LIVING AND WRITING IN THE AGE OF AI WITH HANNAH SILVA

This event is only open to members of The Writing Squad.

A two part workshop with this day in Manchester (venue tbc)preceded by an hour long Zoom on Thursday January 15th at 7.30pm to give you some things to think about and prepare.

This is a chance for us to question what writing and thinking is, in a society where large language models are being used on a daily basis and can produce huge amounts of text in seconds.

We will consider large language models as the latest in a history of procedural writing techniques that goes back via cut-up writing to Dadaism. We will explore the use of these tools through neurodivergent and queer perspectives, taking the homogenisation of the language of LLMs as an opportunity to understand our individual ways of thinking and writing.

This workshop offers an opportunity to refocus our attention as writers, to critically engage with the technology that has made headlines over recent years, and to gain a deeper understanding of the structures behind it.

We will experiment with linguistic code-switching, inventive prompts, and ways of harnessing AI’s strengths. Is prompt writing creative? What can we do using large language models that we cannot do as human writers? What can the models tell us about the ways our minds work and how we create? What are the challenges that we are heading towards as creators and writers in an age of ‘AI slop’ and what knowledge and experience do we need to be ready for the future of writing?

Through practical exercises, we will question if it is possible to transform AI from a tool of linguistic prediction into a collaborator in linguistic subversion. This isn’t about how to use AI to write better, but about how engaging with large language models might prompt us to think and write differently.

, author of My Child, the Algorithm, confronts big ideas through formal innovation and a seriously playful approach to language, voice and technology. Their work spans nonfiction, a record, eight BBC radio dramas and two decades of critically acclaimed poetry and performance.

Event Image: Created with Adobe Firefly using the prompt "AI created by AI 2160 x 1080px"

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