A couple of weeks ago a renowned publisher just pulled a horror novel because an algorithm flagged it as 78% likely AI-generated. The author denies having used AI herself but acknowledges that someone she hired for an earlier version did (links in comments). 🚩
I too have been accused (by a stranger) of having used AI to write a post here on LinkedIn, ironically the one where I criticized AI for hallucinating academic references. The accusation made me furious because I knew that I couldn't really defend myself; how do you ever prove the absence of AI (short of filming yourself while writing)? 📹 🕵
I was about to point out texts that I had written long before ChatGPT, and tell them to listen to countless podcasts with me if they wanted proof that I'm capable of thinking without a machine. But I bit my tongue because I hate having to present evidence of my own humanity particularly as it gets harder and harder (raise your hand when you have failed a "please prove that you are not robot" test). 🤖 ✋
In the end, what worries me more than authors using AI or not, is the epidemic of mistrust: Anyone who writes with fluency or precision is under suspicion. We are engaging in a witch hunt where those accused bear the burden of proof, and where the tools used to “convict” are as unreliable as any other polygraph (more on that soon). 🧙♀️ 👩🏻⚖️
Generative AI is already contaminating the joy of reading because we are literally flooded with slop. But I don’t think it’s fair if we let it contaminate the joy of writing by putting anyone under the blanket suspicion that they must have used AI. 👉
So, yes, we have lost a lot since the rise of generative AI but brittle tools (from profit-oriented companies) are not how we regain any of it.
#GenAI #CriticalThinking #DigitalLiteracy
I too have been accused (by a stranger) of having used AI to write a post here on LinkedIn, ironically the one where I criticized AI for hallucinating academic references. The accusation made me furious because I knew that I couldn't really defend myself; how do you ever prove the absence of AI (short of filming yourself while writing)? 📹 🕵
I was about to point out texts that I had written long before ChatGPT, and tell them to listen to countless podcasts with me if they wanted proof that I'm capable of thinking without a machine. But I bit my tongue because I hate having to present evidence of my own humanity particularly as it gets harder and harder (raise your hand when you have failed a "please prove that you are not robot" test). 🤖 ✋
In the end, what worries me more than authors using AI or not, is the epidemic of mistrust: Anyone who writes with fluency or precision is under suspicion. We are engaging in a witch hunt where those accused bear the burden of proof, and where the tools used to “convict” are as unreliable as any other polygraph (more on that soon). 🧙♀️ 👩🏻⚖️
Generative AI is already contaminating the joy of reading because we are literally flooded with slop. But I don’t think it’s fair if we let it contaminate the joy of writing by putting anyone under the blanket suspicion that they must have used AI. 👉
So, yes, we have lost a lot since the rise of generative AI but brittle tools (from profit-oriented companies) are not how we regain any of it.
#GenAI #CriticalThinking #DigitalLiteracy