Intelligent Story Software Othelia Harnesses Small Language Model AI to Safeguard Creative Content Industries.

The advent of sophisticated artificial intelligence programs, particularly generative AI, has brought to the fore the various ethical issues related to creating literature using AI. There are concerns about intellectual property rights and plagiarism, as large language models such as ChatGPT4 pull from existing information and literary works. AI’s ability to generate literary and dramatic works in minutes has given it a starring role in the discourse around Hollywood’s ongoing writers’ strike, where its massive impact must be addressed by regulatory standards around the technology. 

Many creative writers and artists have deemed AI as detrimental to the arts and are wary of the ramifications it poses for culture going forward. However, the makers of Othelia, an intelligent story software platform, believe that artists shouldn’t entirely dismiss AI’s potential contributions to the creative process. They believe that AI technology can be used ethically and safely to enhance the creative writing process for literature, film, and television.

According to Kate Armstrong-Smith, co-founder and CEO of Othelia, the platform uses a small story language model, in contrast to the large language models used by the commonly known AI programs. The difference lies in where the AI pulls the story information it references. Large language models are trained on a ‘corpus of text’, such as trillions of parameters of existing human made data. On the other hand, small language models work within a more defined space, such as a book or literary universe supplied by the user. This allows Othelia to operate within the confines of a book or script that the user has rights to, without infringing on others’ work. or moral rights.

Steven Worrall (MD of Microsoft Asia Pacific), Prof Didar Zowghi (CSIRO – government scientific organization) Damian Cronan (Head of Technology at ABC) 

Media library meets generative AI solution – The small language models give Othelia the ability to have a contained story world with a private library that can be licensed and confined.

Considering the need for scripting narrative spans from the TikTokers to the Marvel Universe franchise, Othelia’s process represents the most secure way of harnessing AI as a narrative tool for investors and content creators in this 400-billion-dollar industry. Othelia’s current funding phase will help it scale its small language models to meet the needs of this huge market whilst working to preserve story diversity.

Othelia’s StoryKeeper platform uses its own proprietary semantic model to analyze the work input by the user, and it creates maps of the narrative and the character relationships. This tool gives creatives greater control over story management, allowing easier editing of story beats and ensuring consistency throughout the entire narrative. If the author creates a new character or story event, StoryKeeper ensures that the changes will reflect throughout the entire work. Up until this point professional narrative processes have been held in place by its paper-based methods of scripting and file cards while Othelia allows users to engage their story directly with game engines and editing suites; this saves time and effort, compared to transposing text line by line. It also allows easier exportation of story beats, bibles, and production notes for smoother operation of the production pipelines.

Armstrong-Smith shared one use case for the Othelia platform, where a TV show has a script written for a certain number of episodes, but orders from the production studio or streaming service require that the episode count be adjusted quickly to fit the production schedule. Story Keeper allows the writers to quickly condensate the material while ensuring the narrative stays intact and internally consistent.

“Our mission is to create AI-powered storytelling software that keeps creatives at the helm of these technologies. We’ve released a narratively intelligent piece of software that can digest books within minutes and turn them into scripts for users to play with. It doesn’t write ones story for them, but it assists them and updates everything in real time,” Armstrong-Smith says. “Our vision is for AI software to enhance the golden gut creativity of humans and keep the magic of storytelling alive in today’s digital age.”

According to Armstrong-Smith, who has a background in both creative production and Biochemistry, technology has dramatically changed how people consume information. Social media algorithms have had a huge influence on the information people receive, leading to the rise of massive disinformation campaigns, commonly known as the “fake news” phenomenon, that have worsened political polarization. Many experts fear that growing AI capabilities may further feed this, creating more powerful fake news and propaganda weapons. It is well known that Story is a medium that can convey the truth without using facts and its power of persuasion and pathos was known even by the ancient Greeks.

In response to this, AI industry leaders, Writers Guilds and Governments have been calling for the institution of regulations for AI, because of its far-reaching artistic and real-world consequences, a sentiment that Othelia’s makers agree with.

“Amid the worrying trends, our team believes that everyone should stop and consider how technology is affecting people’s values. Our writers and storytellers have been our story guardians and value custodians for centuries. This is the dawn of a technology that, unlike the advent of the smartphone or blockchain, generatively and sans emotion or reflection amplifies the values of its data-owners.  If societal diversity comes from our story diversity we believe the creative industries need to be at the helm of this next intelligent technology revolution. The creators of AI technology have an opportunity to start reflecting on how it influences culture and think of all possible consequences, especially unintended ones – something storytellers have traditionally done. Our position is that it’s possible to keep the magic of storytelling alive through the ethical use of AI and the creative industries must embrace it. Our company is an example of focusing on technology to improve the creative process in a way that’s respectful to humans’ ability to create. I believe that, if we can change the culture of technology, there is an incredible creative renaissance awaiting us in the near future,” Armstrong-Smith says.