A creative AI startup called Botnik Studios has trained two AI-powered predictive keyboard apps by feeding them the entire Harry Potter series, and then had the keyboards write a chapter of Harry Potter together. One keyboard was used for the dialog, while another was used for the narration, though the studio did not specify which keyboards they used, or whether those keyboards were two copies of the same app. The AI keyboards even came up with a name for the micro-novel together, and Botnik Studios went to the trouble of printing and binding the chapter in the same way as a real Harry Potter book. The book, notably, has been played around with to make it look old and well-loved.
As with most things involving AI being creative, the chapter came out extremely surreal. In this case, it also happens to be utterly hilarious, especially for fans of the series. The timeline of this chapter among the greater Harry Potter timeline is not specified, but it seems to be well before the end of the series, based on the presence of some key figures who meet their end before the last page of the seventh book. Highlights of this chapter include Hermione throwing a fearsome Death Eater into the mud for wearing a rude T-shirt, mountains of mice exploding, and Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore replacing beloved groundskeeper Hagrid with Hufflepuff house’s resident pulsing pig. The entirety of the chapter, entitled “The Handsome One”, can be read in the gallery below. At this time, sadly, the studio has not announced plans to write more chapters. The book is titled “Harry Potter and the Portrait of What Looks Like a Large Pile of Ash”.
This is one of the more unique examples of a creative use for AI, and one that a consumer could easily reproduce. It’s not the first of its kind entirely, though having a pair of AI programs write fiction together is likely a new concept. Google’s DeepDream and Project Magenta are two examples of AI programs that are both public-facing and capable of creative functionality. The two programs generate strange and surreal images through deep learning and use AI programming to create music, respectively.
