Explorations in AI — Summarizing Shakespeare’s Works
I decided to use AI to summarize all of Shakespeare’s works. The results are shockingly good.
Last week, during a bout of insomnia, I decided to explore AI tools a bit deeper. I decided to test a very specific use case — using AI to summarize all of Shakespeare’s works and creating images using Stable Diffusion to supplement each of the summaries. It only took about 3 hours to complete and it was rather entertaining — you can check out the results here.
Step 1. I registered shakespearesummaries.com and then decided on WordPress for hosting. WordPress offered off-the-shelf templates, making it easy for me to get started. I knew the design was important, but the content was the real focus.
Step 2. I started playing with different prompts until I found one that generated great output consistently. I wanted to make sure that the language used in each play summary was SEO-friendly, so I made sure to include keywords and phrases that people might be searching for. I also asked GPT to select potential tags based on search volume and keyword competitiveness. This allowed me to optimize the site for search engines while still keeping the summaries informative and entertaining.
Step 3. Once I had the content, it was time to create the visuals. Stable Diffusion is an AI-powered image generation tool that uses deep learning to create stunning visuals. I used Stable Diffusion to create all of the images for the site, making sure each image reflected the tone and theme of the play it was summarizing. The result was a collection of unique and engaging visuals that far exceed — IMO — what I would have gotten from stock imagery.
Step 4. With the site completed, I was excited to share it with the world. shakespearesummaries.com is a comprehensive collection of summaries for all of Shakespeare’s works.
I’m continually stunned by how easy it is to create sites like this using AI. I’m not totally sure what the implications are for content creation in the long run, but my running belief is that journalism will be totally ok. It’s ‘commodity content’ like product descriptions and summaries that will be consumed by AI.