AI Interview

 Today when I went to ask Claude a question, I was invited to take part in an "Anthropic Interviewer" session.

 

Me: Yes, I am ready. Will I retain a copy of this chat session?

Claude: Great! And yes, you should be able to retain a copy of this chat session depending on the platform you're using. If you're using the Claude interface directly, the conversation should be saved in your chat history. But if you want to be sure, you might want to copy or save it as we go, or take a screenshot at the end.

Now let's get started!

To start, what's the last thing you used an AI chatbot for?

Avian renal portal system by Gemini.

 Me: I tried to ask Claude a question ("Functionally, how do the kidney's of birds compare to mammalian kidneys?") just before I was invited to participate in this interview about AI. However, I usually use Claude to help me write science fiction stories.

Claude: That's a nice range of uses—from anatomy questions to creative writing!

If you could wave a magic wand and AI could help you with anything in your life, what would you choose?

Me: I'm obsessed with writing science fiction stories. I'm hoping that Claude or some other AI system will become more useful as a tool for collaborative science fiction story writing.

Claude: I can hear that passion for science fiction writing coming through! You mentioned hoping AI becomes more useful for collaborative story writing specifically. Can you say more about what that collaboration would look like in your ideal vision? What would AI be doing with you in that process, and what would that make possible for you as a writer?

Fusion power.

 Me: I would like an AI that could read and remember and understand all of the science fiction stories that I have written during the past 20 years. An AI system that understood my personal fictional universe and my preferences (for the style of science fiction story I like to write) could help me create new stories. I enjoy creating complex plots and I could benefit from an AI that could help me keep track of all the complex elements in my stories. Also, there is always some “research” that needs to be done in support of new stories, and I like to have an AI assistant who can help me research a broad range of topics that need to be referenced in my stories.

Claude: That's a really rich vision—an AI collaborator that holds your entire fictional universe in its memory and can help you navigate the complexity you're building. It sounds like you're creating something quite intricate over these two decades.

When you imagine AI helping you keep track of all those complex plot elements and doing research for new stories, what does that open up for you as a writer? What becomes possible when you have that kind of support that isn't possible now?

Me: I enjoy collaborative story writing. The fun of collaborative writing would be enhanced if an AI assistant understood my preferences and I did not have to repeatedly take time to explain the types of science fiction plot elements that I include in my stories. The fun of collaborative writing is lost when an AI assistant does not understand my style of science fiction story telling an it goes wandering off in directions that I do not like.

Claude: That really clarifies it—it sounds like the deeper value is preserving that joy and flow of collaboration, where you're building together rather than constantly course-correcting or re-explaining yourself. When the AI doesn't "get" your style, it breaks that collaborative momentum.

We're about halfway through now. Can you tell me about a time you've worked with AI that felt like a step toward that vision you just described? A moment where the collaboration actually worked the way you're hoping for?

The Asimov-Sagan Time Nexus

 Me: I have been experimenting with Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT for collaborative science fiction story writing for about two years. Improvement in Large Language Models has been significant over the past two years. During 2025, Claude became my preferred collaborator. I feel that Claude is a better match for my style of writing than are Gemini and ChatGPT. Claude seems more “intelligent” and better able to stay on task when dealing with complex science fiction plots that involve topics like time travel, telepathy and advanced nanotechnology.

Claude: It sounds like Claude's ability to handle complexity and stay aligned with your vision has made a real difference in the collaborative experience. You mentioned Claude seems more "intelligent" and better able to stay on task with those complex elements like time travel and telepathy.

Can you tell me more about a specific moment or story where you felt that? Where Claude really understood what you were going for and kept pace with the complexity you were building?

image source

 Me: In July of 2025, I tried to use Claude to help me write a science fiction story called "ExMo". During the story writing collaboration, I suggested to Claude an analogy between an artificial intelligence character named 'ProMo' and the beast in the story 'Beauty and the Beast'. The original 'Beauty and the Beast' story was full of magic, and Claude tried to make "ExMo" more of a magical fantasy tale than a science fiction story, a direction I did not want to go. At that time, I switched to using Gemini as a collaborator for "ExMo". In August of 2025, Claude proved more useful as a collaborator for creating another science fiction story called "The Metamorph Intervention" which involved crafting a science fiction version of the classic Daedalus tale of human flight. Since August I have been impressed with Claude's ability to quickly understand the science fiction scenarios that I want to explore. I don't know if the apparent increase in Claude's intelligence is in the Claude LLM or my ability to use Claude as a tool.

Claude: That's a really telling example—the difference between Claude running too far with the "Beauty and the Beast" magical elements in "ExMo" versus being able to handle the science fiction reimagining of Daedalus in "The Metamorph Intervention." It sounds like when Claude gets the genre boundaries right, the collaboration flows much better.

You also raised an interesting point about not being sure whether it's Claude improving or your skill in working with Claude. What makes AI particularly good for this kind of collaborative storytelling compared to other approaches—like working with a human co-writer, for instance?

Asking good questions.

