ChatGPT Predicted 55 Years Ago in Science Fiction Novel
A 1968 science fiction novel predicted AI writing tools and also pegged the central issues this disruptive technology has opened up for us today.
AI writing tools have been coming on for several years now, but the hyper-excitement produced by the recent release of ChatGPT made me think of a science fiction yarn published 55 years ago.
To an incredible degree, this story was an uncanny prediction of the coming of the Artificial Intelligence Writing Software that would emerge more than 50 years later, and especially ChatGPT.
It was a short novel titled So Bright the Vision written by Golden Age science fiction writer and SF grandmaster Clifford Simak. It was issued by Berkley Books as an “Ace Double” in 1968.
The story follows Kent Hart, a down-and-out science fiction writer. He lives in a slummy apartment in a seedy part of town because his ability to sell novels and short stories is on the skids.
The reason he can’t sell anymore is because his writing device is worn out and obsolete. In…
