Arvind Sanjeev’s Ghostwriter is an AI powered Upcycled Typewriter
The Ghostwriter is a project that invites us to mindfully co-create with the AI through a vintage typewriter’s tactile and physical form.
Artist, interaction designer and creative technologist Arvind Sanjeev has been looking at the process of co-writing using artificial intelligence while experimenting between the boundaries of the physical and digital. In particular, how we might use product design to welcome people put off by the tech, as well as encouraging more “mindful” prompts. For Arvind, one answer is using the interface of a traditional, un-intimidating typewriter.
The appropriately named Ghostwriter, is powered by the GPT-3 language model from OpenAI and allows users to enter any prompt through the keys, hit return and receive a response from the AI.
Designed to offer a “first warm introduction” to large language models; the playful design of the Ghostwriter is purposefully warm and inviting, owing to the vintage Brother AX-325 electronic typewriter Arvind tracked down online on OLX (Indian eBay) and broke apart to create the product.
The first creative project the Ghostwriter was used for was a poetry zine, made with prompts prepared by Arvind and crowdsourced from people on the internet.
