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Scramble: Open-Source Alternative to Grammarly

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Re: Scramble: Open-Source Alternative to Grammarly

#41
post #33
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The source seems to be at the linked repo, and the license is MIT. How’s that a stretch?

> The source seems to be at the linked repo, and the license is MIT. How’s that a stretch? Speaking for myself, I clicked on this thinking it might be open source in the sense of something I can run fully locally, like with a small grammar-only model.

Check out languagetool, as mentioned in other comments. It isbtruly open source

Re: Scramble: Open-Source Alternative to Grammarly

#42
post #24
post #21

Seems a stretch to call it open source.

The source seems to be at the linked repo, and the license is MIT. How’s that a stretch?

Code is only copyrightable if it has any element of creativity.

This repo is _only_ really 7 sentences, like "Please correct spelling mistakes in the following text: " (these https://github.com/zlwaterfield/scramble/blob/2c1d9ebbd6b935...)

Everything else is uncreative, and possibly un-copyrightable, boilerplate to send those sentences to OpenAI.

All of the creative software happens on OpenAI's servers using proprietary code.

Re: Scramble: Open-Source Alternative to Grammarly

#43
post #28

I have been using LanguageTool[1] for years as "an open source alternative to [old school] Grammarly". It doesn't do that fancy "make this text more professional" AI stuff like this or Grammarly can now do, but they offer a self-hosted version so you don't need to send everything you write to OpenAI. If all you want is a better spelling/grammar checker, I highly recommend it. [1] - https://github.com/languagetool-org…

And you can write your own custom rules. It's great as a reward for spotting an error in your writing you get to write a tiny little bit of code to spot it automatically next time. I've collected hundreds.

Re: Scramble: Open-Source Alternative to Grammarly

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "grammar" part, at least in a professional setting. You might be shocked at how many people will write an email pretty much like they would talk to friends at a club or send a text message (complete with emojis!) or just generally butcher professional correspondence.

So it may be more attractive to employers to check their employees' output, rather than an individual checking his own?

No, it's also useful to check your own writing. I've used it as both an Editor and a Writer.

Re: Scramble: Open-Source Alternative to Grammarly

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are several free alternatives to OpenAI that use the same API; which would make it possible to substitute OpenAI for one of those models in this extension. At least on paper. There is an open issue on the github repository requesting something like that. So, it's not as clear cut. The general approach of using LLMs for this is not a bad one; LLMs are pretty good at this stuff.

Yes, but the API at the end is providing the core functionality. Simply swapping out one LLM model for another - let alone by a different company altogether - will completely change the effectiveness and usefulness of the application.

everyone stands on the shoulders of giants.

Re: Scramble: Open-Source Alternative to Grammarly

#49
post #42
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The source seems to be at the linked repo, and the license is MIT. How’s that a stretch?

Code is only copyrightable if it has any element of creativity. This repo is _only_ really 7 sentences, like "Please correct spelling mistakes in the following text: " (these https://github.com/zlwaterfield/scramble/blob/2c1d9ebbd6b935... ) Everything else is uncreative, and possibly un-copyrightable, boilerplate to send those sentences to OpenAI. All of the creative software happens on OpenAI's servers using proprie…

Why would you even say 'please' in a prompt ?

Re: Scramble: Open-Source Alternative to Grammarly

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but the API at the end is providing the core functionality. Simply swapping out one LLM model for another - let alone by a different company altogether - will completely change the effectiveness and usefulness of the application.

everyone stands on the shoulders of giants.

Things standing on the shoulders of proprietary giants shouldn't claim to be free software/open source.
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