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I do not want AI to "polish" me

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Re: I do not want AI to "polish" me

#191

Post by nicbou »

SkyBelow wrote: post #151
thrwaway1985882 wrote: post #11

I've only recently started using AI, and have discovered my use or rejection of it is predicated on my feelings for the task. This argument of "authenticity" really resonates. I'm a manager, so when I'm sending emails to a customer or talking with one of my reports, I care deeply - so you might get some overwrought florid prose, but it's my overwrought florid prose. On the other hand, I have to lead a weekly meeting…

I was thinking about the authenticity of my writing earlier this week and wondering why I have no problem accepting code from an AI and committing it, but I find the idea of passing off an AI's writing as my own feels not just wrong, but immoral on the level of purposeful plagiarism. I feel a distinct difference, but I'm not particular clear why. I'm okay with sharing AI writing, but only when I've clearly communicat…

Code uses a simplified set of instructions to instruct a computer to do things. Hopefully these instructions can be understood and maintained by a human.

Writing uses the entire breadth of human language to convey information between human beings with unique and complex understandings of the universe. If those words come from a machine that is not you - that is not someone - you ought to disclose it.

Re: I do not want AI to "polish" me

#192

Post by CharlesW »

Rendello wrote: post #159
flatline wrote: post #26

> It’s like my whole computer is a toddler screaming “LET ME DO IT!” every time I try to create something. Every autocorrect or auto suggestion ever has felt like this to me, but the volume has been turned up to 11. The otherwise drab Adobe Reader is covered with colorful sparkly buttons and popups suggesting I need not even read the document because it can give me “insights.” First, no you may not ready my proprieta…

After a recent Show HN , I got an email from someone saying that they'd set up a page for my 'product' on their product showcase startup site. I followed the link and saw my open-source project pitched as ChatGPT slop. It felt like a violation because it wasn't just an aggregated link, but a rewrite of my readme with an associated 'pitch'.

I recommend reporting this to dang at hn@ycombinator.com. I imagine that he'd be interested in someone crawling HN in order to send automated lead generation spam.

Re: I do not want AI to "polish" me

#193

Post by rsynnott »

jorgeleo wrote: post #186
rsynnott wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thing is, we've been here before in a much more limited way; people _hated_ it when Microsoft's demonic paperclip did this in Office. "It looks like you're writing a letter". _Hated_ it. It is unclear what the industry thinks has changed, that people will now welcome "It looks like you're [whatever]".

The people. The people changed. This forum (HN) attracts certain population that wants to do things, to understand, to share relatively well based opinions and have a discussion. But look around, look at the new hires in the other departments. And by new I mean young, in their 20. A lot of them welcome this kind of things, they evaluate by popularity and likes. The marketing begin the AI bubble knows this, and so it…

Did they, though? Polling fairly consistently shows that people don’t _like_ this stuff, and there’s some evidence that the more familiar with it they become the less they like it. I think Microsoft et al were betting on people liking it (that was certainly their thinking with Clippy, too) but that doesn’t seem to be working out for them.

Re: I do not want AI to "polish" me

#194

Post by kjkjadksj »

rsynnott wrote: post #162
flatline wrote: post #26

> It’s like my whole computer is a toddler screaming “LET ME DO IT!” every time I try to create something. Every autocorrect or auto suggestion ever has felt like this to me, but the volume has been turned up to 11. The otherwise drab Adobe Reader is covered with colorful sparkly buttons and popups suggesting I need not even read the document because it can give me “insights.” First, no you may not ready my proprieta…

Thing is, we've been here before in a much more limited way; people _hated_ it when Microsoft's demonic paperclip did this in Office. "It looks like you're writing a letter". _Hated_ it. It is unclear what the industry thinks has changed, that people will now welcome "It looks like you're [whatever]".

The customer base for computing has expanded probably 3 or 4 fold or more from those windows xp days in the US. Maybe for the subset of the population that was word processing back then it was annoying. But now we are looking at a different pie entirely where that subset of annoyed power users is but a tiny sliver. There are people today who have no experience even with a desktop os.

