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Indefinite Book Club Hiatus

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Re: Indefinite Book Club Hiatus

#21

Post by jjkaczor »

al_borland wrote: post #2

I think the solution here would be to write a hand-written letter. Sure, someone can make AI write a letter with some kind of contraption holding a pen (I think StuffMadeHere did something adjacent to this). But it would likely be more obvious, plus it requires physical actions and a stamp. All things that low-effort AI spammers aren’t going to bother with.

Uh - there are entire political lobbyist organizations that use something similar to an "autopen" to make mass letters personalized and appear to be handwritten...

Heck - I have seen some in the mail from the "sell your house for cash" companies - typically behind the friendly, "homespun" personable facade, it is a REIT (real-estate investment trust) - or something similar...

(Myself, I can tell that these are mass-generated - but I am (at least also at this point in life - who knows when I get much older) easily able to tell a scam email, phone call or txt-type message - I can typically spot the signs - but those signs are typically there to "weed-out" the people that won't fall for the scam anyways...) - but my non-cynical, non-technical, non-paranoid friends and family need assistance spotting these...)

Re: Indefinite Book Club Hiatus

#23

Post by AlecSchueler »

cricalix wrote: post #3
al_borland wrote: post #2

I think the solution here would be to write a hand-written letter. Sure, someone can make AI write a letter with some kind of contraption holding a pen (I think StuffMadeHere did something adjacent to this). But it would likely be more obvious, plus it requires physical actions and a stamp. All things that low-effort AI spammers aren’t going to bother with.

Physical letters do not obviate scams, nor is the cost that prohibitive. I remember actual 419 scams on blue airmail all-in-one letters back in the 80s. And that was international post too.

Think of it like changing your SSH port. It does nothing to prevent scams per se but you'll have to deal with only 0.00001% of them.

Re: Indefinite Book Club Hiatus

#24

Post by vidarh »

dubeye wrote: post #4

[flagged]

AI can trivially replicate average-ish and somewhat above human writing if given a tone sample to copy. Getting to replicate the quality of writing output of a decent author, probably not without a lot of effort, but the threshold here is to sound like a plausible e-mail from a book club or similar group, not to write the Great American Novel.

Re: Indefinite Book Club Hiatus

#25

Post by vidarh »

butILoveLife wrote: post #22

[flagged]

We care about this one well known authors opinion if we're someone who sees it as a loss that he and people like him will be less available to us.

We also care about it because it's an indicator of the rise of a new societal problem of signal being even further drowned out.

Re: Indefinite Book Club Hiatus

#26

Post by dubeye »

vidarh wrote: post #24
dubeye wrote: post #4

[flagged]

AI can trivially replicate average-ish and somewhat above human writing if given a tone sample to copy. Getting to replicate the quality of writing output of a decent author, probably not without a lot of effort, but the threshold here is to sound like a plausible e-mail from a book club or similar group, not to write the Great American Novel.

[flagged]

Re: Indefinite Book Club Hiatus

#28

Post by vidarh »

dubeye wrote: post #26
vidarh wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI can trivially replicate average-ish and somewhat above human writing if given a tone sample to copy. Getting to replicate the quality of writing output of a decent author, probably not without a lot of effort, but the threshold here is to sound like a plausible e-mail from a book club or similar group, not to write the Great American Novel.

[flagged]

The author needs to avoid a sufficient number of false positives for the time investment not to be prohibitive, and that is what he is arguing is becoming a hard problem. I have problems believing that given some of the e-mail I receive. I have no problem trusting Scalzi on this.

Re: Indefinite Book Club Hiatus

#30

Post by onetokeoverthe »

Freak_NL wrote: post #8
cricalix wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Physical letters do not obviate scams, nor is the cost that prohibitive. I remember actual 419 scams on blue airmail all-in-one letters back in the 80s. And that was international post too.

If you are targetting a list of well-known authors I guess outsourcing the writing of a couple of hundred handwritten letters shouldn't be too hard. I'm sure they they can find a school class in Nigeria or Kenya who would gladly do it for a few dollars — or a struggling teacher willing to get creative with the homework assignments.

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