AI Beyond Text Generation: A song about a worm
When ChatGPT first came out, I remember showing my family funny poems that it could write. I remember the novelty of telling ChatGPT to make the poem rhyme, or to be a certain number of words, or to be a limerick. It felt like magic, and also a bit silly at the same time. The core language model technologies have improved a lot since then, and so have the custom-built applications that use those underlying LLM capabilities. There’s so much you can do now with these tools, and it changes every day. Maybe I’m just too far down the rabbit-hole, but it continues to surprise me how few people know the breadth and depth of what these models (and other generative AI tools) can do if used in interesting ways. Raising awareness of these capabilities is something I’m really passionate about.
Ethan Mollick is on the leading edge of educating people how to think about these technologies, and how they can be used. He creates some great content on his Twitter, and also on his website. I highly encourage you to check it out. His recent post called ‘Doing Stuff with AI: Opinionated Midyear Edition’) is quite good. In this post, he states:
“I have given talks to thousands of people about AI, and there are lots of things that I can demo that tend to amaze or worry folks, but there is one thing that never fails to delight: making a song.”
Services that let you create music using generative AI (like Udio) are really remarkable, and free to experiment with. You’re probably not creating a lot of songs during your work-day, but maybe seeing what these tools are capable of (and potentially being in awe of this capability), might be the nudge for you to seek other tools or usage patterns that you really could get value out of in your day-to-day.
I tried Udio out to make a song about my book character, Warren The Worm. To create the prompt for Udio, I asked ChatGPT to create a summary of the story. ChatGPT gave me the following:
“Warren the Worm” is a children’s story created by Matt Stockton using ChatGPT. The story centers around Warren, a curious and slightly self-conscious worm living near a bustling sidewalk. Warren admires his friends who have unique talents, like Bella who moves swiftly through the soil, Leo who can stretch tall, and Dotty who creates beautiful dirt trails. Feeling ordinary, Warren attempts to emulate his friends but fails, leaving him disheartened. However, an elderly worm named Mr. Wise helps Warren realize that his talent for remembering important spots in the garden, like where the juiciest leaves fall, is special in its own way. This realization helps Warren understand that everyone has unique qualities that make them special and that these differences add to the beauty and excitement of life.
I then prepended the above with the following, and used it as the prompt for Udio:
Make a song in country americana style about warren the worm.
Udio makes a short song with generated lyrics and music – which you can also tweak using various features within the Udio website. I didn’t do any tweaking besides just extending the song to be longer, and asking it to create an outro.
The lyrics are decent, and the song is pretty great in my opinion. It’s catchy – give it a listen below, or try Udio out yourself and make a song for your kiddos. Or find another tool to try that might solve a problem you currently have. Better yet, just boot up ChatGPT and type something in. The easiest way to learn is to just get started. Where do you think you could be using LLMs? I’d love to hear about your use-cases and experiences thus far.
The Song
The Lyrics
In the garden near the sidewalk lane Lived a worm named Warren, feeling just so plain He’d see Bella swift through the earthy ground And Leo stretch tall, to see all around And Dotty’s trails, dirt art so fine Warren wished his talents could brightly shine So Warren dug deep, with a heavy heart Wondering why he couldn’t master dotty’s art Mr. Wise, the elder, with a gentle smile Told him, ‘Warren, you’ve got your own style’ ‘You find the spots where the best leaves fall And without you, we’d miss it all’ Warren tried to be like Bella, swift and light Diggin’ tunnels, in the quiet of the night But no matter how fast he’d curve and weave All he found was dirt, no sweet reprieve Leo stood so proud, stretching to the sky Warren stayed below, always wonderin’ why One bright day, Warren took a different turn He found the freshest leaves, treasures to discern Bella, Dotty, Leo gathered ‘round to see How Warren’s gift made the garden feel free [Chorus] Warren the Worm, with a heart so true Found his own light, in a world full of hues [Verse 1] In the garden near the sidewalk lane Lived a worm named Warren, feeling just so plain He’d watch Bella swift through the earthy ground And Leo stretch tall, to see all around Dotty’s trails made the dirt look so fine Warren wished his talents could brightly shine