Wagner James Au / New World Notes

This screencap above is not a biography of Cajsa Lilliehook, New World Notes' longtime, beloved Flickr columnist, but a sophisticated, well-funded AI sure thinks it is. It's the result Cajsa got when she asked AI Writer to create her Second Life avatar's biography, and the results are pretty hilarious and a bit insane. The entertaining part is you can kinda tell what the AI was going for — and also see how far it went off the rails:

"When you look at the sources," as Cajsa observes, "you can figure out some of the bizarre stuff. Someone used one of my pics to illustrate a blog post." And then AI Writer pulled some information from that blog post. "I wrote an article on Dutchie (two actually) and then there was that Dress Me Up blog challenge from years ago when I challenged someone to dress like a character from Mad Men." (Someone's avatar, that is.)

Dutchie Design is a longtime sponsor of New World Notes, which might have further confused the AI. And Cajsa also documents Republicans who are sexual predators on a major political blog, using her avatar name as a pseudonymous byline.

At any rate, this is likely yet another example of AI like ChatGPT spinning out of control when it's no longer on its pre-set tracks. If the AI hasn't been trained to "understand" that individual people also own virtual world/MMO avatars that they also talk about on social media, hilarity ensues. I bet if the avatar was from the Elder Scrolls Online or another more traditional MMORPG, the AI would get even further confused!

By the way, here's what AI Writer when I asked it for the biography of my own SL avatar, "Hamlet Au": 

This article discusses the 'Hamlet Au' persona and their upcoming book tour in Second Life. It talks about how Ur-Hamlet is different from Odin Teatret productions and how it represents a change in status for Odin Teatret as a Third Theatre. – Hamlet Au, or James Au, aka Hamlet, is a world journalist and life business traveler. He travels to the Second Life world in avatar form to promote his latest book. He meets his host, Hamlet Linden, and discovers that life in the virtual world has its own unique twists and passions inside Second Life. Through interviewing residents of the world and exploring his business passions, he discovers an unexpected connection between himself and his virtual host-Hamlet Au.

Creating an economy in the virtual world, Hamlet Au was able to get more happiness for its residents by rewarding genuine production with real money. This was good news for game designers and players alike as it gave them a way to make a profit from their work and entertainment activities inside the virtual world. Academic Edward Castronova suggests in his academic study that this kind of virtual versus likes press on production may lead to a false dilemma between virtual world profits and real-world profits. However, if players were able to take clues from Hamlet Au's example, they may be able to find a balance between both worlds that could have positive implications for both game designers and players alike. 

Hamlet Au is an intended play of Hamlet set in a quiet residential hamlet, where the protagonist assumes the role of Hamlet, and it is now one of the most visited hamlets. In this play, Hamlet spares Claudius life and in turn loses his reputation and value as a prince. The hamlets believe that this play creates an alternate persona for them, as it makes them feel more powerful than they have ever felt before. This make-believe amusement park also includes iron ore foundries which burn people in order to forgive them for their sins, just like Arto Monaco’s “second life” idea. What is interesting about this performance is that it shows us how our lives can take on different paths if we are willing to take risks and learn from our mistakes. 

Hamlet Au is an innovative virtual currency that allows users to convert real money into virtual currency and use it to purchase digital goods. Through this, Cambridge University has been able to create a reflexive environment that enables user generated content and gives access to theatre quarterly features. It also provides a unique social context for the performance, allowing its audience to experience otherness since anyone can initiate the act. By creating this environment, Hamlet Au saw the ability for its performance to reflect on the real world IP and create a new theatre of reflexion. 

That's what she said!

But maybe it'll do better with your own avatar. Try it out yourself, and share the results in Comments.