Simple Markov Chains of the sort you might assign as an undergrad programming assignment can write impressive poetry/captions if you tweak the inputs and cherry

Simple Markov Chains of the sort you might assign as an undergrad programming assignment can write impressive poetry/captions if you tweak the inputs and cherry-pick outputs. There’s a whole Reply All episode of tech journo types being wowed by 90s text generation tech. Nothing wrong with that; it is what it is. But, do markov chains do few-shot learning? What’s actually unclear to me that there is much economic/scientific virtue (NB: different from value) in models that require careful prompt design and curation.