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Has
artificial intelligence
(AI), specifically the
free version of ChatGPT
which seems to be in
common usage now, put
book reviewers out of
business? While the
Steiny Road Poet worked
in the computer field
for 27 years, she is a
novice user of AI.
Nonetheless, she has
been testing
ChatGPT’s
capacity to produce
credible commentary
about books of poetry,
probably the hardest
genre to review. After
one reads a book of
poetry and forms an
impression, AI can
gather information
already available on
the Internet and
summarize any previous
reviews it has access
to. In this way, a
reviewer can get a
running start for their
own review.
Steiny began her
investigation of what
AI can offer by asking
ChatGPT about her own
latest individual
collection: “Book
review: Karren
Alenier’s how
we hold on.”
The first set of
results yielded what
Steiny considered a
well written set of
comments that was based
primarily on Sara
Epstein’s review
published in the online Mom Egg Review.
However, this response
was without
attribution. Next, she
asked ChatGPT:
“Book review and
sources of info: Karren
Alenier’s how we hold on.”
Here is the beginning
of ChatGPT’s
second response:
******************************************************************************
Here’s a thoughtful overview of
How We Hold On
by Karren LaLonde Alenier, including a detailed review, author insight, and resources for further exploration:
Book Details
Review & Themes
Mom Egg Review
by Sara Epstein (July 22, 2021) offers an enriching
analysis:
-
The collection is structured in
four sections:
- “MAMA’S NOT A TRAPEZOID” — reflects on her complex
relationship with her mother.
- “GIRL TALK” — includes the powerful list poem “NO ENTRANCE”
about restrictions around prison visits.
- “WHEN IT DROPS YOU GONNA FEEL IT” — draws on Jamaica,
weaving themes of love, suffering, and memory.
- “THOSE DEAR ONES” — letters to her great-grandfather who died in
the 1918 Spanish flu, also touching on the pandemic of 2020 MER -
Mom Egg Review.
******************************************************************************
******************************************************************************
Later, on a different day, Steiny asked “book review: Karren Alenier's how we
hold on” and got a reference to Tertullia, a literary co-op as follows:
******************************************************************************
A review by Tertulia (a literary co-op) reflects on how the collection
transcends confinement by inviting readers into Alenier’s personal “parea”—a
Greek word for a gathering of friends sharing joy and solace. Through poems
addressing family, legacy, and solace, the collection becomes a communal
embrace across time and space. Tertulia.
Tertulia also emphasizes the timeless nature of the themes—how we love,
grieve, inherit, and belong—positioning the book not simply as a response to
the pandemic, but as a meditation grounded in enduring human relationships. Tertulia.
******************************************************************************
******************************************************************************
This was, in the parlance of AI, an hallucination or incorrect information.
Steiny then asked ChatGPT for a URL where Tertulia reviewed Alenier’s book
as follows: “provide URL where Tertulia reviewed Alenier's how we hold on.”
Here’s the ChatGPT answer:
******************************************************************************
I wasn’t able to locate the exact URL for the Tertulia review of How We Hold
On by Karren LaLonde Alenier—none of the publicly available pages seem to
contain that specific review. If you found a reference to it elsewhere, could you
share more details like the context, approximate date, or any phrasing from
the review? That would help me track it down more effectively.
Let me know—I'll keep digging!
******************************************************************************
******************************************************************************
When Steiny followed up with this ask: “find Tertulia URL for this quote used
by ChatGPT: ‘A review by Tertulia (a literary co-op) reflects on how the
collection transcends confinement by inviting readers into Alenier’s personal
‘parea’—a Greek word for a gathering of friends sharing joy and solace.’”
Steiny got this response:
******************************************************************************
I tracked down the origin of the quote about How We Hold On inviting
readers into what Alenier refers to through the Greek term
“parea.”
It
appears not in Tertulia, as previously stated, but rather on
the author’s own
blog, “The Steiny Road to Operadom.”
******************************************************************************
******************************************************************************
Other books of poetry published in the recent past by such authors as Henry
Crawford, Mary Mackey, Carrie Bennett, and Majda Gama produced
reasonable reviews. With permission from Brandel France de Bravo, Steiny
queried ChatGPT about her poetry collection with the unique title Locomotive
Cathedral as follows: “Book review: Locomotive Cathedral.”
Initially, ChatGPT said this collection of poetry was a novel by Kamila
Shamsie. When Steiny added the author’s name to the query, then the
response was that this was fiction by Brandel France de Bravo. It’s awkward
correcting ChatGPT and it seems that the app erases the incorrect answers
from the running log. The bottom line is that Steiny got an apology with a list
of excuses about why the incorrect information was offered. The excuses were
mostly doubletalk, and this response was erased from the ChatGPT log.
I queried Google on how often ChatGPT is accurate in what it answers, and
Google said:
ChatGPT's accuracy varies, but it's generally high, with some benchmarks
showing around 88.7% accuracy. However, accuracy can fluctuate based on
the question type, the specific model version used, and the complexity of the
information requested. While it excels in many areas, it can still produce
errors or "hallucinations," and its responses should be critically evaluated.
Based on Steiny’s queries related to books of poetry published in the last
couple of years where only one out of ten titles queried yielded blatantly
incorrect information, Steiny is satisfied that what the Internet says about
ChatGPT’s accuracy seems reasonably possible.
If a book has not been reviewed online by a source that is indexed on the
Internet, then it is likely that what AI writes is just made up statements with
no truth to its answer.
The answer to the opening question—has AI, specifically ChatGPT, put book
reviewers out of business? The answer is no. AI can only use the information
it finds on the Internet. Reviewers still need to carefully read the book and
work out what they want to say. ChatGPT can help the reviewer find resources
, such as author interviews, and may point out aspects of a book that the
reviewer might have overlooked. AI applications are in their infancy. It’s like
the early days of the Internet—keep an open mind but verify what you plan to
use.
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