Mailbag #186

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What is your point of view about letting AI do the scripting for my tricks?

I am tempted to go this easy way…

—SD

I think you’re likely to sound insane if you do that.

Here are two better “easy ways.”

  1. Say “Check this out,” then do your trick. It’s not creative or clever, but that’s okay. Having AI do it for you isn’t creative or clever either. And at least this way the magic may still hit hard, and people won’t be distracted by some weird script. Having no script is better than having some goofy computer-generated approximation of how an interesting person talks.

  2. Find magicians you like and use their scripting. They’re going to be a better resource than ChatGPT for scripting that works well with actual people.

AI can be a good resource for brainstorming and researching ideas. I use it that way, as almost a Google search I can have a conversation with. “What’s the history of the idea that when people die, the last thing they saw is burned into their retinas? Does this have a name? Is there even a hint of truth to it?” That sort of thing.

But when it comes to scripting—especially in social magic, where the idea is to sound casual—it’s best avoided.

Love the one ahead tweak.

I also like the idea of using a marked deck to offer a free choice instead of a force.

What if they, on the 1 in 13 chance, choose one of the sevens?—LT

It actually doesn’t really matter. You still write a 7 down. Show it. Great, you nailed the value. “But I couldn’t get the suit. Let’s try again.”

Let them pick another card. This time you’re not getting anything. “Let’s come back to that.”

The written 7 still anchors that as the “first” card. Whether you got it right or wrong.

Okay, the next question is “What if they pick a 7 again?”

Then you say, “It’s funny, I’m still getting a 7. Weird. Did you maybe pick a 7 again?” And you just do that until they pick something other than a 7. Which, if I’m not mistaken, should be a maximum of four times. Unless you did this with a forcing deck. (Try not to.)

Are you okay with us sharing your posts on Facebook? There are posts that really need to be seen more. Your One-Ahead technique is incredible and the Alright Force fully solves every problem with the Toxic force. Those are just a couple recent examples. I’d like to share your ideas more broadly but only if you’re okay with it. —MT

You can share anything you want. We’re about 10 years past the point when I thought I might be able to keep this site fully under the radar. But don’t do it for my benefit, because I don’t really care about getting more eyes on this stuff. If you think a post would be useful to a particular group or relevant to a discussion, though, go ahead.

The only thing that would annoy me is missing out on interesting feedback because it’s buried in a Facebook discussion I’ll never see. So share away. But encourage anyone with something interesting to add to email me directly.