In Stanislaw Lem’s book, The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age (1974 English translation, page numbers from the 1985 Harvest/HBJ Book), he writes of Trurl’s Electronic Bard, a machine that generates poetry to specification. In the first example of a prompt, Klapaucius asks Trurl to (p. 50):


"Have it compose a poem–a poem about a haircut! But lofty, noble, tragic, timeless, full of love, treachery, retribution, quiet heroism in the face of certain doom! Six lines, cleverly rhymed, and every word beginning with the letter s!"

Here’s what ChatGPT came up with (which it titled “Haircut Horror”):

Compose a poem–a poem about a haircut! But lofty, noble, tragic, timeless, full of love, treachery, retribution, quiet heroism in the face of certain doom! Six lines, cleverly rhymed, and every word beginning with the letter s!

She sat in the salon chair, serene Scissors snipping, strands of hair careen Suddenly, a gasp, a scream She surveys the mirror, it would seem Sheer horror, a mistake extreme She’ll seek solace in a hair care regime.


ChatGPT didn’t quite follow the rules.  Here’s what Trurl’s Electronic Bard composed (p. 51):


Seduced, shaggy Samson snored.
She scissored short. Sorely shorn,
Soon shackled slave, Samson sighed,
Silently scheming,
Sightlessly seeking,
Some savage, spectacular suicide.

Point awarded to the Electronic Bard (or really, to Lem and to Lem’s translators, who wrote multiple poems to similarly absurd specifications in numerous languages).


UPDATE (14 June 2024): Dimitri Papaioannou had the same idea a month earlier.