My first encounter with the bizarre side of Chat GPT, in requesting a song about duck farming in the style of Bruce Springsteen. This came after a few questions about duck in Pakistani cuisine for which the answers were the usual plausible + suspect. But this song is just weird. I mean, terrible – an utmost parody of something like Bruce at the level of individual lines but not quite – but also weird.
(Verse 1)
In the heart of Pakistan, where the fields stretch wide,
There’s a tale of ducks and dreams that cannot hide,
From the fertile lands, where rivers gently flow,
Comes a story of duck farming, let me share and show.(Chorus)
Duck farming in the heartland, where dreams take flight,
Raising ducks with all our might, under the golden sunlight,
Oh, duck farming in Pakistan, we’re gonna make it shine,
Together we’ll build a future, where the ducks align.(Verse 2)
Out in the fields, where the quacks fill the air,
Duck farmers stand tall, with pride and care,
They raise their flocks, with love and devotion,
In this land of passion, a thriving motion.(Chorus)
Duck farming in the heartland, where dreams take flight,
Raising ducks with all our might, under the golden sunlight,
Oh, duck farming in Pakistan, we’re gonna make it shine,
Together we’ll build a future, where the ducks align.(Bridge)
With feathers so fine, and eggs in their nest,
These ducks bring joy, they’re simply the best,
From hatchlings to adulthood, their journey unfolds,
With hard work and dedication, success they hold.(Verse 3)
From city to village, the demand it grows,
Duck meat and eggs, everyone knows,
Restaurants and markets, all yearn for more,
The taste of duck, a delicacy we adore.(Chorus)
Duck farming in the heartland, where dreams take flight,
Raising ducks with all our might, under the golden sunlight,
Oh, duck farming in Pakistan, we’re gonna make it shine,
Together we’ll build a future, where the ducks align.(Outro)
So let’s raise our voices, for the duck farming way,
In Pakistan’s heartland, where dreams will stay,
With Bruce Springsteen’s spirit, we’ll stand tall,
Duck farming’s the anthem, for one and all.
I was struck by the final verse in which there is a self-reference to the poet which is not, so far as I know, a Bruce songwriting convention but is certainly one in poetry in Urdu and other subcontinental languages, but here…
As so-called AI stands at the moment, (a) it’s clearly by an alien non-intelligence, no human would write the above even as a parody and it just doesn’t make sense except as generative text where one word follows the other, and (b) the only writer this particular example is likely to put out of work is the sort who sits in their university dorm room writing doggerel at midnight about trivial events that occurred that day in the dining hall and sends it to the house mailing list (ie me).
Addendum: I then asked for a similar poem in the style of Faiz and let’s just say it needs a lot more training on Pakistani literature in translation before it can write anything remotely plausible.