Most people regard AI chatbots like ChatGPT as streamlining tools, as all-powerful research engines, or even as an imminent threat to their livelihoods. An open letter co-signed by Elon Musk calls for their development to be put on hold, arguing they pose ‘profound risks to society and humanity.’ But Andy Stanton sees things a little differently…

Diving gleefully into the conversation, Andy invites ChatGPT to co-write a novel with him. From a simple initial prompt, man and machine find themselves dancing a bizarre cross-species tango as together they build an increasingly hallucinogenic yarn around a benevolent blue whale and his underwater world. Sometimes the AI wants to play along, sometimes it doesn’t. It all adds to the mix.

This leviathan improvisation raises all sorts of fascinating questions about language, creativity and how we understand stories. Andy interrogates these themes in his extensive and discursive annotations to the text to deliver an ‘exploded diagram’ of a novel that examines the DNA of narrative itself.

Praise for Benny the Blue Whale:

“A magnificent experiment by a perfect fool – deep and shallow and stupid and clever – the perfect use of AI (Andy Intelligence).” -Robin Ince, author of The Importance of Being Interested

“In detailing his hysterical efforts to get ChatGPT to write a masterpiece, Stanton offers real insight into how it works or, well, doesn’t.” -Simon Ings, New Scientist.

“Reading Benny the Blue Whale — by Andy Stanton and (making its literary debut) the AI chatbot ChatGPT — you suspect there might be something profound and utterly brilliant going on. But you also wonder if one of the authors has lost their mind.” The Times.

“A fascinating inception.” –The Spectator.

“The irreverent tone buoys a surprisingly thoughtful exploration of how AI might aid artists, and the ways in which it comes up short against its human competitors. This fascinates.” –Publishers Weekly.

“Entertaining and relevant, provocative and philosophically satisfying, it’s a profoundly human text.” –The Observer.

“Scholarly, childish, fascinating and hilarious – one of our funniest writers dissects what it takes to build a story and what that tells us about being human. It’ll really make you think, if you can stop laughing.” -Chris Addison, co-creator of Breeders.

“A brilliant and beautiful cyborg: part human brain, part computational muscle. It’s a post-post-modern work of genius.” -Anthony McGowan, Carnegie-winning author of Lark.

“A funny and surprising creative battle between man and machine.” ―The Bookseller.

“So smart, and so funny, and a beautiful snapshot of this moment in time that we’re all going through”. -Sammy J, ABC Radio Melbourne.

Find Benny the Blue Whale: A Descent into Story, Language and the Madness of ChatGPT at Amazon.