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I really wish some of my coworkers would stop using LLMs to write me emails or even Teams messages. It does feel extremely rude, to the point I don't even want
by phito 1y ago
I really wish some of my coworkers would stop using LLMs to write me emails or even Teams messages. It does feel extremely rude, to the point I don't even want to read them anymore.
- SoftTalker 1y agoEven worse when they accidently leave in the dialog with the AI. Dead giveaway. I got an email from a colleague the other day and at the bottom was this line: > Would you like me to format this for Outlook or help you post it to a specific channel or distribution list?
- righthand 1y agoClippy is rolling in his grave.
- righthand 1y agoSeriously you should respond to the slop in the email and waste your coworkers time too. “No I don’t need this formatted for Outlook Dave. Thanks for asking though!”
- AlecSchueler 1y agoThat wastes your own time as well though.
- panarchy 1y agoJust get an AI to do it for you
- bri3k 1y agoI always thought this is the end game, my ai agent talking to their ai agent. No human paying attention to the conversation at all
- righthand 1y agoNot much and it points out how crappy Dave’s slop job is, especially if you do it with Reply All. We already entered the wasting time-zone when Dave copypasta’d.
- johnnyanmac 1y agoLong con. Shame the coworkers and they stop using AI, or at least are more careful editing the output. Bonus effect: you're probably not the only one annoyed by this, so this also saves other coworkers' time.
- xigoi 1y agoHaving fun is not wasting time.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- benatkin 1y agohttps://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=%22cow-orkers%22&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
- echelon 1y agoWow. What a good giveaway. I wonder what others there are. I occasionally use bullet points, emdashes (unicode, single, and double hyphens) and words like "delve". I hate it think these are the new heuristics. I think AI is a useful tool (especially image and video models), but I've already had folks (on HN [1]!) call out my fully artisanal comments as LLM-generated. It's almost as annoying as getting low-effort LLM splurge from others. Edit: As it turns out, cow-orkers isn't actually an LLMism. It's both a joke and a dictation software mistake. Oops. [1] most recently https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44482876 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44482876
- Buttons840 1y agoUse two dashes instead of an actual em dash. ChatGPT, at least, cannot do the same--it just can't.
- chaps 1y agoAs a frequent user of two dashes.. I hate how people now associate it with AI. Also, that "cow-orkers" doesn't look like AI-generated slop at all..? Just scrolling down a bit shows that most of them are three years and older.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- JoshTriplett 1y agoConventionally, in various tools that take plain text as input, two dashes is an en-dash, and three dashes is an em-dash.
- 1y ago
- shreezus 1y agoLinkedIn is probably the worst culprit. It has always been a wasteland of “corporate/professional slop”, except now the interface deliberately suggests AI-generated responses to posts. I genuinely cannot think of a worse “social network” than that hell hole. “Very insightful! Truly a masterclass in turning everyday professional rituals into transformative personal branding opportunities. Your ability to synergize authenticity, thought leadership, and self-congratulation is unparalleled.”
- vouaobrasil 1y agoBest thing you can do is quit LinkedIn. I deleted my account immediately once I first noticed AI-generated content there.
- stevekemp 1y agoI guess that makes sense, unless you're single. LinkedIn is the new tinder.
- exographicskip 1y agoColor me intrigued
- slumberlust 1y agoWould you like to 'swap business cards?'
- mancerayder 1y agoLet's expound some more on this. There's a parallel between people feeling forced to use online dating (mostly owned by one corporate entity) despite hating it, and being forced to use LinkedIn when you're in a state of paycheck-unattached or even just paycheck-curious.
- quietbritishjim 1y ago> now the interface deliberately suggests AI-generated responses to posts This feature absolutely defies belief. If I ran a social network (thank god I don't) one of my main worries would be a flood of AI skip driving away all the human users. And LinkedIn are encouraging it. How does that happen? My best guess is that it drives up engagement numbers to allow some disinterested middle managers to hit some internal targets.
- herval 1y agohave you tried sharing that feedback with them? one of my reports started responding to questions with AI Slop. I asked if he was actually writing those sentences (he wasn't), so I gave him that exact feedback - it felt to me like he wasn't even listening, when he clearly jut copy-pasted clearly AI responses. Thankfully he stopped doing it. Of course as models get better at writing, it'll be harder and harder to tell. IMO the people who stand to lose the most are the AI sloppers, in that case - like in the South Park episode, as they'll get lost in commitments and agreements they didn't even know they made.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- phito 1y agoI did, they just shrugged and called me a luddite.
