Introducing WobNot, the AI powered WoB generator!

[DqwertyC]

Introduction

If you're on the 17th Shard Discord, you may have seen a few memes like these over the past couple of weeks:

These posts have all been created by a new Discord bot I've been working on called WobNot. You can think of WobNot as a version of WoBBot that's been enlightened by Sja-anat. Its function is essentially the same, you ask a question and it gives you an answer. However, instead of getting responses from Arcanum, WobNot uses a GPT-2 model that's been trained on a large database of actual WoBs to create artificial WoBs (NotWoBs) in real time.

How it works

With a GPT-2 language model, the language is broken up into thousands of "tokens", representing strings of characters, ranging from individual letters to entire words or short, common phrases. The base GPT-2 model, which is publicly available. was trained on a massive amount of text to create links between these tokens, and uses a neural network to determine which token should come next based on the previous tokens. This base model covers most of the basics of English grammar, and allows text generation that is mostly sensible, though very widely varied. The neural network can be further trained on specific texts to allow for generation that more closely resembles that text. In this case, I trained it on a specially formatted database of all the WoBs on Arcanum (as of 11/20/2020). Because every WoB in the database followed the same formatting, the retrained model quickly learned to produce text in that same format.

Favorite NotWobs so far

WobNots responses are often clearly related to the Cosmere, but vary widely in how on-topic they are to the actual question. A handful of responses are surprisingly accurate to how Brandon would actually answer them:

Other responses are still on topic, but far less sensible:

And, as is always the case with AI, some responses are completely off the rails:

One of the unplanned aspects of WobNot is that, because it was trained on WoBs that include conversations, it can generate more text from the questioner:

Under the same reasoning, WobNot can also generate questions as well as answers:

Finally, because a handful of WoBs on Arcanum are quotes, readings, or annotations from Brandon, it can also generate quotes without any input.

How to use WobNot

Right now, WobNot can only be used on a special Discord server specifically dedicated to testing it, WobNot's Cave. I may release it into the wild at some point, but until it's better polished, and I have a better system for hosting the fairly-intensive GPT-2 model, I think it's best to keep it in one place, where it's easier to manage.

Have fun asking WobNot whatever random questions you've always wanted to ask Brandon, and post your favorite NotWoBs in this thread!

[Knight of Iron she/they]

I absolutely love anything AI generated, and we as a fanbase should be honored to have this.

[Truthwatcher at the Rim she/her]

17 minutes ago, Ookla the Knight said:

I absolutely love anything AI generated, and we as a fanbase should be honored to have this.

This will be glorious; I'm so excited to see what you people find.

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

I may not have Discord, but I will watch for anything about this on here, because this is already awesome!

[Knight of Iron she/they]

@Spren of Kindness First one of this thread.

Quote

Questioner: When will Adonalsium be reformed via ramen noodles?

Brandon Sanderson: Hoid has tried it--I'll RAFO that. But he did try that. And if you're asking, maybe it can be cured with the noodles. I'll RAFO it.

 

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

39 minutes ago, Ookla the Knight said:

@Spren of Kindness First one of this thread.

 

Gosh, that's brilliant.  @Truthwatcher at the Rim, you'll love this.

[Chasmgoat he/him]

does it ever answer with RAFO?

[Truthwatcher at the Rim she/her]

@Spren of Kindness I know I'm already part of the thread 

[Knight of Iron she/they]

8 hours ago, Chasmgoat said:

does it ever answer with RAFO?

Yes, it can answer with just RAFO. It also uses terms like “uh—yes, that’s theoretically possible,” and sometimes very Brandon sounding responses.

EDIT: Added some more from the Discord, I didn't ask these but I thought they're funny.

Quote

Questioner:
What’s your favorite order of Knights Radiant?
Brandon Sanderson:
That will come up for debate on the Monday Herald. It's my favorite.

Questioner:
but you could be fire
Brandon Sanderson:
Yes, yes, yes.

Questioner:
do you like Moash?
Brandon Sanderson:
Moash is probably the best place to ask probably. He was the number one best in "Mistborn" in that I also praised how well his character turned out.

Questioner:
What is Wayne's favorite snack?
Brandon Sanderson:
Ooh, Wayne's favorite Snack. I like to like--so I'm kinda going to RAFO that one. Wayne stuff is really his thing.

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Ookla the Knight

[Shard of Reading he/him]

On 12/6/2020 at 5:49 AM, Ookla the Knight said:

Questioner:
What is Wayne's favorite snack?
Brandon Sanderson:
Ooh, Wayne's favorite Snack. I like to like--so I'm kinda going to RAFO that one. Wayne stuff is really his thing.

This seems slightly plausible as an answer. I love it. I just love it. Also, Moash is from Mistborn?

[Truthwatcher at the Rim she/her]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Bored said:

This seems slightly plausible as an answer. I love it. I just love it. Also, Moash is from Mistborn?

I just love that they capitalized "Snack" for no reason 

[Necessary Eagle she/her]

On 12/7/2020 at 0:21 PM, Truthwatcher at the Rim said:

I just love that they capitalized "Snack" for no reason 

Snack confirmed as missing Shard.

[The Titan God he/him]

10 hours ago, Necessary Ookla said:

Snack confirmed as missing Shard.

Opposite if Endowment it snacks on investiture. (Kidding, obviously).