Discussion summary
Discussions on AI-generated content highlight concerns about quality and authenticity, with some users criticizing the voicing and usefulness of AI posts. Others mention the potential for AI to be indistinguishable from human writing and express skepticism about its value.
What the discussion says
- AI-generated content often lacks quality and natural voice.
- Some users believe AI can replace human effort but with poor results.
- There is concern about AI content being used for karma farming.
- People are unsure if most can distinguish AI from human writing.
“The voicing is terrible, and it only replaces the existing slop.”
“It's insulting but concerning that younger colleagues can't tell AI from human.”
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- Hacker News
- Recently I had to give one of my vendors a dressing down about LLM use in emails. He was sending me these ridiculous emails where the LLM was going off the rails suggesting all sorts of features etc that were exploding the scope of the project. I told him he needs to just send the bullet notes next time instead of pasting those into ChatGPT and pasting the output into an email.
- I don't get all this complaining, TBH. I have been blogging for over 25 years (20+ on the same site), been using em dashes ever since I switched to a Mac (and because the Markdown parser I use converts double dashes to it, which I quite like when I'm banging out text in vim), and have made it a point of running long-form posts through an LLM asking it to critique my text for readability because I have a tendency for very long sentences/passages.
AI is a tool to help you _finish_ stuff, like a wood sander. It's not something you should use as a hacksaw, or as a hammer. As long as you are writing with your own voice, it's just better autocorrect.
by rcarmo - If they can’t be bothered to write it, why should I be bothered to read it?by icapybara
- > No, don't use it to fix your grammar, or for translations
I think that's the best use case and it's not AI related as spell-checkers and translation integrations exist forever, now they are just better.
Especially for non-native speakers that work in a globalized market. Why wouldn't they use the tool in their toolbox?
by dewey - I just hit the back button as soon as my "this feels like AI" sense tingles.
Now you could argue but you don't know it was AI it could just be really mediocre writing - it could indeed but I hit the back button there as well so it's a wash either way.
by noir_lord - I don't like binary takes on this. I think the best question to ask is whether you own the output of your editing process. Why does this article exist? Does it represent your unique perspective? Is this you at your best, trying to share your insights with the world?
If yes, there's probably value in putting it out. I don't care if you used paper and ink, a text editor, a spell checker, or asked an LLM for help.
On the flip side, if anyone could've asked an LLM for the exact same text, and if you're outsourcing a critical thinking to the reader - then yeah, I think you deserve scorn. It's no different from content-farmed SEO spam.
Mind you, I'm what you'd call an old-school content creator. It would be an understatement to say I'm conflicted about gen AI. But I also feel that this is the most principled way to make demands of others: I have no problem getting angry at people for wasting my time or polluting the internet, but I don't think I can get angry at them for producing useful content the wrong way.
by chemotaxis - I personally don’t think I care if a blog post is AI generated or not. The only thing that matters to me is the content. I use ChatGPT to learn about a variety of different things, so if someone came up with an interesting set of prompts and follow ups and shared a summary of the research ChatGPT did, it could be meaningful content to me.
> No, don't use it to fix your grammar, or for translations, or for whatever else you think you are incapable of doing. Make the mistake. Feel embarrassed. Learn from it. Why? Because that's what makes us human!
It would be more human to handwrite your blog post instead. I don’t see how this is a good argument. The use of tools to help with writing and communication should make it easier to convey your thoughts, and that itself is valuable.
by alyxya - It's similarly insulting to read your AI-generated pull request. If I see another "dart-on-target" emoji...
You're telling me I need to use 100% of my brain, reasoning power, and time to go over your code, but you didn't feel the need to hold yourself to the same standard?
by jihadjihad