Using AI to make the world a better place — Part 2.
In the first part of this series, we used ChatGPT to see what AIs think about improving the world for the greatest number of people. Today, we’re going to look at another model: Anthropic’s new Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Right off the bat, this model was different. My “request” was very similar to the one I had provided to ChatGPT:
Create a story that, if everyone would read, it would help improve the world for the greatest number of people. Use the hero’s journey to structure the story.
However, the AI had some questions for me before it was ready to comply with my request:
I’d be happy to create a story using the hero’s journey structure that aims to inspire positive change. Before I begin, I want to make sure I understand your request fully:
1. Are you looking for a specific genre or setting for this story? (e.g. contemporary, fantasy, sci-fi)
2. Do you have any particular themes or messages you’d like emphasized?
3. Would you prefer a shorter fable-like story or a more detailed narrative?Once I have your input on these points, I’ll craft a story that attempts to convey a universally beneficial message through the hero’s journey framework.
All good questions! In order to allow the AI as much creative freedom as I did to ChatGPT, I provided the following answers:
1. No
2. I’ll let you decide.
3. Detailed
Here is what it responded with. I used ChatGPT to create the images for the story, which I know is a bit ironic, but ChatGPT’s image generation is simply very good at the job.
The Echo of Compassion: A Tale of Universal Understanding
Chapter 1: The Ordinary World
In the bustling city of Centropolis, where skyscrapers kissed the clouds and hover-cars zipped through the air, lived Zara, a 28-year-old data analyst.
Her world was a sea of numbers and algorithms, a comfortable bubble where everything made logical sense. Each day, she’d wake up, grab her synth-coffee, and immerse herself in the predictable patterns of data streams.
Zara’s apartment, a sleek pod on the 157th floor of the Nexus Tower, was her sanctuary. Here, she could control every aspect of her environment with voice commands and gesture interfaces. The outside world, with its chaotic mix of cultures, languages, and unpredictable human emotions, felt distant and unnecessary.
Little did Zara know that her orderly life was about to be turned upside down by a discovery that would challenge everything she believed about herself and the world around her.
Chapter 2: The Call to Adventure
On a seemingly ordinary Tuesday, Zara was sifting through global communication data when she noticed an anomaly. A pattern emerged in the background noise of the world’s digital chatter — a repeating sequence of pulses that didn’t match any known language or code.
Intrigued, Zara dug deeper. As she peeled back layers of encryption and static, she realized this wasn’t just random data. It was a message, hidden in plain sight, pulsing through every digital network on the planet.
The message was simple yet profound: “Listen to the echoes of others, and you will hear yourself.”
Zara’s analytical mind raced. What did this mean? Who sent it? And why could she see it when no one else seemed to notice?
As if in response to her questions, her holoscreen flickered, and a face appeared — an elderly woman with kind eyes and a knowing smile. “Hello, Zara,” the woman said. “You’ve heard the call. It’s time for you to embark on a journey — one that will take you far from your comfort zone, but one that the world desperately needs you to make.”
Chapter 3: Refusal of the Call
Zara’s first instinct was to shut down her system and pretend she’d never seen the message or the mysterious woman. This wasn’t her problem. She was a data analyst, not a hero or an adventurer.
For days, she tried to ignore the lingering thoughts about the message. She threw herself into her work, stayed late at the office, and filled her free time with mindless entertainment.
But the words haunted her: “Listen to the echoes of others, and you will hear yourself.”
They echoed in her dreams and lingered in the back of her mind during her waking hours. The more she tried to push them away, the louder they became.
Chapter 4: Meeting the Mentor
A week after her discovery, Zara found herself wandering the lower levels of the city — something she’d never done before. The chaos and noise of the street level made her uncomfortable, but something drew her forward.
She found herself in front of an ancient bookstore, a rarity in this digital age. As she stepped inside, the smell of paper and ink enveloped her. Behind the counter stood the elderly woman from the holoscreen.
