5 ms·

This article has a strong ChatGPT smell. Things like "in the world of", "let's dive into", the bullet points, "conclusion" section, etc. Anyone else have the sa

This article has a strong ChatGPT smell. Things like "in the world of", "let's dive into", the bullet points, "conclusion" section, etc. Anyone else have the same feeling?

Feathercrown 2y ago
Feels this way to me too.
Philpax 2y ago
Yep. Read the first few paragraphs and immediately noticed the stink. Using it as an assistant is fine, but you really shouldn't leave what it outputs untouched, especially when it's this obvious!
cauliflower2718 2y ago
In section "Works in every major city!", the author mentions they are from France. Given that, it's not surprising that they used an AI to help with translation.
- Aransentin 2y ago
  Sure, but the structure seems quite ChatGPTish as well, with e.g. the bullet points and section choice. You wouldn't get that by just faithfully translating a french source text from English.
  - topherclay 2y ago
    You might also note that in their first blog post they use the French language convention of puting a space before their exclamation marks and in this latest post they use the English language convention of no space. >Now I can update this blog and push to github, instant deploy ! vs >I would be delighted to hear from you!
  - pmarreck 2y ago
    Why do people care about this?
untech 2y ago
I got that feeling because of adjectives like “innovative”. Thought that it might be impolite to imply that in the comments, and was relieved that someone already did. The premise of the article is still interesting.
- lozf 2y ago
  The premise is straight out of Simon Levene's short film from 2005, "Tube Poker". The point-allocations are described as in the article at around 03:45. - https://www.simonlevene.com/portfolio/tube-poker https://www.simonlevene.com/portfolio/tube-poker - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818537/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818537/
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
ziddoap 2y ago
Is there a list of phrases and words to avoid, to not be accused of using AI? It's getting kind of ridiculous what people identify an "AI smell". I understand if the word "delve" shows up five times in as many paragraphs, I guess, but just having a "conclusion" section is a smell now? Using the word "innovative" is a smell? I feel awfully sorry for kids in school these days. Teachers must think everything they write is AI, considering they're still learning to write effectively and probably like to use bullet points, popular phrases like "dive into", and structured layouts that include introduction and conclusion sections.
- dbl000 2y ago
  I don't think it's any particular word or phrase that makes it seem like AI but instead the overall feel of the writing. I can't quite describe it, but it feels like it's been sandpapered of any emotion or author's voice and just feels banal. Compare the wording and voice in this post versus one of the author's earlier ones (https://experience.prfalken.dev/english/exercism/ https://experience.prfalken.dev/english/exercism/) and I think you'll see what I mean. Some of this, especially the 2nd sentence, just reads with the standard "wall of text without substance voice" that I've personally come to associate with AI. As another comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43105143 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43105143) notes, some of the author's earlier blog posts use a different style of punctuation so I'm willing to bet that they might be using AI to help them write or reformat some of their ideas. I don't think there's anything wrong with that but without some re-edits to the AI text it will take on that distinctly AI tone. Kids who are still learning how to write still have a tone/voice/style that comes across in their writing and I think that's the particular distinction being made here.
savanaly 2y ago
The sad thing is ChatGPT didn't invent that style. That was just the way clear, concise writing by skilled writers was at the time they trained the model. So now if you are actually a skilled writer who tries to convey ideas in a clear, concise way, you will appear robotic :(
- mplewis 2y ago
  Your writing needs to have flavor and personality, rather than reading like a business email.
- zahlman 2y ago
  Certainly I've seen elements of this style in pre-ChatGPT writing. (Of course, it didn't just invent the style.) But I disagree strongly that it's clear, concise or skillful. The way that bullet-point lists are used here is highly distracting and frankly counterproductive, and a "conclusion" hardly seems necessary for a piece that presents the rules for a simple game. Entire sentences like "Let’s dive into the rules and strategies of this captivating game." are pure fluff here, too.
pmarreck 2y ago
FFS. I read it and learned something. Stop jousting windmills just because they seem like propellers on warplanes that are coming for you. Sometimes they are just windmills.
- zahlman 2y ago
  "Learned" what, exactly? Anyone could make up a game like this. And it really does read to me (as it apparently did to GP) like something even an LLM could make up nowadays.
- cauliflower2718 2y ago
  Agree -- especially if this was a post about something a real person thought of, but edited with AI (the author is in France, so it seems reasonable to use AI for editing; also it's a small blog that has been around for a while and not a content farm). For some reason I think I would find it less valuable if the idea itself came from an AI, too.
oktcho 2y ago
I wrote the article in a much simpler and "french to english" way, and asked the LLM to format it in a better english style. Looking at these comments I don't think I'll do it again. But it's also the only article that made so many reads and comments. What should I conclude ?

