Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 83 posts

Re: Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

#31

Post by philipp-gayret »

gruez wrote: post #29
philipp-gayret wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is either ChatGPT or the one journalist who influenced all of ChatGPT's writing style.

If you look at the replies[1] to that tweet, many commenters point out his style was entirely different prior to chatgpt. [1] https://xcancel.com/maxwelltani/status/2023089526445371777 ?

I was giving this the benefit of the doubt as well and was just looking at his older writings that have a little "This article is more than 5 years old" banner above it. Looks totally different indeed.

Re: Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

#32

Post by kibwen »

sigseg1v wrote: post #25
camillomiller wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A CTO sent me a message that opened with: “Here’s a friendly message that will perfectly convey what you want to say”. A double PhD friend says she has to talk to chatGPT for all sort of advice and can’t feel safe not doing it, “because you know I’m single and don’t have a companion to spitball my ideas”. She let chatGPT decide which way to take to get to a certain island, and she got stranded because the suggested s…

How is the getting stranded example different than asking on a travel forum how to get somewhere, and an active and well intentioned user that isn't familiar with your area of travel answers, gives you wrong instructions, and you get lost?

Because the vast and overwhelmingly majority of the time, if you ask a question into the ether that nobody has a good answer to, most people will gloss over it and not bother answering, as attested by decades of relatable memes ( https://xkcd.com/979/ ). In contrast, the chatbot is trained to always attempt to give an answer, and is seemingly disincentivized via its training set to just shrug and say "I don't know, good luck fam".

Re: Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

#33

Post by shahbaby »

sigseg1v wrote: post #25
camillomiller wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A CTO sent me a message that opened with: “Here’s a friendly message that will perfectly convey what you want to say”. A double PhD friend says she has to talk to chatGPT for all sort of advice and can’t feel safe not doing it, “because you know I’m single and don’t have a companion to spitball my ideas”. She let chatGPT decide which way to take to get to a certain island, and she got stranded because the suggested s…

How is the getting stranded example different than asking on a travel forum how to get somewhere, and an active and well intentioned user that isn't familiar with your area of travel answers, gives you wrong instructions, and you get lost?

Because they aren't probabilistic parrots? If they get it wrong, there's usually an understandable reason behind it.

Re: Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

#34

Post by the_biot »

Chinjut wrote: post #2

Good lord, even the apology is AI generated: "That was not just careless—it was wrong." https://pressanddemocracy.substack.com/p/i-am-admitting-my-m...

His non-apology apology even follows a familiar pattern: I wrote it myself but just used AI for some help, and it inserted false quotes! Bad tech! But I have now learned my lesson!

Very similar to what a rector recently wrote when she got busted giving an AI-generated speech in her inaugural speech in her new university job.

None of it is true, of course. These people are just sorry they got caught.

Re: Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

#35

Post by doctorpangloss »

crop_rotation wrote: post #23

HN is full of people saying ABCD should know better and honestly I thought the same, but when I look at almost all of my friends working in critical domains like as a judge or engineer or lawyer or even doctor, they seem to trust ChatGPT more or less blindly. People get defensive when I point out out to them that ChatGPT will make things up and it is widely know, and some even tell me it is the fault of "tech people"…

on the flip side, so much chatgpt usage, full of flaws, doesn't seem to really matter in various "critical domains." you can't generalize "critical."

Re: Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

#36

Post by joe_mamba »

crop_rotation wrote: post #23

HN is full of people saying ABCD should know better and honestly I thought the same, but when I look at almost all of my friends working in critical domains like as a judge or engineer or lawyer or even doctor, they seem to trust ChatGPT more or less blindly. People get defensive when I point out out to them that ChatGPT will make things up and it is widely know, and some even tell me it is the fault of "tech people"…

>but when I look at almost all of my friends working in critical domains like as a judge or engineer or lawyer or even doctor, they seem to trust ChatGPT more or less blindly

That's why I lost trust and faith in people who end up in positions of doctor, lawyer or judge. When I was young I used to think they must be the smartest most high-IQ people in society, having read the most books and have the highest levels of critical thinking and debate skills ever. When in fact they were only good at memorizing and regurgitating the right information that the school required to pass the exam that gave them that prestigious title and that's it.

Now in my mid 30's when I talk to people from these professions at a beer, barbeque or any other casual gathering, I realize they're really not that sharp or well read or immune propaganda and misinformation, and anyone could be in their place if they put in the grind work at the right time. It's a miracle our society functions at all.

Re: Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

#37

Post by andrewflnr »

crop_rotation wrote: post #23

HN is full of people saying ABCD should know better and honestly I thought the same, but when I look at almost all of my friends working in critical domains like as a judge or engineer or lawyer or even doctor, they seem to trust ChatGPT more or less blindly. People get defensive when I point out out to them that ChatGPT will make things up and it is widely know, and some even tell me it is the fault of "tech people"…

Your friends should know better. That their behavior is prevalent does not contradict that.

Re: Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

#38

Post by microtonal »

ashwinnair99 wrote: post #19

The tool didn't fail here, the person did. An experienced journalist should know better. Editorial review exists for exactly this reason, if you skip it, this is what happens.

But the article said he published it in his own Substack newsletter, I am assuming that it is not under editorial control, since it is personal?

Re: Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

#39

Post by microtonal »

rsynnott wrote: post #16
Chinjut wrote: post #2

Good lord, even the apology is AI generated: "That was not just careless—it was wrong." https://pressanddemocracy.substack.com/p/i-am-admitting-my-m...

Particularly given that the dreaded em-dash is not commonly used in Irish or UK English; it’s mostly a US English thing.

The original (?) apology in Dutch does not use em-dashes:

https://steady.page/en/journalistiekondervuur/posts/dd6e066f...

Re: Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

#40

Post by nothrabannosir »

hvb2 wrote: post #26
Chinjut wrote: post #2

Good lord, even the apology is AI generated: "That was not just careless—it was wrong." https://pressanddemocracy.substack.com/p/i-am-admitting-my-m...

I think his apology was actually written in Dutch so this might be a translation that was automated? Source: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peter-vandermeersch-a4381b30_...

It is a faithful translation of the original Dutch. Dutch is structurally very similar to English so this type of nuance carries over pretty much intact.

Dutch: “Dat was niet enkel onzorgvuldig, het was fout.”

English: “That was not just careless—it was wrong.”

I’d say the only difference is the em dash.

Whether you consider it proof of AI is up to y’all.

Post reply on HN