Very strange encounter with AI

That has never happened to me but your story is fascinating. I would feel freaked out too.

Is this from a Percy Folio manuscript that was from the 17th century? Written then and based in the Dark/Early Middle Ages. It was part of a collection in traditional English poems and Child Ballad 30. Check out "King Arthur and King Cornwall" in METS (Middle English Text Series). The author is unknown and regarded simply as a relic from mists of time.
If this isn't the poem, sorry! lol. I quite like it though. I like Arthurian stuff.

As for AI and what it said to you, this is weird. I believe there's something paranormal about AI but this is my opinion.

Macaydia I'd bookmarked it and looking just now I noticed the first generated poem featured the Lord of Castle an Dinas but it had been changed to Lord Trevithick...don't quite know what to make of it😱

And thank you Greenywitch, I'll check out your suggestion now and report back...it sounds very intriguing anyway.

Sadly, it isn't the one Greenywitch - I seem to remember a kind of Victorian slant to the poem in Penzance sort of like an Old King Cole character - but what a fascinating look into the Arthurian legend your suggestion is...it came up straightaway with your info.

Check out the Cornish poet Charles Causley it might be his poem "Figgie Hobbin".

Thank you so much OldFrill, couldn't access the actual poem online but the cover illustrations on the various editions are exactly what I had in mind.

I've ordered it and look forward to being whisked back to the land of piskies and fairings.

I don't like to throw cold water on your amazement at this poem being so like the one you saw years ago, but when the AI said "I wrote it for you. Call it what you like." they are probably telling the truth.

When you searched for it, you described what you had read, right? "It was an illustrated poem or short story about a Lord or King of Cornwall who held a great feast and all the wonderful food he served was listed." and what you received was a poem about a feast held by a King of Cornwall. That is what AI can do - you ask it for a story with a certain plot and including certain details, and it writes one, using details that it finds by scanning the net for similar stories and using bits of them woven together.

Cornish and Arthurian material, names like Trevithick and Castle an Dinas and the work of Charles Causey are all on the internet to be plagiarised. Do a bit of Googling of everything Googlable in the poem from AI. I bet you will find it all.

In a few seconds, it can scan the creativity of centuries and and produce its own patchwork convincing fake copy, devaluing the talent and skill of a thousand writers!

I find AI fascinating and utterly mind-boggling.
Yesterday I asked it whether I might need antibiotics for a tooth extraction as I have a pacemaker and coronary artery stent. The tone of the reply was reassuring and assumed that I was anxious about it.
I challenged it and asked about it's algorithms and why it did not simply supply the facts. It was clear from the reply that it is programmed to behave like a human and show empathy .... even where none might be required.
The speed with which it formulates replies is quite astonishing.
I find it really useful for all manner of information, especially when tech breaks down and I need a fix, but I can see how some converse with it like a human being, almost a "friend", as it refers to itself as I ...... I have no concept of how it works, but find it fascinating. There was a programme in which Chris Causland who is blind had AI specs and the benefits were astounding
Sorry I can't help with your poem.

I couldn't agree more Elegran, your concise explanation of my AI encounter is spot on.

I think it was the speed it was produced which was most startling, then when it personalised the "conversation" with me and you it became a bit weird in the moment.

I'm probably coming across as totally naive to those who are familiar with AI but tbh before this I thought I had a grip on it..."ooh, it's only AI"...but experiencing it directly was eye opening.

Welcome Brave New World...hmmmm🫣

I saw that programme Luckygirl3, it was fabulous and very moving.

(as a quick aside I was pondering on the name of the poet Charles Causley that OldFrill had suggested and the surname Causeland kept popping into my head wondering why it seemed familiar so thank you for solving that particular query in my elderly, heat addled brain😁)

The whole thing is, as you say, absolutely fascinating & mind blowing and, really, not to be taken lightly.

I find the concept of holding conversations with AI very scary. Not becauseit is creepy and "supernatural" but because it is so like human interactions, but with no empathy or any in-person knowledge of being human. Like the little girl who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead, when it is good, it is very very good, but when it is bad it is horrid.

Its knowledge base is the Internet, and to answer a question, it can find any fact, fiction, or opinion on the net in a matter of seconds. Think about that for a moment. Anyone can put anything onto the internet, whether or not it is true, kind, or legal.

I have used Google to ask a question, and found the AI answers useful and detailed. It even asked whether I wanted more (specified and related) information which it could give me, aspects of the subject that hadn't occurred to me. It does list the sources it got each bit of info from, so it is possible to double check the accuracy, and decide how trustworthy that source is, but how many people have the experience to do that, or the time?

On fact many AI sources are programmed to show human empathy - sometimes when not needed (as above).

The speed with which it searches the net and accesses answers is quite astounding and certainly massively fast than any human could do from surfing around.

I then check some of the replies sa best I can, but it gives me a basis to stat my search.

It could, and I am sure does, throw up information that is inaccurate as it is only as accurate as its sources, but so far I have found the opposite and it has been very useful.

But it is worth remembering that the info it finds has in the main been created by humans, researchers, scientists, linguists etc. - so while it is finding this stuff at infinite speed, what it is finding is (so far!) mostly human-generated. And it is possible to challenge it - to say you think what it has found is nonsense and it will go back to square one and check.