A bestselling author and AI team up to write a novel. Chaos ensues.
AI is changing the world at frightening speed. A bestselling author decides to find out more…
Is ChatGPT the end of creative industries as we know them? An ethical quagmire from which there is no return? A threat to all our jobs, as we keep hearing on the news?
Bestselling children's author Andy Stanton has made a career out of writing differently – from the unconventional ‘hero' of his bestselling Mr Gum series to his penchant for absurdist plots, his children's books are anything but formulaic.
When a friend introduces him to ChatGPT, the new large language chatbot, Andy is as sceptical as he is curious. Can this jumble of algorithms really mimic the spontaneity of human thought? Could it one day replace human authors like him for good? And are we soon to be ruled over by despotic robot overlords.
He decides there's only one thing for it – he must test this bot's capabilities. Eventually, he settles on a prompt that will push the algorithm to its creative limits: ‘tell me a story about a blue whale with a tiny penis.'
Chaos ensues.
What follows is a surprising and illuminating battle between Andy and ChatGPT that maybe, just maybe, might help us all understand AI a little bit better. Join Andy and his beleaguered AI lackey on a rollicking metafictional journey through the art of storytelling. Presenting his prompts and the AI-generated narrative alongside extensive commentary, Stanton provides a startling paean to the art of a good story and boundless human creativity. Hopeful and hilarious, Benny the Blue Whale provides a joyfully anarchic meditation on AI, literature and why we write.
The complete Mr Gum audio collection, read by the author and with music and sound effects
'Worryingly splendid' - The Guardian
Shabba me whiskers! It's a bumper box set of stories featuring that old rotter, Mr Gum! And not just him - there's also his trusty sidekick Billy William the Third, the little girl called Polly, the very wise man Friday O'Leary, the gingerbread man named Alan Taylor and the angry fairy who lives in Mr Gum's bathtub. So step into the weird and wonderful world of Lamonic Bibber for some barking bonkers adventures!
Includes: You're A Bad Man, Mr Gum!; Mr Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire, Mr Gum and the Goblins, Mr Gum and the Power Crystals, Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear; What's for Dinner, Mr Gum?; Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree and Mr Gum and the Secret Hideout.
Described as 'the craziest, funnest, most amazing books for children in the world', the internationally bestselling Mr Gum series has won everything from the Blue Peter Book Award (twice) to the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Red House Children's Book Award. These eight stories are read by author Andy Stanton, with specially recorded additional music and sound.
Urbane Erwärmung für Freunde des britischen Humors!
Ein geheimes Geheimversteck voller Ratten, Kakerlaken und Rohrleitungen, aus denen stinkender Schleim quillt - das ist das Paradies auf Erden für Mr Gum! Gemeinsam mit seinem Bösi-Kumpanen Willi Wilhelm dem Dritten befeuert er dort einen glühenden Hochofen mit Gammelfleisch. Wolken fallen vom Himmel, und die Luft wird immer drückender. Dem Städtchen Bad Lamonisch droht der Untergang! Und dann werden auch noch die beiden strahlenden Superhelden Polly und Freitag mit einem Schiff verschleppt ...
So wie Harry Rowohlt die Gemeinheiten der beiden Schurken rausrotzt, macht die urbane Erwärmung richtig Spaß!
