Ask HN: How do you respond to blog posts that seem AI assisted?

#1

Post by cyndunlop » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 6:06 PM UTC

When you hit an article that smells like AI, do you immediately click away? Hold your nose and keep reading if the topic is interesting? Take note of the author and never read their work again? Would it matter if a human authored it in another language then AI translated to English?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you respond to blog posts that seem AI assisted?

#2

Post by sha_rad » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 6:18 PM UTC

I personally appreciate 1. Disclaimer if it is AI written or assisted 2. Early mentioned of how AI was used for proofreading or images etc 3. Mention if AI wasn't used

I'm subconsciously leaning towards AI used unless explicitly declined

Re: Ask HN: How do you respond to blog posts that seem AI assisted?

#3

Post by marysminefnuf » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 6:19 PM UTC

With disdain. I keep seeing cool articles and realize that they are made with ai by the ai images or just obvious writing tells and i immediately click away.

Re: Ask HN: How do you respond to blog posts that seem AI assisted?

#4

Post by speakingmoistly » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 6:20 PM UTC

I'll definitely be deterred from reading further once I get a smell of it being AI-generated (or too heavily AI-assisted) and would be less likely to read from whoever published it again. When it comes to translation, it depends more on the quality of the text (I always value a human translation higher than an AI / automated one, and low quality translation would turn me away).

The equation may also be a bit different if there's disclosure. If an author is being upfront about AI assistance that would materially affect the text, I might read further (provided that it's not just "AI wrote this and I barely proof-read it).

Ultimately, I'd be less likely to spend time and effort consuming something I have the feeling wasn't really the product of someone else's time and effort.