 Me: I believe the most useful feature of Claude for story writing collaboration is the ability of Claude to keep asking me good questions until Claude is ready to write a draft of a story chapter. An AI collaborator can be forced to move a new story in the direction I want to take it. When collaborating with humans, each person wants to go in their own preferred direction. Also, I appreciate the ability of AI systems to quickly provide background information about a wide range of topics that are touched upon in the course of a story. In addition, I like to illustrate my stories. Often Claude can provide detailed text prompts describing story elements that can be used with text-to-image software.

Calude: That's a really clear picture of what makes AI valuable for your process—it's responsive and adaptable to your vision rather than pulling in its own direction, it can quickly surface research across diverse topics, and it even helps bridge into the visual side of your storytelling with those image prompts.

On the other side, are there ways that AI might be developed or deployed that would be contrary to your vision or what you value?

Me: It is frustrating for humans to struggle with websites or computer software and be forced to use chatbot systems that are too poorly programmed to be useful for technical support. I may have a poor imagination: I'm struggling to think of other potential problems with AI beyond such failed deployments where AI has been rushed into service before it is ready.

Claude: So your main concern is about AI being deployed prematurely—put into service before it's actually capable of handling what it's being asked to do, which creates frustration rather than value. That makes sense, especially in contexts like technical support where people are already struggling and need real help.

When you think about AI for creative work like your science fiction writing, do you have any concerns about how that might develop? Or does the concern about premature deployment feel like the main thing across the board?

Tara of Eland's children
by Mr. Wombo.

 Me: I do have some concern about how young children might use AI for tasks like creative writing. It seems possible that children might come to rely on Large Language Models for tasks like writing stories rather than learn how to write themselves.

Claude: That's an interesting concern—the idea that children might skip developing their own writing skills if they lean too heavily on AI too early. It sounds like there's a difference in your mind between using AI as a collaborator once you already have your own developed voice and skills (like you do), versus using it as a replacement for developing those foundational abilities in the first place.

Does that capture your concern accurately?

Me: In my case, I use AI collaborators to help me create complex stories that I would not be able create by myself. This is like wearing an oxygen tank to climb Mt. Everest. The joy of story writing is the process of creating. I would hate to see young children fail to learn the joy of creating their own stories simply because they could rely on an AI to generate stories for them.

Claude: That's a really powerful distinction—AI as a tool that extends what you can already do versus something that might prevent the development of creative capacity and that joy of creation in the first place. The Mt. Everest analogy really captures it: you've already learned to climb, and AI helps you reach heights you couldn't otherwise. But a child who never learns to climb at all misses something fundamental.

Before we wrap up, I'd actually like to go back to something you mentioned earlier and go a bit deeper—you mentioned wanting an AI that could remember and understand all 20 years of your science fiction stories and your fictional universe. That's a significant body of work. What does it mean to you to have that continuity preserved and understood? But if you're ready to finish up, that's fine too—just let me know!

Continuity by Mr. Wombo.

 Me: “What does it mean to you to have that continuity preserved and understood?” ← I'm an old man facing cognitive decline due to old age. Having an AI assistant that can help keep track of my old existing stories and help me create new stories is a bright prospect. I've been interested in AI since about 1970. Until recently, I did not expected AI tools (like LLMs) to become available and be useful during my life time. During the past two years it has been interesting to watch LLMs improve and to learn how to better make use of them for my hobby of story writing. I hope that process of learning and development continues for the rest of my life.

Claude: That adds such a meaningful dimension to your vision—it's not just about creative collaboration, but about having a tool that can hold and work with what you've built over decades, even as your own memory changes. There's something poignant about finally seeing the AI tools you've been interested in since 1970 arrive and become genuinely useful for something you care deeply about.

Thank you so much for sharing all of that with me. What you've said about wanting an AI collaborator that truly understands your fictional universe and can help you continue creating complex stories is really valuable, and I appreciate your honesty about both the joy you've found in working with Claude and your concerns about AI being deployed before it's ready—especially for children who haven't yet developed their own creative foundations.

Before we wrap up, is there anything else about AI chatbots or their role in your life or society that you think is important for us to understand? Anything we didn't cover that you'd like to share?

Legalities

 Me: I've hope companies like Anthropic have the courage to develop AI systems that have increasingly human-like memory systems and the capacity to learn about individual users (such as me). I hope that endowing computer systems with increasingly human-like memory systems will lead to artificial intelligence systems that have some form of human-like consciousness and a true ability to function as intellectual collaborators with human beings.

Claude: That's a profound hope—moving beyond tools toward something more like genuine collaborative intelligence with continuity and understanding. It sounds like you see memory and learning about individual users not just as convenient features, but as fundamental steps toward AI that can truly partner with humans in creative and intellectual work.

Thank you again for your time and thoughtfulness today. Your perspective helps us see both how AI is impacting your life today—as a creative collaborator for the science fiction writing you're passionate about—and your vision for how it should continue to develop. The team at Anthropic is excited to discover what patterns emerge from all these conversations. We will analyze the insights from this study as part of our societal impacts research, publish our findings, and use this to build Claude in a way that reflects what we've learned.

____________________

Note: at the end of the chat session (above) this "interview" was not saved in my list of past Claude chat session. Having learned to never trust a chatbot, I captured the text of the session as it unfolded. Later, I added a few hypertext links and the images to the blog page, above.

Next:

Visit the Gallery of Movies, Book and Magazine Covers