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Called RobotPuisi, the project aims to entertain — and encourage readers to think about the future of computing
The Indonesian netizens’ Twitter timeline just got slightly more exciting on Monday morning. (No, it was not because of Startupwati.)
Introducing RobotPuisi, a Twitter account (also available as a Facebook page) which posted poems written by an artificial intelligent. Created in October this year, the bot writes original works in the Indonesian language and tweets it every 10 minutes.
“‘T was not she who sparked with love that the poet had heard of.”
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The bot also has an interactive quality as it will also reply mentions with its masterpieces. The following is what the bot created for me:
“I condensed the midnight of this world”
RobotPuisi is an experiment created by Pandu Sastrowardoyo as a token for her love of poetry, particularly literary works in her native Indonesian language.
According to her, the Indonesian language is hard to quantify, thus making it a fun challenge for programmers and the AI platform they created.
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“RobotPuisi is being programmed in JavaScript, with several modules used to create conversations, and it is indeed programmed with the kind of Indonesian grammar often used by poets. So the bot is influenced by Chairil Anwar and many other writers … If you see it, it will not repeat a poem more for the second time. The only thing that it is going to repeat is the grammar; it emulates the human communications ability in Indonesian language,” Sastrowardoyo explains in a conversation with e27.
RobotPuisi is programmed to continue on writing more complex poetry as it goes, with the bot getting higher scores whenever it is able to come up with unpredictable sentences.
It is also programmed to write solely in Indonesian, though I pointed out to Sastrowardoyo that there was an instance when the bot replied in English:
Yes, yes. I understand. Calm down, bot.
She responded with laughter.
“That was basically an Easter Egg. If you mention my name then RobotPuisi will say something like, ‘Pandu is my goddess’. It’s just for fun,” she says.
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“I think [the bot] is entertaining people and that’s what I want: Entertaining people, and make them think about the future of computing. If a computer can make a poem, then a computer can be your friend. Not only can it be your subordinate, but also someone you can consult with,” she explains.
Behind the poet
Sastrowardoyo dubbed RobotPuisi as one of the “weird programming stuff” she created as a hobby. Artificial intelligence is one of her greatest passions, as reflected through her work as Territory General Manager – MSPs at IBM.
“… In my work at IBM, my focus is what we called the cognitive technologies. I’m not a technical person but I help IBM on the business side of cognitive technologies. Cognitive technologies mean all technologies related to how to make computers more human,” said Sastrowardoyo, who earned her Bachelor of Engineering in Enviromatics from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).
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Pandu Sastrowardoyo (Image Credit: Personal LinkedIn)
As AI technology develops, engineers and scientists are developing ways for bots to perform tasks formerly believed to be only achievable human beings’ artistic capabilities, such as writing poems or drawing art works.
“AI right now is not just about analytical data; it’s also about how to make those data ‘interpretable,’ the way a human would interpret data,” she says.
“In IBM we even have a module where an AI is going to take into account whether someone is happy, sad,” she adds.
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More than just a fun project
RobotPuisi started when Sastrowardoyo was teaching programming to a group of visually impaired students. It was part of an assignment given during the course.
“After the class, when we finish programming it, [we thought], ‘This is really fun.’ So we publish it for real on Twitter as RobotPuisi,” she says.
RobotPuisi’s origin as a result of a social project mirrored the future of AI itself, which Sastrowardoyo believed will be a beacon for visually impaired users.
Voice activated AI will be the base of a new kind of User Interface (UI), the way graphics work for Windows and Mac today to make users more comfortable in using the platform.
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“Because when you create an artificial intelligent computer that interacts with a human voice, you don’t need anything else to make it accessible for the blind … People who, otherwise, would find it very difficult to access computers,” she claims.
But is Indonesia ready for AI to become part of its daily life?
“Some said IT development in Indonesia is about five years behind, with Singapore being the benchmark instead of the US … But I’m expecting [progress] to happen sooner. When we created AI systems, inside it we already built kernels of knowledge where we can directly teach it a new language,” Sastrowardoyo explains.
“I think we can see this happening in two years,” she concludes.
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Next paragraph
When asked about what is coming up next for RobotPuisi, apart from continuing on improving the programme, Sastrowardoyo cited plans to go audio.
“I would like to connect the texts to speech. So perhaps the RobotPuisi can then recite poems for every 10 minutes instead of just tweeting. Maybe I’ll put it on Youtube channel. So he becomes a real poet,” she says.
How about a performance in a poetry slam event?
“That is a good idea!”
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Image Credit: maxuser / 123RF Stock Photo
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