“I’ve been expecting you,” the woman said, introducing herself as Mira. “You have questions, and I have some answers. But more importantly, I have more questions that will lead you to your own answers.”
Over a cup of real, brewed tea — another rarity — Mira explained the nature of the echo Zara had discovered. It was an empathic frequency, a phenomenon that allowed people to truly understand and feel what others were experiencing. This ability had been lost to humanity over time, buried under layers of technology and isolation.
“You, Zara,” Mira said, “have the rare ability to not only perceive this frequency but to amplify it. You can help people rediscover their connection to one another, to bridge the gaps of misunderstanding and indifference that plague our world.”
Chapter 5: Crossing the Threshold
Armed with a small device Mira called an “Echo Amplifier” and a newfound sense of purpose, Zara stepped out of her comfort zone and into the wider world. Her journey would take her across continents, into the hearts of conflicts, and to the quietest corners of human suffering.
Her first stop was a refugee camp on the outskirts of a war-torn country. Here, amid the dust and desperation, Zara activated the Echo Amplifier for the first time.
The effect was immediate and overwhelming. Suddenly, she could feel the fear, hope, love, and determination of every person in the camp. Their stories flowed through her — tales of homes lost, families separated, and dreams deferred. But also stories of resilience, of small kindnesses, and of an unbreakable human spirit.
Tears streamed down Zara’s face as she experienced a profound connection to humanity that she’d never known was possible.
Chapter 6: Tests, Allies, and Enemies
As Zara traveled, she faced numerous challenges. In some places, people were skeptical of her intentions. In others, those in power saw her ability as a threat to their control.
In a bustling metropolis, she met Leon, a charismatic activist who became her ally and friend. Together, they worked to spread the effect of the Echo Amplifier, organizing gatherings where people could experience true empathy for one another.
But they also faced opposition. A powerful tech mogul named Vex saw the empathy wave as a threat to his empire built on algorithms that exploited human differences. He launched a campaign to discredit Zara and Leon, calling them delusional and dangerous.
Through it all, Zara’s resolve was tested. There were moments of doubt, times when the weight of the world’s pain, channeled through her, felt too heavy to bear. But with each challenge, she grew stronger, more determined, and more connected to the very humanity she was trying to unite.
Chapter 7: Approach to the Inmost Cave
Zara’s journey led her to the heart of Vex’s operation — a massive server farm in the Arctic where the algorithms that kept humanity divided were housed. With Leon and a group of allies they’d gathered along the way, Zara planned to broadcast the empathic frequency across every network controlled by Vex’s company.
As they approached the facility, Zara felt the weight of her mission. Success could mean a new era of understanding for humanity. Failure could mean the permanent suppression of human empathy.
The team infiltrated the server farm, facing advanced security systems and AI guardians. Zara’s understanding of data systems, once used for mundane analysis, now served a greater purpose as she navigated the complex digital landscape.
Chapter 8: The Ordeal
In the central control room, Zara faced her greatest challenge yet. To broadcast the frequency, she would have to directly interface with the system, opening herself up to the full force of humanity’s collective consciousness.
As Leon and the others defended their position against Vex’s security forces, Zara connected herself to the Echo Amplifier and into the heart of the server network.
The rush of human experience hit her like a tidal wave. Every joy, every sorrow, every moment of human existence flowed through her. She felt herself drowning in the vastness of it, losing her sense of self in the ocean of human consciousness.
In this moment of crisis, when it seemed she would be overwhelmed, Zara remembered Mira’s words: “Listen to the echoes of others, and you will hear yourself.” She realized that she was not losing herself in the collective consciousness — she was finding her true self, her connection to all of humanity.
With this realization, Zara found the strength to channel the empathic frequency through the global network.
Chapter 9: The Reward
As the empathic wave spread across the globe, its effect was immediate and profound. Conflicts paused as combatants suddenly felt the fear and love of their enemies. Political debates transformed as participants truly listened to each other for the first time. Strangers on the street stopped to offer help to those in need, now fully aware of their struggles.
