3 ms·

> When the algae perform photosynthesis, they release tiny particles called electrons. Really, Newsweek? Are we doing this now?

Loughla 2y ago
Remember that the average American reads at the level of like an 8 or 9 year old. I think it's 4th grade, is what they say.
- marginalia_nu 2y ago
  Even as an 9 year old I'd be pretty insulted if someone talked to me like that.
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    I feel bad for LLMs that get trained on modern publications ("high quality sources", heh), and internalize that this is how people are supposed to talk with each other.
    - fch42 2y ago
      I often wonder how biased we are here. After all, HN is a rather "raw-looking" news aggregator without any of the addictive and suggestive bells & whistles that define the modern internet, and it is therefore reasonable to assume that those who read and post here (aka "us") also converse in ways unlike the population average. You could also claim I'm saying we're basking in our own elitism to the degree that we're offended by stupidity like that. I'd admit to that feeling. Alas, even if it sounds arrogant, it fits my observation that "most people" would find nothing at all wrong with this sort of meaningless overchildish belittlement of scientific facts.
      - marginalia_nu 2y ago
        The HN readership is as entitled to an opinion about writing style as anyone else. If anything thinking yourself such an intellectual one-punch-man, such an outlier, so many echelons above the common man that a single voicing of your opinions would meaningfully skew the statistics, now that's what I'd consider elitist. We ought to complain about what we subjectively find lacking, not what we expect some model of the average person will find lacking. If everyone did that, I don't think it would be possible to make something that is to anyone's liking, as while it's relatively easy to know what you like and want, it is incredibly hard to know what the average person desires.
- sarchertech 2y ago
  That’s not true. It’s not that the average American reads at a 4th grade level, it’s that enough of people read at less than a 5th grade level (about 20%) that you have to take them into account when targeting a general audience.
- rightbyte 2y ago
  That doesn't sound right. Are 10 year olds not better at reading than 9 year olds?
marginalia_nu 2y ago
> Just like humans, algae are constantly breathing—but they intake carbon dioxide and release oxygen Yeah this isn't great.
- amadeuspagel 2y ago
  That's a quote from a co-author of the paper.
  - marcosdumay 2y ago
    Well, this is way worse.
tptacek 2y ago
A reminder that "Newsweek" hasn't existed for over a decade, and this publication is a clickbait farm run by a religious cult that purchased the branding in a fire sale.
- burkaman 2y ago
  This is referring to IBT Media (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBT_Media https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBT_Media), whose CEO currently owns 50% of Newsweek. They've also started heavily encouraging their reporters to use generative AI, so maybe that line was written by GPT. > In service of more stories, and faster stories, Newsweek’s AI policy addendum gives staffers the greenlight to use generative AI in “writing, research, editing, and other core journalism functions,” as long as journalists are involved in each step of the process. The original version of Newsweek’s policy stated that using AI for “core journalism functions” required touch points with “three or more journalists” during production. A review of the page on the Wayback Machine shows that line was removed sometime after March 2. - https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/inside-newsweek-ai-experiment/ https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/inside-newsweek-ai-experim...
  - solardev 2y ago
    Or maybe it's one of those instances where they SHOULD'VE used GPT but didn't? Explaining things in plain English is one of those things that LLMs are actually really good at, and they have a much broader and deeper science background knowledge than your typical journalist does. Written journalism is a dying, very low paid job unless you're working at a huge paper (Newsweek isn't). I wouldn't be surprised if GPT could produce better writing (not reporting, but writing), like if you fed it bullet points of reporting and asked it to make a readable article.
  - jszymborski 2y ago
    That might explain why the article says Concordia University in Wisconsin and not Montréal (the article is from the latter)
NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
Electricity is an invisible force that, when harnessed, is able to perform useful work, light up the night sky, and create entertainment like moving pictures on flat panels. Contact your local electrologist for more details.

Loughla 2y ago

Remember that the average American reads at the level of like an 8 or 9 year old. I think it's 4th grade, is what they say.

marginalia_nu 2y ago
Even as an 9 year old I'd be pretty insulted if someone talked to me like that.
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  I feel bad for LLMs that get trained on modern publications ("high quality sources", heh), and internalize that this is how people are supposed to talk with each other.
  - fch42 2y ago
    I often wonder how biased we are here. After all, HN is a rather "raw-looking" news aggregator without any of the addictive and suggestive bells & whistles that define the modern internet, and it is therefore reasonable to assume that those who read and post here (aka "us") also converse in ways unlike the population average. You could also claim I'm saying we're basking in our own elitism to the degree that we're offended by stupidity like that. I'd admit to that feeling. Alas, even if it sounds arrogant, it fits my observation that "most people" would find nothing at all wrong with this sort of meaningless overchildish belittlement of scientific facts.
    - marginalia_nu 2y ago
      The HN readership is as entitled to an opinion about writing style as anyone else. If anything thinking yourself such an intellectual one-punch-man, such an outlier, so many echelons above the common man that a single voicing of your opinions would meaningfully skew the statistics, now that's what I'd consider elitist. We ought to complain about what we subjectively find lacking, not what we expect some model of the average person will find lacking. If everyone did that, I don't think it would be possible to make something that is to anyone's liking, as while it's relatively easy to know what you like and want, it is incredibly hard to know what the average person desires.
sarchertech 2y ago
That’s not true. It’s not that the average American reads at a 4th grade level, it’s that enough of people read at less than a 5th grade level (about 20%) that you have to take them into account when targeting a general audience.
rightbyte 2y ago
That doesn't sound right. Are 10 year olds not better at reading than 9 year olds?

marginalia_nu 2y ago

> Just like humans, algae are constantly breathing—but they intake carbon dioxide and release oxygen Yeah this isn't great.

amadeuspagel 2y ago
That's a quote from a co-author of the paper.
- marcosdumay 2y ago
  Well, this is way worse.

tptacek 2y ago

A reminder that "Newsweek" hasn't existed for over a decade, and this publication is a clickbait farm run by a religious cult that purchased the branding in a fire sale.

burkaman 2y ago
This is referring to IBT Media (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBT_Media https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBT_Media), whose CEO currently owns 50% of Newsweek. They've also started heavily encouraging their reporters to use generative AI, so maybe that line was written by GPT. > In service of more stories, and faster stories, Newsweek’s AI policy addendum gives staffers the greenlight to use generative AI in “writing, research, editing, and other core journalism functions,” as long as journalists are involved in each step of the process. The original version of Newsweek’s policy stated that using AI for “core journalism functions” required touch points with “three or more journalists” during production. A review of the page on the Wayback Machine shows that line was removed sometime after March 2. - https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/inside-newsweek-ai-experiment/ https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/inside-newsweek-ai-experim...
- solardev 2y ago
  Or maybe it's one of those instances where they SHOULD'VE used GPT but didn't? Explaining things in plain English is one of those things that LLMs are actually really good at, and they have a much broader and deeper science background knowledge than your typical journalist does. Written journalism is a dying, very low paid job unless you're working at a huge paper (Newsweek isn't). I wouldn't be surprised if GPT could produce better writing (not reporting, but writing), like if you fed it bullet points of reporting and asked it to make a readable article.
- jszymborski 2y ago
  That might explain why the article says Concordia University in Wisconsin and not Montréal (the article is from the latter)

NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago

Electricity is an invisible force that, when harnessed, is able to perform useful work, light up the night sky, and create entertainment like moving pictures on flat panels. Contact your local electrologist for more details.