Telescope
Can we use Artificial Intelligence to explore how fictional characters might respond to real-world environments?
Telescope is an experimental AI Machine learning tool for writers, developed by Sandpit in collaboration with Google’s Creative Lab in Sydney.
Telescope allows writers to take a character ‘out for a walk’ in the real world and generate new ideas.
First, the writer describes their character in a Google Docs Add-on. Then, the writer heads outside onto the street with their phone and their headphones. As they walk, a mobile app synthesises maps data and info from the phone’s camera.
The app then begins a sort of ‘stream of consciousness’ audio – using text-to-speech functions – combining the character’s qualities with inspiration from the writer’s immediate surroundings. The results can be poignant, banal, surprising and often hilarious.