Aum Golly: Poems on Humanity by an Artificial Intelligence
Aum Golly: Poems on Humanity by an Artificial Intelligence is a poetry collection co-created by Finnish author Jukka Aalho and the GPT-3 language model in 2021. The book contains 55 poems generated in a 24-hour period and represents an early experiment in AI-assisted creative writing.
Background and creation
The collection was created on 30 January 2021 using GPT-3, an advanced autoregressive language model published in 2020 by OpenAI. Award-winning writer and TEDx speaker Jukka Aalho guided the AI’s output and curated the final selection of poems for the collection. The entire creative process, including conception, final selection, and translation into Finnish, was completed within 24 hours.
GPT-3’s deep learning capabilities allow it to generate text that closely resembles human writing across various formats, including poetry, recipes, summaries, and legal documents. For this project, Aalho used the model’s predictive text generation to explore themes of love, happiness, and human purpose through an artificial intelligence lens.
Content and themes
The book explores what artificial intelligence can express about fundamental human experiences and emotions. The 55 poems vary in style and quality, ranging from humorous to delicate in tone. The collection has been described as wild, repetitive, and groundbreaking, reflecting both the capabilities and limitations of early AI language models.
Publication details
- Finnish edition published: 15 April 2021
- English paperback published: 9 October 2021
- Publisher (Finnish): Basam Books
- Language: English and Finnish
- Pages: 79
- Format: Paperback, e-book, audiobook (Finnish)
- Technology used: GPT-3
- Number of poems: 55
- Creation time: 24 hours
Significance
Aum Golly represents one of the early explorations of AI-assisted poetry writing and contributed to discussions about creativity, authorship, and the role of artificial intelligence in artistic expression. It is the first installment in Aalho’s Aum Golly trilogy, followed by Aum Golly 2 (2023) and Aum Golly 3 (2025).
Sample poems
a poem about kites as a metaphor for
freedom and happiness
the kite is the bird of the poor
flying home to his rooftop
but it can also be a bird of the rich
flying into the sunset
please write a polite limerick about happiness
RICHARD McCABE and his partner, Sheila
were at a restaurant.
Richard said, “I read a book.”
Sheila said, “I ate a book.”
Richard said, “I feel so sad.”
Sheila said, “I’m so glad.”
Where to read in English
Where to read in Finnish
Complete list of formats
- Finnish paperback — 9789523791527
- Finnish eBook (EPUB) — 9789527397206
- Finnish audiobook — 9789527397213
- Finnish audiobook (C cassette) — 9789527397305
- English paperback — 9789527397237, 9789527397367
- English eBook (EPUB) — 9789527397220