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Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

noslopgrenade.com

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Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#171

Post by dominicrose »

Aeolun wrote: post #75

I think what is interesting is that we keep needing these pages to teach people how not being an asshole works. I don't really understand why it is so hard to understand not to do (what I consider to be) impolite stupid shit.

Outside of social media, I never saw a slop grenade except in places where it already existed without AI, like SAV responses or other scripted marketing/HR stuff.

Even a real person calling me on my phone to talk 5min about its company without allowing me to interrupt feels like a kind of grenade. Obviously I could interrupt the impolite way but that's beside the point.

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#172

Post by microtonal »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #47
microtonal wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you use an AI to write chat messages? Either you have to give the AI the points you want to convey, then just put those points in a message. Or you don't have anything to convey, then don't post a message. I don't see why anyone would want a slopified version of whatever it was that I had to say.

> I don't see why anyone would want a slopified version of whatever it was that I had to say. Lots of people lack confidence around their writing, and many people (particularly in tech) are not english native speakers. I can definitely see both of those groups getting use out of AI assistance in writing. That being said, I sometimes use AI to see if I've missed anything, but the last thing I'll give up to our future…

Lots of people lack confidence around their writing, and many people (particularly in tech) are not english native speakers.

I am neither (a native speaker), but you learn and gain confidence by doing. Also, I think flattening the beauty of language (however imperfect) into LLM-speak is a huge loss. Everyone sounds the same and boring through an LLM.

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#173

Post by ruszki »

nlawalker wrote: post #128

I've decided that I'm done being pissy about this kind of response, or thinking that it's something that can be coached away. I choose to look at it like any other cultural communication difference - something that you learn about, try to give some grace to, and work a little harder to bridge (unless you're defusing a bomb, performing surgery, flying an airplane etc.). In this person's communication culture, they are…

With lmgtfy, the point was to show that you can do that with Google, how you can do it, and you shouldn’t ask (not in the nicest way for sure). With replying with an LLM answer, you pretend that I cannot do the same. The equivalent would be a link to an LLM chat. There is a clear intent difference. The LLM answer version doesn’t want to teach the how.

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#175

Post by DamnInteresting »

impendia wrote: post #165
DamnInteresting wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a great question! Ahem. I remember being advised to do this ~20 years ago when I was going to be answering questions from a group of people. I was told that it's good practice to say something like "that's a great question" every time someone asks anything, as a form of social lubrication, to encourage others to ask questions. I can't say whether it works, and it was advice for a spoken context rather than wri…

Math professor here. When I go to research lectures, I sometimes hear that in response to audience questions, although not especially consistently. Some speakers do this more than others, I don't think anyone does it all the time.

It was so long ago that the specifics have faded, but I remember I was coached to use a variety of positive responses. "That's a great question," yes, but also things like "I'm glad you brought that up," and "I was hoping someone would ask about that!" It wasn't my cup of tea, too artificial, but the advice was contemplated.

The next question (which is a great one, from what I understand) is: Why do LLMs use these phrases so much if humans rarely use them in written form? Maybe a fair portion of training data comes from lecture transcripts, where such responses are common when responding to direct questions? And/or system prompts are just instructed to be like that?

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#176

Post by Biganon »

joenot443 wrote: post #35
Biganon wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think this is AI slop?...

> You asked a simple question. They lobbed a document. > It's a weapon disguised as helpfulness. These are particular sentences I find questionable. Would you write that way? I certainly wouldn't. GPTZero is by no means perfect, but it agreed this was likely generated.

> Would you write that way?

Well English is a foreign language for me, but yes I probably would, and then I'd get called out for being an AI haha

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#177

Post by linkregister »

nlawalker wrote: post #146
SoftTalker wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd prefer just "I don't know." I can ask Claude on my own.

> To me > I'd prefer This is exactly my point. To some people, direct communication, especially "no", is extremely rude. To some people, a head bob (easily confused for a "yes" in other cultures) merely means acknowledgement, or "maybe". To some people, extended silence indicates deep consideration or respect. Globalization resulted in a need to tolerate these differences, and in my experience, trying to "fix" them i…

In my culture, I prefer not to wear clothing in public. I also prefer not to be confined to toilets when transferring personal products.

Maybe there are some universal conventions we can accept.

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#178

Post by plorkyeran »

bluGill wrote: post #72
SwiftyBug wrote: post #8

> Nobody writes essays in Slack I 100% write long texts in Slack. I always try to provide as much context as possible when reaching out to someone with a question or request.

Do you start every response off with "that is a great question"? I don't know any human who does. "that is a great question" is reserved either for really hard questions, or sarcasm. The majority of questions are not great, they are just things the asker needs a simple answer.

In a spoken Q&A setting opening every single response with "that's a great question" or "thanks for asking that" or whatever is pretty common as a way to fill a few seconds while you think about your response. This is obviously unnecessary on slack.

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#179

Post by tyleo »

microtonal wrote: post #27
tyleo wrote: post #10

That’s interesting. When I use AI to help me write chat messages it’s almost always, “make this shorter,” or “clean this up”

Why do you use an AI to write chat messages? Either you have to give the AI the points you want to convey, then just put those points in a message. Or you don't have anything to convey, then don't post a message. I don't see why anyone would want a slopified version of whatever it was that I had to say.

I said in my comment: shortening, cleaning things up.

You’re foaming at the mouth a bit about AI here rather than reading what I said. I don’t see how shortened or fixed grammar is slop. The article argues the opposite.

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