Our New Critical Friend: Writing Poetry Alongside AI
Play with artificial intelligence to deepen your creative practice.
* This course will take place on video-conferencing platform ZOOM *
‘If there’s any object in human experience that’s a precedent for what a computer should be like, it’s a musical instrument: a device where you can explore a huge range of possibilities through an interface that connects your mind and your body, allowing you to be emotionally authentic and expressive.’ – Jaron Lanier, Guardian Interview
‘AI systems, as tools or collaborators, can augment artistic processes, but the human perspective and intent continue to be fundamental aspects of artistic expression […] As of now, there are no widely established or widely recognized poems solely created by AI systems that have achieved significant fame or recognition in the literary world.’ – Chat GPT
Are you curious about artificial intelligence but unsure what it can do? Are you nervous of the AI world? Are you chatting with robots but not sure what it means for your poetry?
Over 2 half-days, we’ll learn what AI is, how the tools work, and safe ways to use it to spark your creative practice. We’ll explore how to get into dialogue with AI tools, how to ask questions to kindle your creativity, practical tools such as generating semantic fields, and fresh ways to look at canonical poets through AI.
We’ll touch on ethical questions, the implications for poets and creatives, and how we can take steps forward into this brave new world of synthetic relationships. In between the two sessions, you’ll have chance to play with an AI tool and generate your own new poems.
In part 2, we’ll workshop the poems we’ve created in dialogue with AI tools and reflect on the creative process of having a robot in the mix. We’ll be sharing, learning, and building together, exploring the different and new ways we can cultivate great creative practice alongside AI.
2 Half-day Zoom sessions, running 10.30am–1pm (GMT), on 4 & 18 November 2023.
To apply for a concession rate, please send relevant documentation showing your eligibility for one of our concessions to administ[email protected]. Conditions of eligibility are detailed here. More information about how our Video Courses work can be found on the Video Courses page. If you have any questions or wish to be added to the waiting list of a sold-out course, please email [email protected].
Image credit: Cash Macanaya
About Kat Dixon 
View Profile
Kat Dixon (she/her) is a queer poet based in London. Her poetry appears in various places, including The Rialto, Butcher’s Dog, Queerlings, Mslexia, fourteenpoems, ReCreation Anthology and Spectrum Anthology. Her poetry has been shortlisted a number of prizes, including the Mslexia single poem prize, Rialto Pamphlet prize, Café Writers Prize, Sentinel prize, Ver Prize, and nominated for a Forward Prize. She has an MA in Writing Poetry with Newcastle University and The Poetry School. Her pamphlet, Eat the Glitter is forthcoming with Broken Sleep Books.
Kat is a specialist in digital poverty and tech for good – her work focuses on giving people the confidence and skills to engage with technology. She’s a research fellow with the Data Poverty Lab, advisor to the Minimum Digital Living Standards, a Digital Poverty Alliance Ambassador and an advisor to the Digital Youth Index. She was recently shortlisted for the DigiLeaders100 Digital Leader of the Year Award.
‘I have been introduced to the writing of poets I may never have otherwise come across, both in terms of the study materials and my fellow poetry students. It has been life changing on a really intrinsic level. I have met and formed friendships with poets across the world and across generations - hugely enriching!’
Art & Advocacy: Poetry as Testimony & Social Change
Unhidden: The Poetry of Ecological & Personal Spaces
Short Controlled Bursts: Poems Inspired by the Movie ALIENS