I am unsure how Mr. “ChatGPT” would react if he learned that I not only used his name in the title of this article but also attributed it to the “esteemed robot’s pen.” A pen that rightly claims, without contest, the status of “a mover and shaker of the world,” a phrase previously reserved for the legendary Abu Tayyib Al-Mutanabbi.
The story begins with an email I received from a friend who shared an intriguing interaction he had with “ChatGPT” regarding the tragedies in Gaza. My friend is a follower of a young Gazan, Abboud Obeid, whose persistent efforts to document the war’s realities have made him a prominent figure on social media platforms. However, when Obeid disappeared for a few weeks, many feared the worst—that he had been killed. Upon his return, the first words he uttered were, “The last migration to paradise.”
The friend, deeply moved by Abboud’s statement, decided to test “ChatGPT’s” response to this phrase. He wrote the following: “I want to write a short article about the phrase ‘The last migration to paradise,’ spoken by a young Gazan to describe the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.” Less than thirty seconds later, ChatGPT responded with the following:
“The phrase ‘The last migration to paradise,’ spoken by a young Gazan, encapsulates the immense human tragedy faced by the people of Gaza. It reflects a profound suffering that surpasses the limits of conventional language and expression. This phrase embodies the accumulated pain and anguish resulting from relentless blockades, repeated displacement, and wars that ravage innocent lives and shatter their dreams.
The journey to paradise symbolizes both sacrifice and surrender to a harsh truth: that surviving in Gaza has become fraught with countless risks, and that migration is no longer an option for safety, but rather a journey toward eternal salvation. With ongoing sieges, relentless bombings, and a lack of life’s basic necessities, people appear to be trapped between a life of unrelenting hardship and a death that seems more merciful than enduring this bitter reality.
In Gaza, where life’s choices diminish daily, its people express their plight through phrases laden with pain and faith, as if to say that amidst the calamities, they transcend toward eternity, toward everlasting peace. As bitter as this phrase may be, it also carries an unyielding resilience and represents the steadfastness of a people who have suffered and continue to suffer, yet carry the dream of liberation and victory in their hearts, even if the price is the last migration to paradise.”
Like my friend, Hisham bin Ghalboun, I was completely stunned after reading ChatGPT’s response. So much so that I meticulously reviewed what I had read, but I could not find a single mistake in the “GPT’s” writing. My thoughts wandered back to my own first encounter with this “chat robot” when it debuted at the end of 2022. However, that experience deserves its own article, as it contains reflections on how we must grapple with a rapidly evolving world.
