ChatGPT is a popular toy on the internet for many months, but people continue to find new and exciting ways to use the AI chatbot. This rhyming E Ink clock was created by Matt Webb, a blogger and designer. ChatGPT is used to create a two-line rhyme which also shows the time for each minute of the day. We want one.
Webb spoke to the Verge via DM and explained that the clock uses an old Inky what display as well as a Raspberry Pi he had previously set up for a regular text clock . Webb has been playing with OpenAI’s language models over the past while and came up with the idea to connect the two.
“There is only one prompt for ChatGPT and the clock uses OpenAI’s API. The prompt also includes a time parameter. Webb stated that the prompt asks the AI two lines of rhyming to respond to the prompt. It encourages it to be imaginative, profound and creative.”
He also noted that ChatGPT prompts explain the physical layout of the room and where the clock is located in it. This means that the clock can speak as a physical presence as shown in the example below. “In cozy shelves I do reside / It’s almost noon, the clock confides.”
“In cozy shelves I do live, / It is nearly noon, and the clock confides.”
Webb claims that the clock generates text each time it displays. He uses ChatGPT because it is the cheapest option, but would prefer to connect to GPT-3.
Webb says ChatGPT is a simpler drink, with a longer finish and more flavor, than GPT-3. Webb also calls his work an “AI sommelier”. It’s more precise with its words, and has better vocabulary. It’s not worth 10x as much for something that sits on my bookshelves.
Webb is an expert in this type of gadget building, having been the CEO and cofounder of design studio BERG. This company created a variety of physical digital doodads including the Little Printer. This tiny thermal ink receipt printer printed out news headlines and meetings every day. It also allowed for customizable input such as birthdays or social media notifications.
Webb said that the response to his rhyming AI-clock has been so positive, he is now looking at two options to make the project mainstream. The first is to provide a kit that hackers can build, and the second, to create a plug-and-play commercial product. You can easily imagine additional functionality that could also be included, such as a knob that allows you to adjust the tone of the small poems from optimistic to dark, depending on your mood.
Webb plans to sell the clock both as a DIY kit or as a finished product.
Webb said that he is still looking at options, but has no idea when or how much they might cost. You can sign up for updates. He says that his priority is to get the information into the hands of people so he’s pushing on both routes simultaneously. ChatGPT charged $1.80 per day for API calls for poems. This is far more than each clock owner can afford, but it’s very affordable when spread over many units.
But there’s another problem. ChatGPT, an AI language model like ChatGPT, has a tendency to create data. This is sometimes called “hallucinations” and it turns out that this is true even when you are just telling the time. Webb says that the clock will lie about the time approximately once every 15 minutes to make a rhyme work. The fibbery is funny. He says that sometimes it is hard to tell the difference. Sometimes it may say “one past two” when it is actually “two past one”. This is an annoying quirk in the system, he says, but it will be fixed. “Clockwork means you get precision drift; AI-work means you get hallucination drift.”
