I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era • Hacker News Board

Re: I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era

#91

Post by voxleone » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

radimm wrote: post #4

This is exactly same struggle for me. Writing technical content about PostgreSQL and balancing my voice without sounding like LLM written is genuinely difficult. As English is not my first language, I do run into problem where the line between fix my clumsy sentence and rewrite my thought is very thin. Same with writing "boring" technical explanation and more approachable content. I'm getting pushed back for both.

This. My personal style have always been llm-like, including the generous use of em-dashes, and "not-only-this-that" style mannerisms. It' increasingly difficult to retain reputation.

Re: I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era

#92

Post by nikitadotla » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

I am not a native speaker, for anything like HN comments I don't use AI, but I see no harm in using AI in correcting grammar and maybe some wording, but the ultimate change shouldn't be a copy-paste replacement, it should be well thought through by the author.

Re: I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era

#93

Post by john_strinlai » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:49 PM UTC

aidenn0 wrote: post #82

What does it say about me that when I run my writing through one of those "detect if AI" tools I seldom see a value of less than 70% confidence that the writing was AI generated?

about you? not much. but i wouldnt spin up a blog, or even longer comments here, if you want to keep your sanity.

the amount of "that is obvious ai slop" comments i see on mine or other people's genuine non-ai writing has discouraged me from sharing anything more than roughly a paragraph for probably the rest of my life.

Re: I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era

#94

Post by taneliv » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:49 PM UTC

shafyy wrote: post #43

everdrive wrote: post #35

Not joking, buy and read books. Old books are only written by people. (and the help of an editor)

Fun fact: Editors are usually also people. Except for that one dog I met during a cold winter's day in 1987 in a run-down London pub.

No way, bro! I'm no longer an editor, though.

Re: I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era

#95

Post by shagie » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:51 PM UTC

Freak_NL wrote: post #26

thepasch wrote: post #8

I never use an LLM to paraphrase my own voice as a matter of principle, but I’ve still been repeatedly accused of doing so because I happen to always have written structured posts, used “smart quotes,” and done that negative comparison thing (it’s genuinely not just fluff, it’s a genuinely useful way to— ah god damn it). Sigh.

I feel ya. I've never been accused of using an LLM, fortunately, but depending on the context I do use “smart quotes” (even in „Dutch” or »German«) and the em-dash obviously… (And that ellips fella there. It's just so simple to type with a compose key set up.)

I thought the guillemet was French rather than German and the other way around.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark#Summary_table

Re: I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era

#96

Post by ArcHound » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:52 PM UTC

piker wrote: post #86

AI for editing is garbage. Chat to it to get ideas maybe, but in its current incarnation it’s just going to degrade anything you filter through it.

I thought it's quite good. Of course, I'm not taking 100% of output, but it takes care of my grammar blindspots (damn you commas and a/an/the articles!).

Can you please share what and how gets degraded? Sometimes I don't like a phrase it selects, but it's not common

Re: I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era

#97

Post by nkrisc » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:55 PM UTC

radimm wrote: post #4

This is exactly same struggle for me. Writing technical content about PostgreSQL and balancing my voice without sounding like LLM written is genuinely difficult. As English is not my first language, I do run into problem where the line between fix my clumsy sentence and rewrite my thought is very thin. Same with writing "boring" technical explanation and more approachable content. I'm getting pushed back for both.

I’ll take a clumsy sentence written by a non-native speaker any day over LLM generated mush. At least I know you chose those words specifically so it gives me some insight into your state of mind and intended meaning.

Any native English speaker who doesn’t live under a rock is very accustomed to reading and hearing English from non-native speakers and familiar with the common quirks and mistakes. English is quite forgiving as a language, we understand you. When in doubt, simplify it.

Re: I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era

#98

Post by MyHonestOpinon » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:56 PM UTC

beej71 wrote: post #71

epolanski wrote: post #53

I think that AI will accelerate an already existing trend that pre dates AI meaning the global regression to the mean we're seeing in any creative field, from design to videogames, from cars to fashion.

Agree. This also ties into the hypothesis that we're hitting a local maximum in terms of the state of the art in creativity as we offload that work.

I find this similar to when photography was invented and painters moved away from realism trying to find originality and creativity and they produced modern art which for many of us just looks silly.

Re: I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era

#99

Post by john_strinlai » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:57 PM UTC

Amekedl wrote: post #31

aledevv wrote: post #20

I want to emphasize a thought you expressed: > "..but maybe it's a good thing that most of us don't allow this technology to reframe our thoughts." No, you're not the only one experiencing this: I too had the same concerns as you: with every new thought, every new creation, I had to ask the AI's opinion, as if I were no longer able to judge, to decide, without consulting the AI (...just to be safe, you never know...)…

depending how hard the "the brain is a muscle" saying applies, there is no way using LLMs/chatbot systems/AI is not going to deteriorate your brain immensely.

when i was younger, we didnt have cellphones. i had ~20-30 phone numbers memorized, at least. i also used to remember my credit card number. my brain has not deteriorated now that i have offloaded that to my phone.

point being: it depends on how you use it. if you offload critical thinking to ai, you will probably (slowly) atrophy your critical thinking muscles. if you offload some bullshit boilerplate or repetitive tasks or whatever, giving you more time overall to do the critical thinking part, you will be fine.

Re: I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era

#100

Post by piker » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:57 PM UTC

ArcHound wrote: post #96

piker wrote: post #86

AI for editing is garbage. Chat to it to get ideas maybe, but in its current incarnation it’s just going to degrade anything you filter through it.

I thought it's quite good. Of course, I'm not taking 100% of output, but it takes care of my grammar blindspots (damn you commas and a/an/the articles!). Can you please share what and how gets degraded? Sometimes I don't like a phrase it selects, but it's not common

Well, for one example, it inhibits your desire to improve against those very blind spots. In exchange for that your audience gets 3-4x length normalized bullshit to read instead.