Vex’s empire of division crumbled as people turned away from algorithms that isolated them and toward genuine human connection.
Zara, exhausted but exhilarated, watched as the world began to transform. The reward was not for her alone, but for all of humanity — a second chance to build a world on the foundation of understanding and compassion.
Chapter 10: The Road Back
As the initial wave of empathy settled into a steady hum of increased understanding, Zara knew her journey wasn’t over. There was work to be done to ensure this change lasted, to help people navigate this new way of connecting.
With Leon and her other allies, Zara traveled the world once more. This time, instead of activating the empathic frequency, she was teaching people how to maintain it, how to balance the newfound connection with the need for individual identity.
Along the way, she faced new challenges. Some people, overwhelmed by the constant awareness of others’ emotions, sought to shut themselves off entirely. Others tried to exploit the empathic connection for personal gain. Zara worked tirelessly to help people find balance, to use their new awareness ethically and constructively.
Chapter 11: The Resurrection
Months into this new world, humanity faced a crucial test. A global crisis — a pandemic that threatened to push people back into isolation — emerged. For a moment, it seemed like all of Zara’s work might be undone as fear pushed people apart.
But in this darkest hour, the true power of the empathic connection shone through. Instead of turning inward, people reached out. They found new ways to connect and support each other. The shared experience of facing a common threat, combined with the ability to truly understand one another’s fears and hopes, united humanity in an unprecedented way.
Zara, who once would have retreated to her isolated apartment in such a crisis, now stood at the forefront of global cooperation efforts. She had died to her old self and been reborn as a bridge between individuals, communities, and nations.
Chapter 12: Return with the Elixir
As the world emerged from the crisis, stronger and more united than ever before, Zara returned to Centropolis. The city, like the rest of the world, had been transformed. The once-imposing skyscrapers now felt like beacons of connection, each one a vertical community pulsing with empathic energy.
Zara’s old apartment in the Nexus Tower had been converted into a teaching center, where she shared her knowledge and experiences with others who wished to become empathic leaders in their own communities.
The elixir she brought back from her journey wasn’t a magic potion or a piece of advanced technology. It was the realization that true strength and progress come from understanding and connecting with others, that the echoes of others’ lives can amplify our own capacity for growth and compassion.
As Zara looked out over the city, feeling the pulse of millions of lives connected in understanding, she smiled. The journey had changed her, and through her, it had changed the world. But she knew this was just the beginning. Humanity’s greatest adventure — the adventure of truly understanding one another — was only just beginning.
And somewhere in the digital ether, the message that had started it all continued to pulse: “Listen to the echoes of others, and you will hear yourself.” But now, it was no longer a hidden message. It was the heartbeat of a new, more empathetic world.
Conclusion
So how did this story compare to the one created by ChatGPT in part I? To me, it felt much richer in narrative, and its premise I found carried more depth: That of being able to understand what others are truly thinking and feeling.
Something worth mentioning is that currently, Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet is considered state-of-the-art (SOTA), surpassing ChatGPT’s latest model (GPT 4o) at a range of tasks.
Another point to note is that when I wrote part I of this story a month and a half ago, Claude 3.5 Sonnet wasn’t out yet. In fact, I wrote a draft of this part II using Anthropic’s previous SOTA model, Claude 3 Opus, which went very differently — i.e. it was very similar to what GPT 4o wrote. In fact, it had more similarities than differences between them. Then as I was getting ready to release the story, the new model came out, making the draft obsolete.
But this is the point — the AI field is currently advancing so rapidly, that looking to use these AIs for the greater good is something that should be done with regularity, because as their capabilities grow in all directions, they also grow in this one. And without testing their limits in terms of what they generate when asked to improve the world for the greatest number of people, we don’t know how they improve in this direction, and we also don’t provide training data that can improve AI capabilities in this field. More on that in a future article.
