The mechanical plot wheels and first-generation story-generators may feel like AI-ancient history, but these early 20th century text generators and writing devices have robust afterlives in industries ranging from Aviation and Defense to online dating to the systems that organize how you find books at a library. In this case, we first explore how TALE-SPIN, an early story generator, was repurposed by the Department of Defense to create Aviation Incident Reports. Second, we track the incursion of computers into the dating world, from Turing’s provocation that machines are capable of falling in love to punchcard match-making services at college campuses in the 1960s. Finally, we consider how the library itself has been influenced by automatization. Research libraries like Columbia’s steward a collection of millions of volumes, making automation a critical part of its acquisition strategy. Thus our final shelf examines the fact that some of the materials in this very exhibit have been acquired through automatic means.