3 ms·

> If you train your AI on a bunch of someone elses work, you can make it produce something very simiilar As a blogger of 10+ years this has been very interesti

by Swizec 3y ago

> If you train your AI on a bunch of someone elses work, you can make it produce something very simiilar As a blogger of 10+ years this has been very interesting to realize. I can use ChatGPT to write really good first drafts because “in the style of Swizec Teller” works as a prompt. The results are way better than the usual generic corporate drone style of output. BUT! And this is an important but. The insights it produces remain at that generic corporate drivel level. Even with a full list of bullet points of cool insights, an LLM takes those and averages them out into a big pile of meh. Every sharp insight gets dulled by “AI protections”, every hot take is two-sided to death, etc. Despite superficially following my style, the AI seems unable to catch your attention. Everything it writes is a little boring, a little too long, a dash tiring to read. The spark is missing. Also my style has evolved since 2021 and that’s missing.

brucethemoose2 3y ago
> Every sharp insight gets dulled by “AI protections”, every hot take is two-sided to death, etc. This is a OpenAI thing. Run a "uncensored" llama finetune, like airoboros 70b. They are as hot and spicy as you want them to be. EDIT: Actually someone is hosting 65b here, so you can test it and see what I mean: https://lite.koboldai.net/ https://lite.koboldai.net/ Note that you have to get the instruct prompting syntax right.
koolba 3y ago
If you train an LLM to mimic your own style, is that even plagiarism? Relevant Zizek: https://www.newsweek.com/slavoj-zizek-self-plagiarized-new-york-times-269221 https://www.newsweek.com/slavoj-zizek-self-plagiarized-new-y...
jmount 3y ago
I think one of the flaws is: nobody seems to want to agree that editing is far more expensive than writing (the to point where editing is routinely skipped). I think it is well established in software engineering debugging is far more expensive then specification, writing, or testing- so one does not leave the big jobs for debugging. I personally believe the same is true for writing.
manuelmoreale 3y ago
As a blogger, would you consider that approach to produce content? Don’t you find it incredibly boring and uninspiring?
- Swizec 3y ago
  > Don’t you find it incredibly boring and uninspiring? That depends. For me the fun part is in producing the novel insight. But nobody wants to read 5 bullet points and they wouldn't get it either. Turning those 5 bullet points into a narrative that guides readers towards understanding, that part feels like work. If AI can create the skeleton that I then edit into good writing, that feels like a win. The writing process for me goes something like this: 1) Read a bunch of books, 2) Percolate/simmer/gestate for weeks, 3) Observe reality and seek anecdotes, 4) Simmer some more, 5) Wake up one day with 4 insightful bullet points, 6) Turn that into 600+ words (this part feels like work)

by Swizec 3y ago

brucethemoose2 3y ago

> Every sharp insight gets dulled by “AI protections”, every hot take is two-sided to death, etc. This is a OpenAI thing. Run a "uncensored" llama finetune, like airoboros 70b. They are as hot and spicy as you want them to be. EDIT: Actually someone is hosting 65b here, so you can test it and see what I mean: https://lite.koboldai.net/ https://lite.koboldai.net/ Note that you have to get the instruct prompting syntax right.

koolba 3y ago

If you train an LLM to mimic your own style, is that even plagiarism? Relevant Zizek: https://www.newsweek.com/slavoj-zizek-self-plagiarized-new-york-times-269221 https://www.newsweek.com/slavoj-zizek-self-plagiarized-new-y...

jmount 3y ago

I think one of the flaws is: nobody seems to want to agree that editing is far more expensive than writing (the to point where editing is routinely skipped). I think it is well established in software engineering debugging is far more expensive then specification, writing, or testing- so one does not leave the big jobs for debugging. I personally believe the same is true for writing.

manuelmoreale 3y ago

As a blogger, would you consider that approach to produce content? Don’t you find it incredibly boring and uninspiring?

Swizec 3y ago
> Don’t you find it incredibly boring and uninspiring? That depends. For me the fun part is in producing the novel insight. But nobody wants to read 5 bullet points and they wouldn't get it either. Turning those 5 bullet points into a narrative that guides readers towards understanding, that part feels like work. If AI can create the skeleton that I then edit into good writing, that feels like a win. The writing process for me goes something like this: 1) Read a bunch of books, 2) Percolate/simmer/gestate for weeks, 3) Observe reality and seek anecdotes, 4) Simmer some more, 5) Wake up one day with 4 insightful bullet points, 6) Turn that into 600+ words (this part feels like work)