This article is entirely AI generated, making this either a rather brilliant piece of meta commentary or just pure grift. Alas, my hopes are low.
I want to believe it's a bit/Sokal hoax type thing...
Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is generic and boring
221–230 of 234 posts
Re: Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is generic and boring
#222Yes I noticed this as well. I was last writing up a landing page for our new studio. Emotion filled. Telling a story. I sent it through grok to improve it. It removed all of the character despite whatever prompt I gave. I'm not a great writer, but I think those rough edges are necessary to convey the soul of the concept. I think AI writing is better used for ideation and "what have I missed?" and then write out the c…
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It's a concern but definitely depends on the context and my self perceived blast radius of what I'm researching. I do find myself often re-searching results to see what something more authoritative says about it, and I also continue to read source books on topics I'm taking a deep dive in. I have definitely seen current LLMs get my domain wrong.
Re: Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is generic and boring
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not your adversary, I’m just trying to understand your point. Your original assertion was that ‘ you’re only there as long as the use values you create can be exchanged in the market for a profit.’ When I suggested that non-profit or public sector jobs could certainly have soul, your responses were pretty incomprehensible. Can you explain your point clearly and succinctly?
Because you’re aiding exploitation either way. It’s the same machine, just another part of it.
Right. So it's not just work - any good or altruistic act, will by definition only act to stoke the machine.
It's certainly a way of thinking, I suppose
Re: Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is generic and boring
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that mostly depends on how good a writer you are. A lot of people aren't, and the AI legitimately writes better. As in, the prose is easier to understand, free of obvious errors or ambiguities. But then, the writing is also never great. I've tried a couple of times to get it to write in the style of a famous author, sometimes pasting in some example text to model the output on, but it never sounds right.
> I think that mostly depends on how good a writer you are. A lot of people aren't, and the AI legitimately writes better. Even poor writers write with character. My dad misspells every 4th word when he texts me, but it’s unmistakably his voice. Endearingly so. I would push back with passion that AI writes “legitimately” better, as it has no character except the smoothed mean of all internet voices. The millennial gr…
Oh god no, trust me, I'm an academic. I'd rather read an AI essay than the stuff some of my students write.
Re: Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is generic and boring
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because you’re aiding exploitation either way. It’s the same machine, just another part of it.
Right. So it's not just work - any good or altruistic act, will by definition only act to stoke the machine. It's certainly a way of thinking, I suppose
Incorrect. It’s mostly just work.
Re: Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is generic and boring
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right. So it's not just work - any good or altruistic act, will by definition only act to stoke the machine. It's certainly a way of thinking, I suppose
Incorrect. It’s mostly just work.
So if I carry out hip replacement surgery, at my own cost its good?
But if the NHS pays me to carry out hip replacement surgery - funded from tax revenue, but free to the patient, it's bad?
Re: Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is generic and boring
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Incorrect. It’s mostly just work.
So if I carry out hip replacement surgery, at my own cost its good? But if the NHS pays me to carry out hip replacement surgery - funded from tax revenue, but free to the patient, it's bad?
This is not a moral judgement. It doesn’t even matter from which pocket the money is coming from.
Re: Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is generic and boring
#228Re: Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is generic and boring
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
AI averages everything out, so there's no character left. Similar thing happens when something is designed by a committee. Good for an average use, but not really great for anything specific.
Haskell was a success story of design by committee (please correct me if I'm wrong).
A success story by what definition? I cannot judge Haskell as I don't know it well enough.
I should have added "usually". On average when something is designed by a committee the effect is like this, but not always. You don't have to take my word for it [1]. That kind of outcome is not always guaranteed and the result can be good in some cases. In same way, an AI generated content can also sometimes have character.
Re: Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is generic and boring
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
Haskell was a success story of design by committee (please correct me if I'm wrong).
A success story by what definition? I cannot judge Haskell as I don't know it well enough. I should have added "usually". On average when something is designed by a committee the effect is like this, but not always. You don't have to take my word for it [1]. That kind of outcome is not always guaranteed and the result can be good in some cases. In same way, an AI generated content can also sometimes have character. […
> A success story by what definition? I cannot judge Haskell as I don't know it well enough.
In the sense that it looks coherent and incorporates a lot of lessons learned over the decades of functional programming.
Design by committee usually fails either by being boring or by becoming a Frankenstein monster made of various contradictory opinions of committee members. Neither is the case with Haskell.
And the only bad design decision that I know of, namely to not make Monad derived from Applicative, was corrected in a future release.