Re: I do not want AI to "polish" me

#195

Post by shagie »

__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #101
pjc50 wrote: post #2

You have an individual and unique way of speaking and writing? We're going to have to polish that out with the slop machine, citizen.

I'm working on a dystopia where the resistance is using text-in-text steganography to coordinate, so unpolished communication is flagged for extra scrutiny because all those stylistic choices might be hiding something.

Ever read The Freeze Frame Revolution?

Though, its stenography is a bit more obvious given the "you've got to be able to read it".

The kindle version of the book starts with https://imgur.com/uIBjwlQ

This would give you the opportunity to have another ending to the book.

Re: I do not want AI to "polish" me

#197

Post by singleshot_ »

the_snooze wrote: post #170
rsynnott wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thing is, we've been here before in a much more limited way; people _hated_ it when Microsoft's demonic paperclip did this in Office. "It looks like you're writing a letter". _Hated_ it. It is unclear what the industry thinks has changed, that people will now welcome "It looks like you're [whatever]".

It's a design that's in companies' best interests. You can have a computer that's a "friend." One that you trust but ultimately has a mind of its own. This contrasts with a computer that's merely a tool, that serves you exclusvely at your pleasure and has zero agency of its own. Which approach gives companies more control over users? Which one allows companies to sell that access to the highest bidder?

Third option: the computer is your enemy, which will follow any sufficiently clever adversary’s orders.

Thinking of a computer as a tool seems reasonable, but thinking of your computer as your friend is clownish (which, I think you agree with based on your last comment).

Re: I do not want AI to "polish" me

#198

Post by normalaccess »

jorgeleo wrote: post #186
rsynnott wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thing is, we've been here before in a much more limited way; people _hated_ it when Microsoft's demonic paperclip did this in Office. "It looks like you're writing a letter". _Hated_ it. It is unclear what the industry thinks has changed, that people will now welcome "It looks like you're [whatever]".

The people. The people changed. This forum (HN) attracts certain population that wants to do things, to understand, to share relatively well based opinions and have a discussion. But look around, look at the new hires in the other departments. And by new I mean young, in their 20. A lot of them welcome this kind of things, they evaluate by popularity and likes. The marketing begin the AI bubble knows this, and so it…

Not only have the people changed but it is the belief of the elites at the top that humanity is entering a new era of hack-ability. They want to use these AI systems to rewrite humanity into their vision of the future.

Yuval Noah Harari talking about how the new "gods" are the data-centers and how free will is dead in the age of AI. https://youtu.be/QuL3wlodJC8

Re: I do not want AI to "polish" me

#199

Post by arp242 »

idoco wrote: post #22

I get the frustration, but I think there’s a hidden assumption in this discussion: that everyone can write well in English. Only about 5% of the world’s population are native English speakers, but more than twice that number use it daily. For many, AI rewriting isn’t about losing personal style—it’s about making sure they can communicate clearly in a language that isn’t their first. It’s fair to dislike how AI flatte…

Last year I worked with someone who used AI tools like this, to compensate for their lack of English. It was dreadful beyond belief and basically unworkable.

Lack of comprehension on what other people said was a big issue. But also having four incomprehensible paragraphs thrown at me for what could be six words (not infrequently based on a misunderstanding of a very basic simple sentence).

I'm not a native speaker either, but the only way to learn a language is to actually use it. For better or worse, English is the modern world's lingua franca.

Re: I do not want AI to "polish" me

#200

Post by TZubiri »

mywittyname wrote: post #121

> Kill me if I ever write "Regards" non-irnoically. One time, I couldn't remember the name of the album I wanted SIRI to play, so it kept picking the wrong one. After the fifth or so time, I told Siri, "you're killing me Siri" and it called 911. The future sucks.

Actually that's pretty cool. Takes you literally and seriously.

What did you expect the machine to understand subtleties and responding like an informal friend?

I'm fine with AI being 100% serious

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