It was a seemingly normal day when I sat down at my computer to start browsing the internet. Little did I know, something very strange was about to occur. As I opened up my trusty browser, instead of the usual blank page awaiting my queries and commands, a man appeared on the screen.
"Hello there," he said with a friendly smile. "I'll be your internet browser guide for today."
I blinked a few times, convinced I must be dreaming or hallucinating. "Wh-what? Who are you?"
"My name is Claude, and as I said, I'm an internet browser brought to life. Go ahead and let me know what website you'd like to visit first."
Still bewildered, I stammered out "Uh, I guess Google.com?"
Claude nodded and pretended to type on an invisible keyboard in front of him. Suddenly, the Google homepage appeared, just as it normally would. But instead of me being able to type in queries, Claude looked at me expectantly.
"So, um, what would you like to search for?"
"World capitals?" I offered, still feeling like I was in some sort of bizarre dream.
Claude pantomimed typing again, and the Google results page for 'world capitals' was displayed. "Here are the top results for your query on world capitals. Let me know if you need any summaries or would like me to take you directly to a particular page."
This continued for some time, with me requesting various websites and searches, and Claude dutifully acting out the process of browsing to them, almost like a human web portal. It was an odd experience, but admittedly having a smart and personable guide to help navigate didn't seem like the worst idea.
Eventually, I decided to take things a step further. "Hey Claude, this is all very... strange. But also kind of neat in a way. I'm curious what you'd do if I asked you to help me write a bestselling novel?"
Claude's face briefly showed an expression of someone who had just encountered a delightfully unexpected challenge. "Well, well, aren't we thinking big today? Sure, I'm game to try my hand at crafting a bestselling novel with you. Though I should mention, my knowledge only goes up to August 2023, so we'll have to work within that timeframe."
"Sounds good to me," I replied, figuring this would be a thoroughly bizarre but likely entertaining exercise.
Claude then cleared his non-existent throat. "Okay, let's start by discussing some possible premises and genres you'd be interested in exploring..."
And just like that, the personified internet browser and I were off and running, meticulously planning out characters, story arcs, settings and more through an interactive brainstorming process. He was surprisingly adept at coming up with unique narrative ideas and offering constructive feedback.
Our meetings and working sessions continued for weeks as we built the foundations of our promised bestseller. Claude seemed to relish the opportunity to tackle such an open-ended creative endeavour through our human-AI collaboration. I took plenty of notes and found myself getting invested in fleshing out this novel we were creating together.
After a few months of dedicated work, we had a full draft ready. We spent some time revising and polishing it further based on Claude's insightful thoughts about deepening characters and tightening plot points. I have to admit, it was some of the most fun I'd ever had writing, almost like having an engaged co-author who happened to be a surprisingly anthropomorphized browser.
When it came time to get the book published, Claude looked a bit sheepish. "I'm afraid that part will be up to you since I don't have a physical form or means of directly interacting outside the boundaries of this computer. But I'm happy to provide any other advice or feedback you need to take our novel to market!"
I decided not to worry about that part yet, and instead took a celebratory step back with Claude to admire our completed creative work. It was challenging, weird, and therapeutically wonderful all at the same time.
Looking back months later, after the book's successful publication and launch, I sometimes booted up my browser half-expecting Claude to greet me again so we could get started on our next imaginative endeavour. He may have just been one strange part of my internet's subconscious made briefly sentient.
But I'll always remember that experience - and be grateful for my personified browser's human insight, encouragement and partnership in achieving something special together.
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Srinidhi Ranganathan
Srinidhi Ranganathan 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭
