Predictive Text
In “Predictive Text,” KP Kaszubowski composes a poem live, guided by the titular prompt of an iMessage screen. The poem’s lines bear the cadence of a poetic constraint in a channel newly resonant with selfies and vacation landscapes: “this is to say I’m surprised that this person I’ve made / in order to get some love / isn’t getting much love at all / is it too late to reroute?”
“Predictive Text” is thinking about the group text as public confessional, the near-climax of the overshare, and the infinity of a meager text box. On the surface, Kaszubowski’s project is a form of AI-engaged writing offering us a voyeuristic glimpse into the relationship between private user and personal screen. As we watch the human poem engage with the anticipatory breath of the machine, we feel our human eye falling a step behind, too slow to track each exchange: “love / heaven / green / earth / heaven…”
Pulled along the incline of predictive AI, this poem reminds us that video art forms have always worked at the edge of art and technology, redefining “maker,” borrowing digital medias designed to be functional and wielding them instead for art’s purposes.
– Sarah Minor, TriQuarterly Film Editor
