Answers from the Ghostwriter: Engineer Created a Typewriter with AI

Typewriter answers to the author when he asks something.

Designer-engineer Arvind Sanjeev has created a typewriter with AI. The developer spoke in detail about the creation process on Twitter. He modified the classic Brother AX-325 by integrating OpenAI GPT 3 into it.

To create Ghostwriter, Sanjeev took apart typewriter and reverse-engineered its keyboard signals, then fed them through an Arduino. Afterwards, the developer configured the microcontroller to signal to the Raspberry Pi that acts as a network interface to OpenAI's GPT-3 API. Thanks to this, the typewriter can now answer the user's questions on its own.

While experimenting with the machine, Sanjeev understood that he needed to control the creative "temperature" and response length of GPT-3. That's why he added two knobs and an OLED screen above the keyboard. After that, he painted the device gray and orange.

I wanted to create a mindful intervention that allows you to take a moment to breathe and reflect on the new creative relationship we are forming with machines. The calm meditative interface of a vintage typewriter takes away all the digital distractions and takes us on an emotional journey through paper and ink

The creation of the ghostwriter Arvind was inspired by the ideas of the writer Rob Sloane. It took the engineer about two years to finish the project.