- Popular YouTuber Casey Neistat, who vlogs about life in NYC, commissioned ChatGPT to create a script.
- Neistat asked GPT-4 to write a vlog set in downtown Manhattan. His wife also makes an appearance.
- The dry dialogue was unintentionally funny, and Nystad called it “abysmal” because it was “soulless”.
YouTuber Casey Neistat commissioned the latest version of ChatGPT to script his latest vlog.
Neistat commissioned GPT-4, available via OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus, to create a 3-4 minute video containing dialogue and a shot list of downtown Manhattan during the day. He also asked the chatbot to include a brief cameo near his wife Candace Poole’s office.
Throughout the video blog, Neistat reads out printed scripts written by GPT-4. The script is titled “His day in downtown Manhattan” by the chatbot.
The video blog opens with an aerial view of downtown Manhattan from a drone. This is the shot and device Nystad uses in many of his other vlogs.
Unlike his videos, which usually begin anecdotally, or where Neistat is in the middle of the situation, in GPT-4, with the general opening, “Welcome to our vlog. Today we’re exploring downtown Manhattan.” start.
GPT-4 contains a shot of Neistat riding an electric skateboard. This is another common feature of his vlogs.
Neistat’s script sounds like a quintessential tour of downtown Manhattan, taking him to places like One World Trade, Oculus, and Battery Park, all with a view of the Statue of Liberty.
“Let’s take a quick look inside one of my favorite spots in downtown Manhattan, Brookfield Place,” read Neistat, shaking his head in dissenting opinion.
When Neistat visits his wife, the two laugh as they read dry lines from the script.
“Hi!” she says per script.
“Candace, what’s new in the office?” Neistat asks.
“I’m working on some exciting new projects, but for now they’re top secret. We’ll have to wait and see,” she replied with an unscripted laugh.
“Interesting,” he says.
“A copy of a copy of something that was probably good”
At the end of the vlog written in GPT-4, Neistat told viewers it was “the worst video I’ve ever made” and was “devoid of humanity, depth and soul. It was the worst,” he said. .”
Whether it’s music, YouTube videos, or paintings, all creative works convey human experiences that influence others, he says.
In defending GPT-4, Neistat says the prompts “could have been a lot deeper” and that the chatbot “could have seemed a little more soulful”, but overall “feels like a robot” and “maybe a copy of a copy of a good one.”
At the end of the video, Neistat says he hopes tools like GPT-4 don’t get better.
On the one hand, Neistat told Insider that one of the most interesting use cases he’s seen with an AI tool like GPT-4 was handing it to his 8-year-old daughter and being asked to write a story about her. He said he thinks it’s time to Neistat said the story was “more convincing than any children’s book on her shelf.”
“I don’t think there’s a better way to test AI than putting it in the hands of an eight-year-old,” Nystad said. “Time and again, it certainly proves to be creative, smart and deliver in a way that feels compelling.”
Nystad, meanwhile, said he doesn’t believe AI in its current form poses much of a threat to creators creating “truly original” content. At risk are new creators who have not yet found their voice and are creating similar content to other creators.
“I think people who lack creative acumen and just rely on what other people are doing are under threat,” Neistat told an insider.
Nystad, who said he was inspired by directors like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry early in his career, says he counts himself in that category.
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