As promised, here is the full process thread for Ghostwriter - the #AI typewriter. A journey from idea to realization:
The idea: With the exponential growth and emergence of a prolific number of AI products we see every day, I wanted to create a mindful intervention that (1/13) twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
allows you to take a moment to breathe and reflect on the new creative relationship we are forming with machines. The calm meditative interface of a vintage typewriter takes away all the digital distractions and takes us on an emotional journey through paper and ink. (2/13)
I started my search for an electronic typewriter that would let me read the keys through an #Arduino. After a long search, I found this worn-out brother model.
I then spent time restoring: replacing the broken daisy wheel, getting new cartridges, lubricating and cleaning. (3/13) twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Reading the keys from the typewriter proved to be the biggest technical challenge. I spent a lot of time decoding the keyboard matrix consisting of 8 scan and 8 signal lines.
I pressed each key, read its triggered signal-scan lines and mapped it to the corresponding key. (4/13) twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
I then wrote an Arduino driver that could read these keys and write to them for printing. (5/13) twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Next, I tested the @OpenAI python API for #GPT-3 with the #raspberrypi. Once I got that to work, I hooked up the serial port of Arduino to the Raspi and had it enter the prompts through the typewriter. The response from the API was then sent back to Arduino for printing. (6/13) twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
But while playing with the prompts, I realized I need to be able to control the creativity (temperature) and length of the response (tokens) through the GPT-3 API. So, I installed two pots to control the values for these parameters. (7/13) twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
The feedback from the knobs were then displayed through a tiny OLED.
I also had fun making these tiny curious ghost sprites that roamed around while you were playing with the machine. (8/13) twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Once the technical dev was done, the next fun part was giving the typewriter a makeover. I wanted Ghostwriter to be warm, inviting and playful for everyone, irrespective of age or technical background. (9/13) twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
For people not up to date with current technologies, I wanted Ghostwriter to be their first warm welcome into this new world we are co-creating with AI.
Olivetti Valentine’s typewriters were an inspiration 😍.
After multiple rounds of sanding, painting and clear coats, (10/13)
It was finally time to put everything back together. Electronic installation was also complete with the raspberry pi and Arduino, along with the pots and OLED.
It was magical seeing all the parts coming together for the first time! (11/13)
The idea for Ghostwriter came in early 2021, inspired by Rob Sloan's Sci Fi writer, but it was difficult to squeeze time from my full time role at @Lumen_world, so I have been slowly spending my weekends working on this 👻♥️👻. (12/13)
I am now putting together a collection of Ghostwriter pieces and taking in requests through Twitter for new prompts to feed Ghostwriter, if you have any ideas, please add them here I will love to have them included 🤖♥️🤖. (13/13)
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