This article has a strong ChatGPT smell. Things like "in the world of", "let's dive into", the bullet points, "conclusion" section, etc. Anyone else have the same feeling?

Feathercrown 2y ago

Feels this way to me too.

Philpax 2y ago

Yep. Read the first few paragraphs and immediately noticed the stink. Using it as an assistant is fine, but you really shouldn't leave what it outputs untouched, especially when it's this obvious!

cauliflower2718 2y ago

In section "Works in every major city!", the author mentions they are from France. Given that, it's not surprising that they used an AI to help with translation.

Aransentin 2y ago
Sure, but the structure seems quite ChatGPTish as well, with e.g. the bullet points and section choice. You wouldn't get that by just faithfully translating a french source text from English.
- topherclay 2y ago
  You might also note that in their first blog post they use the French language convention of puting a space before their exclamation marks and in this latest post they use the English language convention of no space. >Now I can update this blog and push to github, instant deploy ! vs >I would be delighted to hear from you!
- pmarreck 2y ago
  Why do people care about this?

untech 2y ago

I got that feeling because of adjectives like “innovative”. Thought that it might be impolite to imply that in the comments, and was relieved that someone already did. The premise of the article is still interesting.

lozf 2y ago
The premise is straight out of Simon Levene's short film from 2005, "Tube Poker". The point-allocations are described as in the article at around 03:45. - https://www.simonlevene.com/portfolio/tube-poker https://www.simonlevene.com/portfolio/tube-poker - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818537/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818537/

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

ziddoap 2y ago

Is there a list of phrases and words to avoid, to not be accused of using AI? It's getting kind of ridiculous what people identify an "AI smell". I understand if the word "delve" shows up five times in as many paragraphs, I guess, but just having a "conclusion" section is a smell now? Using the word "innovative" is a smell? I feel awfully sorry for kids in school these days. Teachers must think everything they write is AI, considering they're still learning to write effectively and probably like to use bullet points, popular phrases like "dive into", and structured layouts that include introduction and conclusion sections.

dbl000 2y ago
I don't think it's any particular word or phrase that makes it seem like AI but instead the overall feel of the writing. I can't quite describe it, but it feels like it's been sandpapered of any emotion or author's voice and just feels banal. Compare the wording and voice in this post versus one of the author's earlier ones (https://experience.prfalken.dev/english/exercism/ https://experience.prfalken.dev/english/exercism/) and I think you'll see what I mean. Some of this, especially the 2nd sentence, just reads with the standard "wall of text without substance voice" that I've personally come to associate with AI. As another comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43105143 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43105143) notes, some of the author's earlier blog posts use a different style of punctuation so I'm willing to bet that they might be using AI to help them write or reformat some of their ideas. I don't think there's anything wrong with that but without some re-edits to the AI text it will take on that distinctly AI tone. Kids who are still learning how to write still have a tone/voice/style that comes across in their writing and I think that's the particular distinction being made here.

savanaly 2y ago

The sad thing is ChatGPT didn't invent that style. That was just the way clear, concise writing by skilled writers was at the time they trained the model. So now if you are actually a skilled writer who tries to convey ideas in a clear, concise way, you will appear robotic :(

mplewis 2y ago
Your writing needs to have flavor and personality, rather than reading like a business email.
zahlman 2y ago
Certainly I've seen elements of this style in pre-ChatGPT writing. (Of course, it didn't just invent the style.) But I disagree strongly that it's clear, concise or skillful. The way that bullet-point lists are used here is highly distracting and frankly counterproductive, and a "conclusion" hardly seems necessary for a piece that presents the rules for a simple game. Entire sentences like "Let’s dive into the rules and strategies of this captivating game." are pure fluff here, too.

pmarreck 2y ago

FFS. I read it and learned something. Stop jousting windmills just because they seem like propellers on warplanes that are coming for you. Sometimes they are just windmills.

zahlman 2y ago
"Learned" what, exactly? Anyone could make up a game like this. And it really does read to me (as it apparently did to GP) like something even an LLM could make up nowadays.
cauliflower2718 2y ago
Agree -- especially if this was a post about something a real person thought of, but edited with AI (the author is in France, so it seems reasonable to use AI for editing; also it's a small blog that has been around for a while and not a content farm). For some reason I think I would find it less valuable if the idea itself came from an AI, too.

oktcho 2y ago

I wrote the article in a much simpler and "french to english" way, and asked the LLM to format it in a better english style. Looking at these comments I don't think I'll do it again. But it's also the only article that made so many reads and comments. What should I conclude ?