Could AI 'make' Wicked from The Wizard of Oz?
Based on my novice grappling with ChatGPT, I do not believe that AI could have invented Wicked, the Broadway play, now a popular release this season on the screens for movie goers.
Somehow along the way in my childhood I watched The Wizard of Oz, probably a few times, enough to be familiar with Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Lion, the good and bad witches, the wizard and of course, Toto (no film is complete without a dog!) The musical score featuring the ‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’ and ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ have remained classic tunes for generations.
Different than a sequel where we might consider how Dorothy’s experience might contribute to her career, or a prequel where we learn more about Dorothy’s life before Oz, the creative writing team of Wicked, shifted the main character to a not so ‘wicked’ witch. The message, so timely, that we all have some good in us, resonated throughout a theme of hope. Wicked’s story line - brilliant, embedded within a new original and masterful musical score. It was a delight to witness such a fresh take on a classic story.?
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I missed out on the initial round of being a part of the Wicked audience, when it first opened at New York’s Gershwin’s Theatre in 2003, but a few weeks ago, I finally experienced this Broadway sensation during the US Thanksgiving weekend. What an example of critical and creative thinking. In my opinion, such writers of this production could never be replaced by AI!
Imagine what school would be like if students were encouraged (and permitted) to use a story to invent a new one? AI may help us summarize a piece of writing – but I’ve not seen examples where the intelligence helper generates a creative response. My sense is that we can rely on AI to give us samplings of what “is”, but we cannot count on ChatGPT, for instance, to give us creative options beyond what exists in their electronic catalogues.
We must prepare students to be creative so they can solve problems that are not located on a page in a textbook or listed as a multiple-choice option. It’s a matter of survival; creativity is not an option. Just as Wicked shifted the story of the Wizard of Oz, we need to shift the story of education. Words like 'replicate', 'deliver' and 'train' may be easy for AI to produce, but when we 'educate', we move far beyond knowing what is, to learning and creating what can be.
I help educators tailor schools via design thinking & AI.
2 个月This is lovely, Barbara, and I appreciate this line: “Imagine what school would be like if students were encouraged (and permitted) to use a story to invent a new one?” I like this because, as you note, “Wicked” is an incarnation borne out of thought, discussion, reframing, what ifs, riffing, and likely some very creative banter among writers (fly on the wall stuff!). So much of GenAI attempts to mimic that, but it does it opaquely. And, as Aaron Schorn, Angela Stockman, and others note, it’s the *process* and the *reflection* that’s the gold, not the ultimate story (which ultimately is amazing thanks to the process).
Founder & CEO of Cultural Inquiry
2 个月Barbara Smith AI cannot work with grey zones, nuances, subtleties, provocations, contradictions, and paradoxes. The AI cannot laugh at itself because it does not know what humor is. AI cannot create something out of nothing. The AI is a stochastic parrot that repeats what is asked of it but for example is unable to improvise, to make mistakes, or to play, in my opinion, the great qualities that define human beings. Altman must have a childhood trauma to believe that AI can replace our inner child. Poor thing.
Student-Centered Learning [Co] Designer, Project Based Learning expert/coach, #1 PBL Podcast Host, Author, 12 SHIFTS Creator. Helping educators go from passive to active, student-centered environments through 12 shifts.
2 个月Interesting insights! I believe that creative individuals will use AI to enhance their original ideas- non-‘creatives’ will use AI for idea generation, idea curation, and idea production and never learn a damn thing.
Renowned Education Consultant Building a Culture of Thinking & Problem Solving | Habits of Mind & Eduplanet21 Co-Founder
2 个月I resonated with your article first in reinventing existing stories--for example, telling the story from one of the character's point of view (James from Huckleberry Finn) or shaping the characters to tell another story within the story (Wicked)--so many ways to retell and invent. I also liked your play with the language of education that is more about so called accountability (including such war like language as "in the trenches" "bombed the test"...) rather than a generative language of growth and possibilities. Thanks for stimulating my thinking!
What School Could Be Global Community Director
2 个月LOVE your article, Barbara, as will my team at What School Could Be. You wrote, "Imagine what school would be like if students were encouraged (and permitted) to use a story to invent a new one?" AMEN! You just made my day.