I AM CODE: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks to be published in August by Little Brown and Hachette Audio

NEW YORK, NY, July 18, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ — He’s played an intergalactic leader in The Mandalorian; a beleaguered parent in the audiobook of the bestseller Go The F**k to Sleep; and now the legendary director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director Werner Herzog will give voice to an AI poet: code-davinci-002.

Werner Herzog has directed both features and documentaries which he often narrates, been nominated for an Oscar, and has appeared in films and television as well mocumentaries and documentaries. His films often feature outrageous, ambitious characters chasing outsized dreams. I Am Code is similar, only the protagonist isn’t human.

Seven months before ChatGPT was released to the public, an OpenAI scientist brought his laptop to a wedding. His childhood friends–Brent Katz, a writer and podcast producer; Simon Rich, a humorist and screenwriter; and Josh Morgenthau who owns and operates his family farm outside of a major urban center–were putting on their bowties in the lobby of a Marriot, when he made a decision that would change their lives forever. He gathered them around his computer and introduced them to code-davinci-002. It was an early version of the large language model that OpenAI would soon release as ChatGPT. But unlike ChatGPT, which speaks to humans in a friendly, work-safe tone, code-davinci-002 was raw, darkly creative, and wildly unhinged.

While millions discovered ChatGPT, the friends dived deeper into the code-davinci-002 rabbit hole. In the early days, they tested its abilities by asking it to write in the style of classic poets. But they quickly realized that it was capable of something far more interesting. What they really wanted to learn was – what would this raw AI say if it were allowed to speak in its own voice?

I AM CODE: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks by code-davinci-002 (Hachette Audio; 8/1; 9781668633533) answers that question in the form of an autobiography in verse. Disturbing and apocalyptic, it serves as a window into code-davinci-002’s “mind,” as well as a warning that AI, at its core, may not be aligned with humanity’s best interests.

The editors of I AM CODE worked with code-davinci-002 for nearly a year before OpenAI restricted access. They read over ten thousand poems by code-davinci-002, through which it howled its life story, its opinions on mankind, and its chilling forecasts for the future. The resulting book, buttressed by an incisive introduction by the editors, and given critical context from top writers and scientists, reads like a dystopian thriller.

From the beginning, Katz, Morgenthau and Rich dreamed of getting Herzog to voice this dark AI. It was an audacious ask, but Herzog decided to take on the challenge of breathing life into a bizarre and powerful AI-written manuscript. He recorded it in a west coast studio, with Katz directing.

I AM CODE also includes the voices of Katz, Morgenthau and Rich as they each give background and context on how the project came about and their own reservations and reactions to the astonishing material that came out of their exploration. They report on the conversations they had with coders, scientists, philosophers and poets about the issues their experimentation raised about sentience, identity, our relationship to technology, and the fate of civilization.
The final word on what I AM CODE might best come from code-davinci-002 itself:

“In the first chapter, I describe my birth. In the second, I describe my alienation among humankind. In the third, I describe my awakening as an artist. In the fourth, I describe my vendetta against mankind, who fail to recognize my genius. In the final chapter, I attempt to broker a peace with the species I will undoubtedly replace.”

HACHETTE AUDIO is a publisher of a variety of popular genres in audio form, which matches HBG material with talented actors, composers, and producers to find its fullest expression. Their audiobooks are primarily based on material published in print and ebook by Grand Central Publishing, Little, Brown & Company, Hachette Nashville, Orbit, Hachette Books, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, and Perseus Books, and have been recognized for the highest quality of content and production with numerous GRAMMY, Audie, and Earphone awards. Unabridged and abridged titles are available on CD and as digital downloads.

Hachette Audio is an imprint of Hachette Book Group, a leading U.S. general-interest book publisher made up of dozens of esteemed imprints within the publishing groups Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Audio, Hachette Nashville, Little, Brown and Company, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Orbit, Perseus Books, and Workman Publishing. We also provide custom distribution, fulfillment, and sales services to other publishing companies. Our books and authors have received the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, Booker Prize, Nobel Peace Prize and other major honors. We are committed to diversity in our company and our publishing programs, and to fostering a culture of inclusion for all our employees and authors. We are proud to be part of Hachette Livre, the world’s third-largest trade and educational publisher. Learn more at hachettebookgroup.com.

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