ChatGPT can fix Game of Thrones’ ending, says OpenAI cofounder

Are you one of those people who’s still upset about the ending of Game of Thrones? Greg Brockman is the OpenAI founder and President. He has an idea: ChatGPT can help you create your unique ending. And while you’re there, insert yourself into the story.

Brockman appeared on a panel in Austin, Texas at SXSW 2023 where he talked about “the impact of generative AI,” including that of ChatGPT and AI image generator DALL-E. He extolled the usefulness of programs like ChatGPT in entertainment, saying the software is similar to a group of six assistants who are “eager” and “never sleep” — they do the “drudge work” so you can be the director. And entertainment is one field that, Brockman says, could be “amplified” by generative AI.

“You think of today, where everyone watches the same TV show, and maybe people are still upset about the last season of Game of Thrones,” Bruckman said. “Imagine if you could ask your AI to make a new ending that goes a different way, and maybe even put yourself in there as a main character or something.”

He says this makes entertainment “interactive,” though some might argue it’s the opposite: The interactive part would be writing your own self-insert fanfiction in which you end up adjacent to the Iron Throne as a third wife to Daenerys Targaryen, a position for which you get a pet dragon to ride. Polygon asked ChatGPT for some fanfiction in an effort to try. Game of Thrones fanfiction that makes Daenerys Targaryen the hero, “teaming up with Jon Snow to battle White Walkers, who are invading King’s Landing.” I also asked it to add me into to story, riding a dragon. Here’s what it said:

As the sun rose over King’s Landing, Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow led the charge against the White Walkers. Both heroes battled side-by-side, Daenerys on top of her powerful dragon Drogon and Jon holding Longclaw, a Valyrian steel sword.

The White Walkers had the advantage in the end, despite the constant battle. Then, Nicole Carpenter, riding her dragon she secretly created and trained, appeared out of the blue.

They unleashed an intense barrage on the White Walkers using their dragon riders together. This pushed them back and diminished their numbers. Jon and Daenerys stood firm on the ground to defeat any White Walkers that dared approach them.

Finally, the last of the White Walkers fell, and King’s Landing was saved. Jon and Daenerys embraced. They were both happy to make it home alive. Nicole flew on her dragon ready to face whatever adventures lay ahead.

Daenerys Targaryen, who saved Westeros from its greatest threat, was ultimately hailed the real hero of Westeros. Jon Snow was there for her as her faithful partner. Nicole Carpenter, however, had her own stamp on history. She rode a dragon to battle, and proved that even unlikely heroes are capable of rising to the occasion.

There are some gaps in the logic and storyline here, but I’m glad to have become the hero in Game of Thrones. To ride the dragon I created and secretly trained.

This fanfiction was created using ChatGPT-4. ChatGPT-4 was released on Wednesday; OpenAI’s CEO said it was the “most capable and aligned model yet.”

ChatGPT-4, like the others, uses algorithms to predict patterns to create sentences and other content; it doesn’t necessarily write. “This chatbot responds to prompts with extraordinary fluidity — it gives immediate plausible-sounding answers to questions, provides expert-sounding explanations, and can write longish texts with stylistic flourishes,” Data & Society researcher Jenna Burrel wrote in Poynter. “But while its abilities might seem uncanny, the explanation is comparatively simple: What made ChatGPT possible is the global move of everyone and everything online — the mass digitization of everyday life, resulting in the extraordinarily broad text corpus that is the internet. ChatGPT sucks up all of that text and uses it to predict patterns, to devise sequences of words.”

Brockman’s concept of interactivity remains my main concern. I want to be able to ride a dragon.