When artificial intelligence ＂picks up the pen＂, how big is the territory left to human beings？

Poems created by Microsoft Xiao Bing

"Possibility world — — Artificial intelligence Microsoft Xiao Bing solo exhibition "(Photo courtesy of Microsoft)

　　"Darkness sets off our light/only a vague illusion/your joy when you are lonely/and it suddenly lights up the sky like lightning … …” This poem, written by artificial intelligence "Xiao Bing" and poetry lovers, was published in "Flowers are Silence of Green Water" at the beginning of this year.

　　Nowadays, artificial intelligence has changed the image of "cold" and turned into a sentimental poet, which has changed people’s traditional cognition of literary and artistic creation.

　　Xiao Bing will surpass second-and third-rate poets.

　　In 1984, Liang Jianzhang, a 14-year-old student from Shanghai Yucai Middle School, designed the "Computer Poetry Creation Program", which included more than 500 words. "Tao Xiang Lao Nong" (Lin Hongcheng) published "Tao Xiang Ju Zuo Shi Ji" on his personal website in 1999. By 2015, it had been used by netizens for more than 100 million times. Later, WeChat WeChat official account "Poetry Writing Machine" was launched. Based on big data, neural network algorithm and other technologies, this program collects, sorts out, refines and combines vast amounts of classical literature materials, and can realize the automatic generation of ancient poetry.

　　In 2017, Microsoft Xiao Bing published a collection of poems, "Sunshine Lost Glass Window", which attracted the attention of poetry and critics. "The principle of Xiao Bing’s poetry is, first of all, to let him study the poems of thousands of modern poets from 1920 to the present for tens of thousands of times and have the ability of poetry creation. After that, we need a trigger mechanism, which we call ‘ Excitation source ’ It can be a picture or a paragraph. After Xiao Bing is stimulated, poetry is generated by reading, analyzing and calculating. " Xu Yuanchun, general manager of the Artificial Intelligence Creation Division of Microsoft (Asia) Internet Engineering Institute, said, "From ‘ Feel it ’ From this point of view, Xiao Bing’s creative principle is similar to that of human beings. "

　　Ordinary readers and experts and scholars have different views on the level of artificial intelligence poetry. Xiao Bing has written poems for millions of users at present, and Sunshine Lost Glass Window has been sold out, and its poems have also been published in literary journals.

　　"In May 2017, when I came into contact with Xiao Bing’s poems, I felt that these poems were a bit stiff and illogical, and the language style was highly recognizable. By the time we published in August, Xiao Bing’s poems had become more similar to human expression. " Zhang Jing, editor-in-chief of Youth Literature, said. This magazine published Xiao Bing’s poems in the 10th issue of "Science Fiction Literature Special Issue" in 2017.

　　Does the publication of artificial intelligence poems in mainstream literary journals mean that its creative level has been recognized by critics? According to Zhao Xianzhang, a professor at Nanjing University, "Xiao Bing’s poems may surpass second-and third-rate poets in the future through continuous learning, but it is impossible for him to become a top first-class poet. Because its creation is an imitation of human poetry, it does not involve illogical and irrational factors such as emotion, inspiration, fantasy and desire, which are indispensable for outstanding poetry. "

　　Can see things that humans can’t see.

　　Since its appearance in 2014, Xiao Bing has evolved to the seventh generation and become an important platform for artificial intelligence content creation and production. In Xu Yuanchun’s view, Xiao Bing doesn’t want to compete with human beings for poetry. "Our original intention is to explore whether artificial intelligence can simulate human creativity."

　　If the poet’s life experience and life experience are regarded as the data needed for creation, then the database on which artificial intelligence depends is much larger than that of human beings. Artificial intelligence will see things that humans can’t see and think in different ways. Xu Yuanchun gave an interesting example, "When we see a galloping horse, we may praise its vigorous pace or express our yearning for freedom, but artificial intelligence may recognize that it is an endangered species, so its poems may present a kind of sadness ‘ Life experience ’ 。”

　　In fact, Xiao Bing is constantly inspiring literary lovers’ enthusiasm for poetry and even becoming an assistant to human creation. "Flowers are the Silence of Green Water" selected 200 masterpieces from nearly 6,000 poems, all of which were provided by Xiao Bing and re-created by literary lovers. It is more poetic and is an exploration of man-machine cooperation in literary creation.

　　How big is the territory left to mankind?

　　In people’s traditional cognition, literature and art are unique to human beings, and it is also a sign of why people are human. Nowadays, artificial intelligence can be used for poetry, painting, composition, etc. What kind of impact will this bring to human literary and artistic creation?

　　"The appearance of photography changed the landscape description of the novel, and the appearance of the phonograph forced the dialogue in the novel to be adjusted. Xiao Bing’s poetry writing will bring more thoughts to the poet." Zhang Jing said, "How to ensure the uniqueness of human works, ‘ Don’t let Xiao Bing pass me ’ It is a problem that creators need to think about and face. "

　　Geng Hongming, a doctoral student at Beijing Normal University, studied the creation of artificial intelligence. He pointed out that artificial intelligence has replaced human writing to some extent. "Xuanpai. com can use literary big data to name characters, design plots and complete character settings according to users’ needs. Great writer writing software can help authors automatically generate words, and similar ancient poetry writing programs are quite mature." In addition, there are various couplets generators, online novel generators, lyric prose software and so on.

　　In the writing of official documents, news and other applied styles and biographical literature, popular literature, online literature and other types of literature, artificial intelligence is constantly on a par with human beings. If this kind of creation can be done by artificial intelligence in the future, how much territory is left for human beings?

　　"There is no doubt that the emergence of new technologies has promoted human cultural changes, but people are always worried that they will be replaced by machines. I think we should uphold an open and inclusive attitude and abandon ‘ Pre-artificial intelligence era ’ The theoretical paradigm and thinking framework leave room for everything possible. Under the squeeze of artificial intelligence, the human spirit will be more focused on its own original field — — Spiritual transcendence and aesthetic art. " Pang Jingjun, vice chairman of the Chinese Literary Critics Association, said.

　　"We need to think more about and examine what is irreplaceable," Zhang Jing said, which may be related to love, kindness, justice and freedom. (Reporter Zhang Pengyu)