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Stack Overflow questions are being flooded with answers from ChatGPT

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Stack Overflow questions are being flooded with answers from ChatGPT

#181

Post by wizeman »

vineyardmike wrote: post #165
wizeman wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think we are going to have to take an aggressive stance against mediocre generated content here on HN, lest this small island of community be lost like the rest of the Old Internet. How do you propose we do that? And what do you propose we do when ChatGPT (or something like it) can create better content than most humans? (... which I would argue it is already happening in some limited contexts, although I admit m…

> what do you propose we do when ChatGPT (or something like it) can create better content than most humans? An AI cannot, by definition, create better HN content. Because HN content is about hearing what people think about a certain topic/thread. Hearing what an AI statistically regurgitates doesn’t satisfy the purpose even if it’s better written. The internet is about people . I may not be friends with everyone on H…

Wow, that's an interesting argument if I ever saw one! Your viewpoint is completely the opposite of mine, let me argue a couple of points:

> An AI cannot, by definition, create better HN content. Because HN content is about hearing what people think about a certain topic/thread.

Please tell me: for you, what is the difference between hearing what people think, and hearing what a human-level AI thinks?

Are you saying a human-level AI, by definition, cannot ever be interesting to you, just because it's an AI, even though it could be like a human in every other way?

> Hearing what an AI statistically regurgitates doesn’t satisfy the purpose even if it’s better written.

Don't most humans just regurgitate the same arguments they've just read or learned elsewhere (or even here), like 99% of the time?

And even in the remaining 1% of cases, aren't they necessarily just functional products of the things they've seen/read/experienced (i.e. the inputs they've received, even if gathered by feedback when interacting with the world)?

> The internet is about people. I may not be friends with everyone on HN, but we’re a community meant to discuss and share together, and I personally wouldn’t want to talk to an AI over a human.

What if the AI was more interesting and intellectually stimulating than a human?

Re: Stack Overflow questions are being flooded with answers from ChatGPT

#182

Post by bambax »

taberiand wrote: post #171
bambax wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the worst part. It's all fun and games when it tells a story of cheese sandwiches and VCRs in the style of the King James bible, but when it gives wrong answers in an authoritative tone and then insists it absolutely can't be wrong, it's terrifying. I don't understand what good could come of this. Or at least make it detect what is fiction and what isn't. People are treating it like it's Wikipedia, but it's no…

Maybe it's an opportunity for people to get better at critical review of the information they are presented. Maybe they'll learn just because they are being told something authoritatively that doesn't mean it's right? And so what if it people misuse the the tool while they learn? What's wrong with being wrong?

We learn by example. What this tool teaches is that self-confidence is more important than content. And maybe it is! in life in general. But not in the pursuit of knowledge.

Instead of patronizing users by adding a stupid sentence at the end of each answer reminding them to be careful, it could say every time "I'm just a machine and what I say is random; if it's true it's by accident; it's mostly probably wrong and only sounds like the truth".

Here's an example I posted in another thread, where the machine is repeatedly mistaken but affirms it absolutely, positively can't make a mistake:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33852236

Re: Stack Overflow questions are being flooded with answers from ChatGPT

#183

Post by nyokodo »

With responses becoming AI generated, and the disturbing rise of Russian and Chinese propaganda trolls on here I think my era of interactions on this platform are ending. So long to any actual people with conscious agency reading this, it has been interesting.

Re: Stack Overflow questions are being flooded with answers from ChatGPT

#184

Post by angrais »

pugworthy wrote: post #151

For some things, ChatGPT is just better than SO. I have to say I probably won't hit SO for some basic stuff anymore, I'll just ask ChatGPT. And some queries are just not acceptable on SO, but fine for ChatGPT. For example I might wish to ask, "Give me the framework for a basic API written in Python that uses API key authentication. Populate it with several sample methods that return data structures in json." If I ask…

What if it takes less time to hack together such an API than prompt engineering and back-to-back conversation with a bot whose results you have to verify anyway?

I imagine it would if you're familiar with the language, Framework, tools, etc.

Re: Stack Overflow questions are being flooded with answers from ChatGPT

#185

Post by convexfunction »

bambax wrote: post #161
convexfunction wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just imagine the hell we'd be in if people could give wrong answers in an authoritative tone and then insist they absolutely can't be wrong!

For some reason, we assume what comes out of a computer is more trustworthy than what people say. We think computers are transparent, reliable, idempotent and don't have an agenda. Even more so if we call it "intelligent"... But ChatGPT is a bullshit machine, and that much is new.

Who's "we"? :)

To the extent this perception exists -- and I don't think "came from a computer" falls within the top 5 actually effective methods of laundering bullshit nowadays, though maybe it used to -- you might expect that it gets crushed into dust as the public gets more exposure to high-profile counterexamples.

And, wait, isn't the concern usually that people read AI-generated content and trust it but don't think it came from a computer?

Re: Stack Overflow questions are being flooded with answers from ChatGPT

#188

Post by [deleted] »

brindidrip wrote: post #29

We need to start developing software to detect AI responses. To detect a response generated by ChatGPT, we could first analyze the content of the response to see if it contains any unnatural or repetitive language. We could also check the formatting of the response to see if it follows the typical conventions used by human responders on the platform. Additionally, we could check for any unusual patterns in the timest…

[deleted]

Re: Stack Overflow questions are being flooded with answers from ChatGPT

#190

Post by lamontcg »

9wzYQbTYsAIc wrote: post #105
wizeman wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think we are going to have to take an aggressive stance against mediocre generated content here on HN, lest this small island of community be lost like the rest of the Old Internet. How do you propose we do that? And what do you propose we do when ChatGPT (or something like it) can create better content than most humans? (... which I would argue it is already happening in some limited contexts, although I admit m…

> How do you propose we do that? One technique, like all the other self-moderation that you can do on HN: stop upvoting and commenting on content that you don’t want to see boosted.

People already upvote fairly bland comments which reinforce common beliefs, so AIs which can distill popular sentiment and regurgitate it very readibly will get wildly upvoted on any social media platform.

Most humans don't like too much creativity and they want ideas that they agree with.

Wonder if the death of social media is more a descent into AI generated inane and bland commentary.

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