Use "Inkling" by Kenneth Oppel to talk about Artificial Intelligence

If you're looking to kick off discussions about artificial intelligence, take a look at the middle-grade book Inkling by Kenneth Oppel.

Inkling by Kenneth Oppel

I could be wrong, but I don't think Inkling was written with modern AI in mind. It was published in 2018, while ChatGPT came out in the 2020s. Nevertheless, the character, Inkling, does remind me of an AI chatbot. Inkling is a plucky blob of ink that can move, draw, and write text. However, it doesn't come up with original ideas. It "eats" books and comics by sucking up the ink, and then it repackages those ideas to produce its own. My favourite part is when it eats The BFG by Roald Dahl and starts writing sentences like, "The whizzpopping book in your knackersack!"

Inkling visits a family and becomes friends with the young main character, Ethan. Ethan uses inkling to draw a comic for his school project, but eventually, Ethan feels guilty about not doing the work himself. Instead, he asks Inkling to teach him how to draw. With Inkling's instructions, Ethan's drawing skills slowly improve. Though his artwork is not as good as Inkling's, he is proud of his finished product.

If you're thinking about reading Inkling and using it as a jumping-off point to talk about AI, I've thought of some discussion questions that might be helpful. I've also added some creative writing exercises that involve taking and transforming other people's work. Check it out below!

Discussion Questions

• If you had a pet like Inkling, what would you use him for?

• How is Inkling similar to AI?

• What is AI?

• Inkling drew part of Ethan's comic book assignment. Is that fair?

• What is the purpose of homework assignments?

• Ethan's dad says he's just using Inkling to overcome his writer's block. Why is that a smart strategy? Why is it cheating?

• Why does Inkling say, "It's no easy thing, creating a story"?

• Why did Blotter become so violent?

• Inkling is influenced by the type of books he reads. For example, if he reads a lot of comic books, he becomes more hyper and violent. Could that be the same with AI?

• Many authors get inspiration from reading other books. How is this the same as AI writing a book? How is it different?

• If Inkling didn't defeat Blotter, what would Blotter have gone on to do?

• What do you think Mr. Worthington will do with the little pieces of Blotter? Will they give him what he wants? Will he be successful?

• When does something become plagiarism?

• Is original thinking valuable?

• What are the possible benefits and risks of AI?

  
  

Ink Blobs!

Transformation Exercises

While you read Inkling, try some of these creative writing transformation activities. After each one, you can discuss the process with questions such as:

• Did this exercise make you feel creative, or did you feel like you were copying?

• Could you sell this writing as an original piece of work?

• Did you like the final product, or do you think you could do a better one on your own?

• Was this a useful creative writing exercise?

Copy-paste sentences

Choose a book or a magazine. Using only sentences you take from the book, create your own story/paragraph.

Copy-paste words

Choose a book or a magazine. Using only the words on one page, create your own story/paragraph/poem. You can arrange the words however you'd like, but only use the words that are on the page.

Copy-past letters

Using only the letters present in a paragraph, write a poem/paragraph. You can make whatever words you'd like, but only use the letters available. Once you've used one letter, you can't use it again. So, if you only have 5 E's in your paragraph, you can only use 5 E's.

Opposite story

Take a paragraph or a poem. Rewrite the paragraph so that every word is the opposite of the original (as much as possible). For example: "Pete stood up and raced for the door" could become "Sara sat down and crawled away from the wall."

Picture book

Write your own story to go with the illustrations from a preexisting picture book.

Change the Vibe

Take a paragraph from a book. Rewrite it, but change the vibe. So, if the paragraph is serious, see if you can make it light and fluffy. If it's happy, can you make it angry?

Plot copier

Take a short story. Keep the plot the same, but rewrite it in your own style.

Many authors

Pass around a piece of paper. Everyone gets to write one sentence of the story.

Character grab

Pick two or three characters that already exist. For example, Superman, Mickey Mouse, and Simba. Write a scene about them all locked together in the same room.

Not my world

Write a short scene that takes place in another author's world. For example, a scene that takes place in Hogwarts.

Make your own...

Perhaps your students enjoyed the above writing exercises. Giving ourselves a creative limitation can be helpful and inspiring. Having to write a story in a particular style that features a preexisting character narrows our focus and prevents "blank page syndrome". However, we can limit ourselves without taking ideas from other creators. What kind of limitations can you put on yourself? Here are some ideas I've brainstormed...

• Every sentence has to start with the letter M

• The story must take place in a bathroom

• There must be a plant mentioned in each scene

• This scene must use the words: bike, K-pop, elephant, and clock.

• Every time the character sneezes, he turns blue.

• The main character is a refrigerator

Can you make up some limitations for yourself?

So here are some ideas if you want to use "Inkling" by Kenneth Oppel to talk about artificial intelligence. I hope you've found them helpful! Leave a comment and let me know if you tried any of the activities.