I'm sorry, but I didn't get on with this book. I requested it because the concept sounded interesting when I heard Andy talking about it on a podcast, but in the end, I heard everything I needed to hear about it in the actual podcast. It was fascinating hearing how he worked with Chat GTP, but, for me, it didn't translate into fiction I wanted to keep returning to.

I haven't reviewed online because I don't think reviews that aren't positive need to be shared.

Thank you for the opportunity to read/listen to the book.

I enjoyed this book it was witty and gave me a window into the use of AI in a way I had never thought to use it. This book was weird and wonderful and not for those who aren’t a fan of innuendo.

This book was a wild ride in many ways. The core idea of this book is how AI can both write a substantial amount of a story, but falls just short of writing a human story, as evidenced by the author's attempts to edit and tidy up a story that often makes little sense.

We follow a slightly absurd story (that sometimes just tips into being silly), but I think the real strength of the book is in the asides from the author, as he tries to probe what the AI bot does not quite understand about telling a story, and as a result dives into what it means to be human.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll admit that I was quite wary going into this book. Like many others, I believe very strongly that AI generators should not be used in the creative arts, but it’s still a fascinating subject and one that its important to be informed about, given the inevitable effect AI will have on our lives. The concept of this book intrigued me: the starting point is a nonsensical story written using ChatGPT, with the author/programmer then reflecting on what he learned. It was still difficult to predict what I was getting myself into, but when I saw that Nish Kumar voiced ChatGPT in the audiobook, I was sold!

Overall, this was an enjoyable listen. The style of narration combined with the sound effects made it feel more like a very long podcast, and there was a good balance of the entertaining (the ridiculous ‘plot’ of the story) and the thought-provoking (Andy Stanton’s commentary). Stanton reflects on a wide range of topics, mostly in relation to the limitations and failings of the bot, but also mentioning bias, censorship and more. At his most philosophical, he discusses how uniquely human storytelling is, using ChatGPT’s most inhuman moments as a point of contrast.

There was some interesting discussion on bias and censorship, but I would have loved to hear a lot more on the topic. There were some passages that stood out to me as something interesting to discuss but that went completely unremarked upon. Another glaring omission is the intellectual property of the bot’s dataset. Stanton even acknowledges eery similarities to existing works, but doesn’t examine the potential consequences beyond a throwaway joke.

While I was mostly enjoying the listening experience, there were some points that it began to wear thin. Some of the jokes relied on excessive repetition which, while entertaining on a page that you can skim over, became annoying very quickly over audiobook. While the premise of Benny’s story is worth perhaps a chuckle at most, it soon became old. The running gag of the whole book relies on you having the same sense of humour as a thirteen-year-old boy. It was funny to start with, but about half way through I was done with it.

This was a fun and interesting idea for a book, and there are lots of worthwhile things that I took away from it. As much as I had my frustrations with it, I am glad that I picked it up. It’s clear that AI is here to stay, and I’m glad that Andy Stanton was there to guide me through what to expect.

I received a free copy for an honest review.

There wasn't really much I enjoyed about Benny the Blue Whale.
The "plot" was a complete mess and felt extremely childish, which I just didn't find particularly funny, and while the author made some interesting comments on ChatGPI once in a while, they weren't insightful enough to make me actually like this book.
Overall this felt like the author saw an easy opportunity to make some cash by letting ChatGPT create a book for him and took it. Good for him, I guess.

I’m interested in ChatGPT and the premise of an author and AI co-authoring a book sounded interesting.

I found the process quite interesting - to a point. However, I should state from the outset that I’m probably not the target audience for the book. I persevered with the book, but gave up around 80 percent of the way through. I couldn’t take in anymore genitalia references.

On the plus-side, I thought Nish Kumar narrated the book enthusiastically. I think he makes a great narrator and has a great range of intonation and clearly knows how to tell a story. However, I found the sound effects irritating. The pitch and sound went right through me - much like the sounds of nails scraping a chalkboard would.

As said, I would stress, that I think I do not fall into the target audience for the book, but I can see how there will be an audience for it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, W.F. Howes Ltd, for making this advance reading copy available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I definitely didn't expect this story to be as interesting as it was.The first couple of chapters were quite slow paced and repetitive so I thought that I wasn't going to get much out of the book but I kept on listening and actually the author raised some really valid and though provoking points.A must read for anyone,even if you are not interested in AI and Technology,and I highly recommend.