Trul's Electronic Bard

I've been reading a bit more than I usually do. The latest book I read was The Cyberiad by Stanisław Lem which is a collection of scifi comedy short stories following the same characters. This book has been on my "want to read" list and I really enjoyed it, but that's not what this is about.

In one of the stories, the characters build a machine whose purpose is to write poems. I wont spoil the rest but in a way to test the machine, one of the characters comes up with the following request:

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!!

And the machine responds:

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

I've not really been using ChatGPT or any of the other LLM applications but I did create an account after discussing it in depth at a previous Homebrew Website Club meeting.

I was curious what ChatGPT would reply to this same request and got the following:

Shearing strands, a solemn strife,
Scissors slice, betray the life.
Sacrifice to locks so fair,
Secret love in every hair.
Sorrow's end, a silent sigh,
Salvation found, in coiffure's cry.

Not sure I'm getting "treachery" or "quiet heroism" from that but I learned a new word today: coiffure.

Since the story refers to the machine as an electronic bard, it felt appropriate to test it against Google's Bard too. Here's what Bard replied with:

Samson's strength, in secrets shorn,
Seduced by Delilah's guile, forlorn.
Shears snip swift, his locks lay low,
Samson's might, a tragic show.
Yet Samson's soul, in strength unbound,
Samson's love, for vengeance crowned.

All that to say, I don't think we're there yet.