The concept is simple. Give ChatGPT a prompt and post the story it comes back with.
For example, here’s one we can all relate to:
Prompt:
Write a story about a bored English teacher who can’t wait for his class to end and keeps looking at the clock.
ChatGPT’s story:
Mr. Smith was an English teacher at a high school in a small town. He had been teaching for over a decade, and though he had once been passionate about his work, lately he had been feeling bored and disillusioned. He found himself counting the minutes until the end of each class and checking the clock on the wall repeatedly.
On this particular day, Mr. Smith was teaching a lesson on Shakespeare’s Hamlet to a group of disinterested students. He had spent hours preparing the lesson and had hoped to ignite a spark of enthusiasm in his students. However, as the class progressed, he realized that his efforts were in vain. His students were fidgeting, looking out the window, and chatting among themselves.
As the minutes ticked by, Mr. Smith found himself staring at the clock on the wall. He tried to focus on his lesson, but his mind kept wandering. He began to daydream about being anywhere else but in that classroom, doing anything else but teaching.
He thought about taking a trip to Europe, visiting the cities he had always dreamed of seeing, like Paris and London. He imagined himself strolling through the streets, soaking in the culture, and enjoying the sights and sounds of a new place.
But then, the sound of a student’s voice brought him back to reality. “Mr. Smith, are we done yet?” asked one of the students.
Mr. Smith looked up at the clock once again and saw that there were still fifteen minutes left in the class. He sighed and tried to muster up some enthusiasm. He knew that teaching was his job, and he needed to do it well, regardless of how he felt.
He took a deep breath and began to explain the symbolism in one of Hamlet’s soliloquies. To his surprise, he noticed that some of the students were listening and even nodding in agreement. He continued to teach, and before he knew it, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class.
As the students filed out of the classroom, Mr. Smith realized that maybe he hadn’t been as bored as he thought he was. He had been so focused on his own thoughts and feelings that he had failed to notice that some of his students had been engaged in the lesson.
He made a mental note to try to connect with his students more and to find ways to make his lessons more engaging. He knew that teaching wasn’t always easy, but it was important work. And who knows, maybe next time he would look at the clock and be surprised to find that the class had flown by.
It’s not Faulkner, but it’s not bad for something a non-sentient computer came up with in thirty seconds.
