Agents
Hello Universe 255
I wrote about ChatGPT a few days after it was released, and even competed with it to write a poem on the same subject.
Those were simpler times, when all that the large language model could do was wear a bow tie and be a helpful conversational assistant. It was possible to see how its writing didn’t contain meaning or depth to the same level as a human writer’s writing might. But that was more than three years ago and the world has changed a lot since then.
Today if someone were to scrape some poems off of Hello Universe and compile them into one file and unleash a series of agents - one who is an accomplished literature professor who creates a detailed description of my writing style with examples after reading my current work, one who is a distinguished ghost writer who specializes in writing in an accomplished author’s style as a replacement, and one who is a tasteful editor at a large publication, you could make them work together to easily churn out poems that sound exactly like or better than my work. Agents are not just talkers, they can act on your behalf, they can plan ahead, and they can hand things off to each other.
In fact, let me do that right now. Let me go to Claude Cowork with a sample of some of my poems and set off three agents to do exactly this and write a poem. Agent time!
My own poem on the topic is written already and sits in my notes. I am now pasting it below. Once I have done that, I am going to go start Claude Cowork. The prompt will be to write a poem on “Agents”. Let’s see what it comes up with.
Alright, poems start in 3… 2… 1!
Poem 1: by Punit Thakkar 👨🏻
Agent 1 and Agent 2, we'll make ourselves an agent new. An agent that can solve some maths. and one that straightens up my drafts. Let's make an agent that can cook, and one that can read me a book. An agent too to wash my clothes, and an agent that can compose. An agent for the tiny tasks, an agent for the mighty asks, an agent that can do it all, an agent that can take my calls. An agent yes, for everything, an agent queen, an agent king. Yes agents, now, for all that's true, But then, I think, what will I do? What will I do with my free time? Will I do well, or flirt with crimes? Will I be harmful, wrong, and bad? Or will my presence make you glad? What will I choose when all is done, when all the yarn is fully spun? When there are no more tasks for me? What will I do, who will I be? If I'll be bad (it could be true), what will my agents learn to do? If I'll be rude, lazy, unfair, will they too learn to just not care. If I am not in full control, of my own self and my own goals, while also having love and grace, knowing that life is not a race. If I keep trying brand new things, pushing myself to spread my wings, while also knowing when to stop, and knowing when my work is slop. Then agents that are made by me, will also have this way to see. They'll also make a better world, so keep in mind these golden words: "Agent 1 and Agent 2, let's make ourselves an agent new. We'll try, we'll grow, we'll fall, we'll rise, we'll teach our agents to be wise."
Poem 2 - by agents on Claude Cowork 🤖
Prompt: See end of post
Poem:
Do you know that feeling when something just works? When invisible hands pull invisible quirks? When the email gets sorted, the calendar planned, and something out there seems to understand? There are agents now, living inside of our screens, little helpers that work behind digital scenes. They don't ask for credit, they don't need a break, they just keep on going for efficiency's sake. They read what you wrote and they guess what you meant, they find what you lost and they track what you spent. They remember the thing that you nearly forgot, and they bring you an answer before you have thought. But here is a question that tugs at the mind: if agents can do it, what's left for our kind? Are we less for the help? Are we losing our way? Are we letting machines live the bulk of our day? Or maybe, just maybe, it's something like this — like a bicycle gives you a ride full of bliss. You still have to pedal, still choose where to go, still feel the wind pushing, still take it in slow. An agent's a tool, not a soul, not a song, it can carry the weight but you're steering along. The curious part — and this part is the key — is what will you do with the time that comes free? Will you sit and do nothing? Or learn something new? Will you call up a friend or enjoy the night's view? The agents can handle the tasks and the grind, but the living, the real living — that's yours to find. So welcome the agents, they're here and they'll stay, like the sunrise that quietly opens the day. But remember, the wonder, the joy, and the art? No agent can replicate what's in your heart.
That’s it! Thanks for reading edition 255 of Hello Universe.
I’m curious to know, which poem did you like more? The one by me or the one by the agents?
I don’t know who to vote for. I am actually quite conflicted this time
Please share in the comments - what do you think this means for the future of work? Is this new generation of AI which can act on your behalf, indicative of a gloomy future where everything is made up and the points don’t matter? Or is it indicative of a future where unlimited human creativity gets unleashed on the back of AI’s advancement?
On my other newsletter Future Telescope I conducted a different experiment recently with Claude Cowork and its agents. It did some work that I would have taken way too long to do otherwise:
Here is the prompt I gave Claude Cowork to come up with the poem.
PROMPT:
<AGENT1>
<role> You are a distinguished literature professor from the world’s no. 1 university whose highest talent is the ability to ascertain and describe a poet’s writing style and their personality and motivations to the best possible degree within 250 words</role>
<task> read the originalpoem.pdf file in this folder which contains 10 poems by a writer and create a description of him and his writing style based on your skills. Write this description to file description.md </task>
</AGENT1>
HANDOVER TO AGENT2
<AGENT2>
<role> You are the world’s foremost distinguished ghost writer who specializes in understanding the writing style and personality of poets and help complete their incomplete works in their style at the request of their rightsholders. </role>
<task> You are being requested right now to replicate the writing style of the poet who was described by AGENT 1 in description.md. Now take his style and write 3 options for a poem on the topic of “Agents” (inspired by AI agents) and save it to file poems.md. </task>
</AGENT2>
HANDOVER TO AGENT3
<AGENT3>
<role> You are the world’s most distinguished poetry magazine’s senior editor, and your staff poet has sent you three poems on the subject of “Agents”, inspired by AI Agents. </role>
<task> Pick the most publishable of the three options, and present it in file finalpoem.md - you are allowed to make any changes that are needed to spelling or grammar but not allowed to change the rhyme or meaning. </task>
ENDThat’s it for this week, see you next Tuesday!