The poems in this book were generated between 2020 and 2022 by an Artificial Intelligence trained exclusively on poet Charles Bernstein’s entire corpus. In editing the output, Bernstein made many deletions of poems and lines but added no new language.

The art of poetry has always been an exploration of the “human condition,” the expression of the self often producing cultural commentary. But what happens when the poet is not just human? This question lies at the heart of a singular new collection entitled “Poetry Has No Future Unless It Comes to an End: Poems of Artificial Intelligence,” the result of a collaboration between artist Davide Balula and poet legend Charles Bernstein.

While generated by a bespoke A.I. model predating more generic tools like ChatGPT, this collection retains the voice and personality of the esteemed poet Charles Bernstein, carving a new path, providing an exciting exploration of the intersection of literature, technology, and art, making this book a testament to the enduring power of collaboration between humans and machines. In the continuation of Davide Balula’s A.I. Generated Instructions started in 2018, Balula and Bernstein continue to shape the burgeoning field of synthetic literature, offering a glimpse into what the future of poetry might look like, making sure poetry enthusiasts now also include robots.

Charles Bernstein (1950, NY, USA), a leading figure in contemporary poetry, is widely regarded as one of the most influential living poets. He has devoted his career to pushing the boundaries of traditional forms of poetry and criticism. A scholar and educator, he is also the founder of numerous pioneering poetry platforms, in print, tape, and online (starting when the web was still in its infancy), servicing the digital preservation and dissemination of carefully curated creative writing to a wide audience.

The practice of artist Davide Balula (1978, Viseu, Portugal) blends the organic with the synthetic, encouraging viewer participation and enlisting the natural environment as active agents in his work. Solo presentations include: Machine Water, Musée Départemental d’Art Contemporain, Rochechouart; Some farmed, others mined, galerie frank elbaz, Paris; 37,5°C, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Speaking in Flames, MoMA, PS1; Calories and Dance Moves for the Internal Organ Systems, Schirn, Frankfurt; Mimed Sculptures, Bass Miami; Iron Levels, Gagosian Gallery, Rome.

For a preview of poems and readings by Charles Bernstein’s synthesized voice, visit: https://viseu.us/ai-bernstein-balula/ This book received additional support from Kaje.world -Publisher