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How to Write with an LLM

769 points · 420 comments · joeriddles

  1. S-E-P · · focus · HN ↗
    I fear in the future people will read even less because of how often people cheap out and use AI to write. I know the author of this article tells you never to use a single word it suggests, however I still, while reading, am checking for any amount of AI used. This makes reading less enjoyable, and even a bit stressful.

    If you can't spend the time to write it, why should anyone read it?

    Everything I post is from my own finger tips, only to get a reply from someone using a bot. I'm tired.

    1. jakeinspace · · focus · HN ↗
      Excessive generative AI output devalues all communication media unfortunately. As a greater and greater portion of text, imagery, audio, and video come to be synthetic, I don't see why anybody would be motivated to do deep reading, or listening, or analysis of said media. It's frightening to think what that might do to our civilization, almost like putting us back into a weird version of the ancient past when nobody was literate, save the priest.

      Maybe humans can adapt to care about generated content and treat it with the same emotional weight that human communication has. I don't know if that's good or not.

      1. TeMPOraL · · focus · HN ↗
        You're skipping any causal connection between the "as greater and greater" and "anybody would be motivated" parts. What is it in "excessive generative AI output" that "devalues all communication media"?

        Not that I disagree much, but for myself I have an actual cause connecting the two parts, and it's not something inherent to AI.

        Basically, synthetic content is like those fancy desserts - they look nice and the top layer possibly has an exquisite flavor (probably on purpose), but once you cut deeper, it's some weird fruit or nut or other foodstuff that belongs next to potatoes and meat, not in a cake. So I learned to avoid such desserts and stick to basic stuff I know are good entirely, like IDK a cream pie or cream-filled chocolate stuff or such.

        Same is with content. My problem isn't that it's AI, but that it's wrong, full of mistakes human authors don't make. Hallucinations mid-text that make half of it convincingly argue bullshit. Or the uncanny or repetitive factor in art that kicks in after few seconds of looking.

        Like with desert, I'm avoiding disappointment and wasted hopes. When synthetic context gets better, I'll be consuming it just like "vanilla" one, for the same reasons.

        1. altmanaltman · · focus · HN ↗
          I think with the desert thing, you are getting at what was once described as &quot;aura&quot; of original art work. Things like photography have already made us question things like synthetic art and how it relates to &quot;real art&quot; and I am pretty sure this is how it will go with AI and art in general. I wrote about this in my full human only blog: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;decodingvibes.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;3-hypothetical-paintings-and-why-ai-generated-art-can-feel-soulless&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;decodingvibes.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;3-hypothetical-paintings-and-...
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