Plausible Sentence Generators
Forthcoming in the September, 2023 issue of Locus Magazine.
I was surprised as anyone when I found myself accidentally using a large language model (that is, an “AI” chatbot) to write some prose for me. I was twice as surprised when I found myself impressed by what it wrote.
Last month, an airline stranded me overnight in New York City when my flight to LA was canceled due to a air traffic control snafu. The airline rep at the counter told me to try flying standby the next morning, and promised me that — while he didn’t have any vouchers for me — if I booked a hotel, the airline would reimburse me when I got home.
It wasn’t cheap or easy. Lots of us were stranded in New York that night. Every hotel room in Queens and Manhattan was taken, and the flophouse I found in Brooklyn had raised its prices to over $300/night. Add two $70 taxis and I was into serious money.
So when I (finally) got home and the airline told me that they had a policy of not reimbursing fliers who were stranded by air traffic problems, I was pissed. When the airline rep held that position even after I explained that I’d been promised reimbursement by the airline, I was furious. I decided to so something I’d never done before — I was gonna take the airline to small claims court.
