price":14.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0655\/8980\/5233\/files\/image_a9827f4a-7158-485c-a416-c1c12d1c3921.jpg?v=1762881802","url":"https:\/\/www.indigo.ca\/products\/benny-the-blue-whale-2","provider":"Indigo","version":"1.0","type":"link"}