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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

#191

Post by johnchristopher »

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…

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

Hmm. That's HN proposition value but that's not necessarily what keeps people coming back. I am thinking about the dopamine hits from the news cycle and comments.

If I am right then it follows that:

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

..actually does the job.

How much chatGPT content can we/you/I stomach before we stop visiting ? We all have a different threshold (and language is a barrier for non-native, it would certainly take me longer to spot the AI).

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

#192

Post by baq »

theptip wrote: post #41
brindidrip wrote: post #26

It seems like there are a few potential negative consequences of using AI-generated answers on Stack Overflow. For one, the quality of the answers may be lower than if they were written by a human. Additionally, if these AI-generated answers become too common, it could potentially lead to a more impersonal and less supportive community on Stack Overflow. Finally, if the AI is able to search the internet and "inbreed"…

Honestly 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.

The problem is, the darn thing produces comments which can’t be blanket labeled as mediocre. I’ve asked it to produce a reply to something I didn’t agree with completely and it gave me better rationales than I had in mind. Scary!

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

#193

Post by TomVDB »

plastiquebeech wrote: post #164
brindidrip wrote: post #26

It seems like there are a few potential negative consequences of using AI-generated answers on Stack Overflow. For one, the quality of the answers may be lower than if they were written by a human. Additionally, if these AI-generated answers become too common, it could potentially lead to a more impersonal and less supportive community on Stack Overflow. Finally, if the AI is able to search the internet and "inbreed"…

>It seems like there are a few potential negative consequences of using AI-generated answers on Stack Overflow. For one, This is where my "Probably written by AI" filter tripped, and I skipped to the end. I can't exactly say why. Maybe we'll all start to develop a seventh sense for ML-generated content, in addition to the "probably an ad" filter that usually kicks in around middle/high school.

Same here.

OpenAI commented on the verboseness of answers as something they need to work on.

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

#194

Post by lamontcg »

ycombobreaker wrote: post #76
zone411 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just its default setting. If you do some prompt engineering to tell it to be to the point or concise, it can do better. E.g. I got: The repercussions of ChatGPT flooding Stack Overflow with answers could include decreased quality and relevance of answers, decreased user engagement, damage to the platform's reputation, and potential loss of revenue.

Still sounds too formal. To me, it reads like the intro to a high school paper. The next four paragraphs would elaborate on each of the points listed.

Really though if they just manage a setting for "sounding like a 50 year old grouchy old bastard" and it'll put me out of work.

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

#195

Post by 9wzYQbTYsAIc »

wizeman wrote: post #141
9wzYQbTYsAIc wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> 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. But isn't that what most people are presumably doing already? I guess my question was more intended to be: how do you differentiate between content generated by humans vs machines? At some point, we might not be able to. Or even if we can, it could actually result in a…

A few years ago there was a US Congressional Hearing [1] about how to handle deepfakes (OpenAI had a representative on the panel).

There was some deep discussion about that topic.

For example: even if all authentic content had an embedded steganographic watermark, how do you reliably authenticate recordings of recordings or otherwise degraded copies of authentic content?

[1] https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?Docu...

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

#196

Post by [deleted] »

tetris11 wrote: post #121
9wzYQbTYsAIc wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Voting with your wallet only works if a large portion of consumers both agree and understand your point of view

[deleted]

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

#197

Post by kthejoker2 »

wizeman wrote: post #181
vineyardmike wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

This reads like a ChatGPT response. (So does my response!)

Whether it is or isn't is beside the point.

Broad, anonymous commenting platforms are dead, they just don't know it.

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

#198

Post by baq »

zone411 wrote: post #93
ycombobreaker wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still sounds too formal. To me, it reads like the intro to a high school paper. The next four paragraphs would elaborate on each of the points listed.

Another poster already did the informal version. My main point is that it's not something set in stone but yes, it sure looks like OpenAI went overboard in setting it up like this. They should adjust it.

Maybe they shouldn’t. Nobody should. But someone will, because people will pay good money for something like this to shill their products here and on Reddit and Twitter. The worst part is that it will work for at least a while.

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

#199

Post by NateEag »

fouric wrote: post #129
tpxl wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people actually reading the content of comments very carefully and upvoting logically sound arguments You can make a perfectly logical comment that is completely wrong.

Please elaborate.

Logic is about a chain of formal reasoning that is guaranteed to yield a correct result given correct inputs.

If you start with some wrong premises, you can easily write a logical post that has incorrect conclusions.

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

#200

Post by kthejoker2 »

seydor wrote: post #160
Areading314 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a potential rephrased version of the original post, written in a witty and informal style: "Yo, AI-generated answers on Stack Overflow sound like a real bummer. First of all, the quality might suck compared to human-written answers. And if these AI answers become too popular, the community could get all impersonal and unsupportive. Plus, if the AI is copying and pasting from the internet, we'll end up with a…

How long will we wait for "make GPT a gangsta" plugins

it's already there?

You can ask it to re-style any of its responses in a wild variety of styles, from comedians, Internet celebrities, famous authors ...

Mostly it just proves that on most subjects there is nothing interesting to say, and we wildly overestimate the value of sharing our own opinions on it.

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