Burroughs and Bob Dylan: Generative AI Pioneers?

Lots of writers think of Generative AI like ChatGPT as a despicable invention. They believe it has no originality and is automated stealing from others.

I think they hate it most because it usually produces better prose in seconds than most writers can create in a month.

Yet, properly used, it can spark genius. Creative luminaries like William S. Burroughs and Bob Dylan were pioneers of what we today call Generative AI.

They did it without computers, but the process was almost the same.

Hard to believe? It’s true!

Many writers hate ChatGPT and other generative AI tools because they don’t understand them. All they think is, “Hey, that thing is stealing my stuff!”

But that’s not true. There is no such thing as an original idea. Thousands of years ago, even old King Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

All writers just reshape and recycle what they have read, seen, or experienced. So, if anything, you are “stealing” the ideas and inspiration of others and calling it your own because you put the old stuff together in new ways.

Understanding Generative AI

So, before we get to Burroughs and Dylan, let’s look briefly at how Generative AI really works.

There is Data Collection. ChatGPT was trained on a diverse dataset from the internet, including websites, books, and articles. Search engines have had US Court permission to do this since Google Search was a pup.

Training Comes Next. The model uses machine learning techniques to see patterns, grammar, facts, and reasoning from the training data. It does not store specific data but understands context and language structure.

Notice it does not store specific copies of anyone’s work. Not entire paragraphs or anything like that. It’s a dataset―more like a spreadsheet than anything else.

The algorithm understands context and language structure to generate prose when it responds to a unique user prompt.

Information Extraction. So, when someone writes a unique prompt, it extracts the randomized recycled data in the dataset. The input determines the output.

When you enter a prompt, ChatGPT processes it using its learned patterns. It analyzes the prompt, determines the context, and generates a response by predicting the most appropriate and coherent content… based on its training.

Finally, It Generates Prose. ChatGPT then formulates its response by stringing together words and sentences that fit the context and intent of the prompt. Your output will change based on your input, which is the prompt you craft.

That’s exactly how every writer’s mind works, except ChatGPT works more efficiently. ChatGPT doesn’t get distracted by email, social media, need to get up to eat or pee. It never whines about Writer’s Block.

Burroughs and Dylan, among others, used this same Generative AI process, but they used a manual system that accessed fewer datasets.

It’s called the “cut-up” technique. It was around before Burroughs and Dylan, but they put it to good creative use.

Burroughs Pilfers Dadaism

Conventional wisdom says that Burroughs invented the cut-up method in the early 1950s. But that’s not true.

It had been around earlier as part of the artistic movement known as Dadaism. This artistic collective was called the “vulgar herd” in their time. It started in Zurich, spread to New York and Paris, and was a vibrant movement until the late 1920s.

Dadaism was a reaction against the massive death and destruction of World War 1.

It was a repudiation of the society that created that war. Dadaism focused on irrationality and included literary works, music, and the visual arts.

If you have read my novel Jet Pink, you know I’m a fan of Dadaism.

Heck, the cut-up method was probably around long before Dadaism. It has been used for ransom notes since printing was invented.

Burroughs got a lot of undeserved credit for inventing the cut-up method. He learned the technique from a Canadian artist and writer, Brion Gysin.

Burroughs became well-known for the cut-up method because he used the technique extensively and effectively in his famous Nova Trilogy. That included Naked Lunch, The Soft Machine, and The Ticket that Exploded.

He combined cut-up texts with his original writing to create surreal and experimental novels and poems. The cut-up method was an essential element of Burroughs’ creative process, and he continued to use it throughout his career.

Burroughs believed the cut-up method could break down conventional thinking and tap into the subconscious mind.

That sounds like the best creative practices for using ChatGPT!

Before moving on to Dylan’s process, let’s understand Burroughs and Dylan’s technique.

The Cut-up Technique

Here’s the classic cut-up process:

Step 1: Choose a Source Text. Start by selecting a source text you want to cut up. This could be anything from a novel to a newspaper article to a page from a magazine.

Step 2: Cut Up the Text Cut into Small Pieces, either by hand or using a digital tool. You can cut the text into individual words, phrases, or sentences.

Step 3: Rearrange the Pieces. Once you have cut up the text, shuffle the pieces around and rearrange them in a new order. You can do this randomly or with a specific goal in mind.

Step 4: Use the New Text as a Starting Point for Your Writing. You can use it as a source of inspiration or incorporate it more literally into your writing.

Here’s the point you can’t miss. The Generative AI methodology I explained at the beginning and this Cut-up technique are nearly identical.

You break up the work of others and reassemble it into something unique. A tool like ChatGPT is just the cut-up method on steroids.

Bob Dylan and the Cut-up Method

As we know, Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter often called one of the most influential musicians of modern times. He won a Nobel Prize in Literature.

Dylan has been known to use the cut-up method in his songwriting.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Dylan discussed how he used it to create the lyrics for his song Subterranean Homesick Blues.

He said he took lines from different sources, including newspapers and magazines, and cut them into small pieces. He rearranged the pieces to create the lyrics for the song.

Dylan’s method in Subterranean Homesick Blues was thought to be groundbreaking at the time, but he was just adapting an old technique.

He was re-envisioning found texts. That is precisely what ChatGPT does.

Dylan used the method later when he wrote his film Masked and Anonymous. His director and co-writer, Larry Charles, explained the process in a “Business Insider” magazine article, which I’ve condensed for clarity. Charles said,

“[Dylan] brings out this very ornate box and dumps all these pieces of scrap paper on the table. Every piece of scrap paper had little line scribbled [on it]. I realized that’s how he writes songs; he takes these scraps, puts them together, and makes his poetry out of them.

Larry Charles continued, saying,

” We wound up writing in a very cut-up technique. We would just take scraps of paper, put them together, try to make them make sense, and find the story points within it. We finally wrote this very elaborate treatment.”

Dylan used different sources, including newspapers and magazines, for some of his songs, and the scraps of paper Larry Charles mentions likely contained more of those, as well as Dylan’s own random writings.

This box of scrap paper with lines on each one is like a car with a manual transmission of cut-up. ChatGPT does the same thing, but it is a car with an automatic transmission when you use it creatively.

Use the Cut-Up Method

The cut-up method of creative writing is a powerful technique. But don’t be a dummy; don’t merely cut and paste whatever it spews.

Process the output through the knowledge pool and unique experiences in your brain. ChatGPT may do the heavy lifting of making a cut-up, but you have to make it your own, just as Burroughs and Dylan and so many other creative people did before the advent of Generative AI.

The cut-up method can help writers create new and unexpected works of art by breaking down conventional thinking and tapping into the subconscious mind.

If you’re feeling stuck in your writing, try the cut-up method and see where it takes you. It’s never been easier with ChatGPT and other Generative AI tools.