- pyman 1y agoDidn't our parents go through the same thing when email came out? My dad used to say: "Stop sending me emails. It's not the same." I'd tell him, "It's better. "No, it's not. People used to sit down and take the time to write a letter, in their own handwriting. Every letter had its own personality, even its own smell. And you had to walk to the post office to send it. Now sending a letter means nothing." Change is inevitable. Most people just won't like it. A lot of people don't realise that Transformers were originally designed to translate text between languages. Which, in a way, is just another way of improving how we communicate ideas. Right now, I see two things people are not happy about when it comes to LLMs: 1. The message you sent doesn't feel personal. It reads like something written by a machine, and I struggle to connect with someone who sends me messages like that. 2. People who don't speak English very well are now sending me perfectly written messages with solid arguments. And honestly, my ego doest’t like it because I used to think I was more intelligent than them. Turns out I wasn't. It was just my perception, based on the fact that I speak the language natively. Both of these things won't matter anymore in the next two or three years.
- aidos 1y agoI really don’t think they’re the same thing. Email or letter, the words are yours while an LLM output isn’t.
- unyttigfjelltol 1y agoWhich words, exactly, are "yours"? Working with an LLM is like having a copywriter 24/7, who will steer you toward whatever voice and style you want. Candidly, I'm getting the sense the issue here is some junior varsity level LLM skill.
- johnnyanmac 1y agoLLM's have hit the mainstream some 3 years ago. 4 at best. None of us are making the team
- pyman 1y agoInitially, it had the same effect on people until they got used to it. In the near future, whether the text is yours or not won't matter. What will matter is the message or idea you're communicating. Just like today, it doesn't matter if the code is yours, only the product you're shipping and problem it's solving.
- lxgr 1y ago"Hey, I can't help but notice that some of the messages you're sending me are partially LLM-generated. I appreciate you wanting to communicate stylistically and grammatically correct, but I personally prefer the occasional typo or inelegant expression over the chance of distorted meanings or lost/hallucinated context. Going forward, could you please communicate with me directly? I really don't mind a lack of capitalization or colloquial expressions in internal communications."
- pyman 1y agoI see two things people are not happy about when it comes to LLMs: 1. The message you sent doesn't feel personal. It reads like something written by a machine, and I struggle to connect with someone who sends me messages like that. 2. People who don't speak English very well are now sending me perfectly written messages with solid arguments. And honestly, my ego doest’t like it because I used to think I was more intelligent than them. Turns out I wasn't. It was just my perception, based on the fact that I speak the language natively. Both of these things won't matter anymore in the next two or three years. LLMs will keep getting smarter, while our egos will keep getting smaller. People still don't fully grasp just how much LLMs will reshape the way we communicate and work, for better or worse.
- throwaway328 1y agoThe word for this, we learned recently, is "LLM inevitabilism". It's often argued for far more convincingly than your attempt here, too. The future is here, and even if you don't like it, and even if it's worse, you'll take it anyway. Because it's the future. Because... some megalomaniacal dweeb somewhere said so? When does this hype train get to the next station, so everyone can take a breath? All this "future" has us hyperventilating.
- lxgr 1y agoNone of what GP describes is a hypothetical. Present-day LLMs are excellent editors and translators, and for many people, those were the only two things missing for them to be able to present a good idea convincingly.
- moomoo11 1y agoWhy? AI is a tool. Are their messages incorrect or something? If not who cares, they’re being efficient and thus more productive. Please be honest. If it’s slop or they have incorrect information in the message, then my bad, stop reading here. Otherwise… I really hope people like this with holier than thou attitude get filtered out. Fast. People who don’t adapt to use new tools are some of the worst people to work around.
- distantprovince 1y ago> If it’s slop or they have incorrect information in the message, then my bad, stop reading here. "my bad" and what next? The reader just wasted time and focus on reading, it doesn't sound like a fair exchange.
- moomoo11 1y agoThat’s on them, I said what I wanted to. Most of the time people just like getting triggered that someone sent them a —— in their message and blame AI instead of adopting it into their workflows and moving faster.
- johnnyanmac 1y agoThat mentality is exactly what is reflected in AI messages: "not my problem I just need to get this over with". Those types of coworkers tend to be a drain on not just productivity, but entire team morale. Someone who can't take responsibility or in worst cases have any sort of empathy. And tools are a force multiplier. It amplifies productivity, but that also means it amplifies this anchor behavior as well.
- moomoo11 1y agoSo I'm ESL btw... maybe I should have run my message through AI lol. I was replying to THAT person, and my message was that IF the person they're dealing with who uses AI happens to be giving them constant slop (not ME!!! not my message) THEN ignore what I have to say in that message THEREAFTER. So if that person is dealing with others who are giving them slop, and not just being triggered that it reads like GPT..
- anal_reactor 1y agoI love it because it allows me to filter out people not worth my time and attention beyond minimal politeness and professionalism.
- eric_cc 1y agoI know people with disabilities that struggle with writing. They feel that AI enables them to express themselves better than they could without the help. I know that’s not necessarily what you’re dealing with but it’s worth considering.
- Sammi 1y agoIf they're copy pasting whole paragraphs, then they're not expressing themselves at all. They're getting some program to express for them.
- pityJuke 1y agoI especially hate when people use LLMs to make text longer! Stop wasting my time.