Specifically, Can Chat write an interesting
short story on a particular premise?

Here’s what I asked Chat:

Chat, as an experiment, could you fictionalize a 200-word backstory of a 2005 twenty-five cent coin I have in my pocket?

ChatGPT’s answer:

“Absolutely, that sounds like a fun challenge. Here’s a fictionalized 200-word backstory for your 2005 quarter:

In the fall of 2005, freshly minted in Denver, this particular quarter gleamed with promise. It was part of the West Virginia state series—showing the iconic New River Gorge Bridge—and it first saw the world in a small cash drawer of a gas station just outside Charleston.

A young couple on a road trip to California received it in change after buying coffee and beef jerky. It clinked around in the glove compartment for months, crossing half the country before being used in a Nevada slot machine—where it promptly triggered a $50 win.

From there, it passed through countless hands: a waitress in Reno, a paperboy in Salt Lake City, a laundromat in Des Moines.

In 2012, a retired science teacher in Chicago pinned it to a classroom corkboard with a note: “Every coin travels. What story will this one tell?”

Years later, a curious student liberated it and carried it through college, using it to scratch off lotto tickets and open stubborn soda cans.

Eventually, it ended up in a bowl by your front door—forgotten, until today.
Now it’s in your pocket again, humming quietly with its tiny, improbable odyssey. Not valuable, maybe—but definitely rich in miles.”

Chat also asked me:

“Want a version with a twist of mystery or humor next?”


Chat answered my initial query to write a short story within 10 seconds.

Note: I am using the free version of Chat

Chat’s story does have some creative shortcomings, but I do wonder:
If most people saw this in a post from someone, do you think those readers would be able to say with confidence:

“An AI text creator wrote this.”

______ Dennis Mellersh, Business Media Writer, Journalist, Editor