Rapt: can AIs weave a compelling tale? (Image: (Beau Lark/Fancy/Plainpicture)

Are you sitting comfortably? The latest story-generation systems (see “Automatic authors: Making machines that tell tales“) are learning to make things up by first figuring out how the human world works. Some canvas crowdsourcing platforms with questions about activities like first dates or bank jobs. Others mine online databases of concepts like ConceptNet to expand what they know about common objects and events before inverting them to invent fictions. Here are a few of the systems out there.

Scheherazade

Scheherazade, developed by Mark Riedl and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, can tell stories set in any world it can learn about via the internet. Using crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, the system requests sample actions that can happen in various scenarios, such as a bank robbery. Here is part of a response from one crowd-worker:

John opened the bank door.

John went in the open bank door.

John looked around the bank.

Sally the bank teller noticed John.

John approached Sally.

Sally smiled at John.

John said hello to Sally.

John told Sally he had a gun.


Scheherazade strings together many sequences of actions like that one to get a sense of what actions are possible and the order in which they must appear. It then spins these snippets into an original story set in the given domain. It can also tell stories in different narrative styles.

John took another deep breath as he wondered if this was really a good idea, and entered the bank. John stepped into line behind the last person and waited his turn. When the person before John had finished, John slowly walked up to Sally. The teller said, “Hello, my name is Sally, how can I help you?” Sally got scared when John approached because he looked suspicious. John pulled out a handgun that was concealed in his jacket pocket. John wore a stern stare as he pointed the gun at Sally. Sally was very scared and screamed out of fear for her life. In a rough, coarse voice, John demanded the money. John threw the empty bag onto the counter. John watched as Sally loaded the bag and then grabbed it from her once she had filled it. Sally felt tears streaming down her face as she let out sorrowful sobs. John strode quickly from the bank and got into his car tossing the money bag on the seat beside him. John slammed the truck door and, with tyres screaming, he pulled out of the parking space and drove away.

Here is another story generated in the same way, this time about a cinema date:

With sweaty palms and heart racing, John drove to Sally’s house for their first date. Sally, her pretty white dress flowing in the wind, carefully entered John’s car. John and Sally drove to the movie theatre. John and Sally parked the car in the parking lot. Wanting to feel prepared, John had already bought tickets to the movie in advance. A pale-faced usher stood before the door; John showed the tickets and the couple entered. Sally was thirsty so John hurried to buy drinks before the movie started. John and Sally found two good seats near the back. John sat down and raised the arm rest so that he and Sally could snuggle. John paid more attention to Sally while the movie rolled and nervously sipped his drink. Finally working up the courage to do so, John extended his arm to embrace Sally. He was relieved and ecstatic to feel her move closer to him in response. Sally stood up to use the restroom during the movie, smiling coyly at John before that exit. John and Sally also held hands throughout the movie, even though John’s hands were sweaty. John and Sally slowly got up from their seats. Still holding hands, John walked Sally back to his car through the maze of people all scurrying out of the theatre. The bright sunshine temporarily blinded John as he opened the doors and held them for Sally as they left the dark theatre and stepped back out onto the street. John let go of Sally’s hand and opened the passenger side door of his car for her but instead of entering the car, she stepped forward, embraced him, and gave him a large kiss. John drove Sally back to her home.

Flux Capacitor

Tony Veale at University College Dublin, Ireland, and colleagues have developed a system that generates “character arcs” that can be used as the seeds of stories. The Flux Capacitor uses a metaphor generator to combine concepts into “role transitions”. For example, two opposing concepts are picked – “cute” and “dreaded”, say – and matched with plausible roles, such as “cute clowns” and “dreaded wizards”. Drawing on basic knowledge about the world, these roles are then strung together into a plausible character arc. Here are a few examples:

What leads cute clowns to retire from circuses, to study necromancy and to become dreaded wizards?

What drives wealthy heirs to contest wills, to be overwhelmed by losses and to become broke bankrupts?

What pushes complaining protesters to tire of marching, to join faiths and to become uncomplaining devotees?

What causes reputable journalists to be dismissed from news media, to embrace voyeurism and to become sleazy voyeurs?

What pushes dumb actors to retire from acting, to attract flocks and to become godly preachers?

What leads unelected monarchs to abdicate thrones, to campaign for senates and to become elected senators?

What leads shabby beggars to regain homes, to go to medical school and to become tidy surgeons?

The Flux Capacitor uses the @MetaphorMagnet Twitter account to tweet its efforts and the team hopes to use the feedback from human followers to refine the system.

The What-If Machine

Teresa Llano at Goldsmiths, University of London and colleagues are building a system to generate Disney-like and Kafka-esque story ideas. The What-If Machine inverts the properties we commonly attach to concepts to create fictional scenarios:

Human characters:

What if there was a little lawyer who forgot how to destroy your enemy?

What if there was a little soldier who forgot how to fight?

What if there was a little man who forgot how to mow the lawn?

What if there was a little lawyer who learned how to agree?

What if there was a little baby who learned how to walk?

What if there was a little person who learned how to melt?

Animal characters:

What if there was a little cat who couldn’t climb up a tree?

What if there was a little frog who couldn’t jump?

What if there was a little dolphin who couldn’t swim?

What if there was a little dog who couldn’t chase a ball?

What if there was a little monkey who was afraid of bananas

What if there was a little dog who was afraid of love?

What if there was a little dog who was afraid of bones?

What if there was a little snake who was afraid of a live mouse?

What if there was a little mole who couldn’t find the hole?

What if there was a little bee who couldn’t find the honey?

What if there was a little sheep who couldn’t find the field?

Object characters:

What if there was a little wheel who lost his brake?

What if there was a little book who lost his story?

What if there was a little table who lost his chair?

What if there was a little house who lost his door?

What if there was a little bomb who forgot how to hurt a person?

What if there was a little light who forgot how to shine?

What if there was a little fire who forgot how to burn?

What if there was a little star who couldn’t explode?

What if there was a little pen who couldn’t write?

What if there was a little fire who couldn’t grow?

What if there was a little music who couldn’t entertain?

What if there was a little gun who couldn’t kill?

Kafkaesque:

What if there was a woman who woke up in the sky as a bird, but could still speak?

What if there was a man who woke up as a dog in a field, but could still use the telephone?

What if there was a woman who woke up in farm as a goat but could still talk?

What if there was a woman who woke up in an ocean as a fish but could still make phone call?

What if there was a woman who woke up in picnic as an ant but could still climb well?

Surrealist:

What if there was a servant in a field who had the face of a turnip?

What if there was a shepherd in a yard who had the face of a bell pepper?

Scenarios:

What if all poets stopped writing poems for fun and instead started drinking?

What if there was an old dog, who couldn’t run any more, which he used to do for fun, so decided instead to ride a horse?

What if there was a robot that could only understand the concept of love by using theorems?

What if there was an artist who could only draw by using curves instead of straight lines?

What if there was a dancer who could only dance by using hand instead of foot?

What if there was a lift that didn’t have wires and it could rise as high as heaven?