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What if AI didn't make you a bad writer, but a better thinker?

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Re: What if AI didn't make you a bad writer, but a better thinker?

#91

Post by rcme »

gonzo41 wrote: post #60
rcme wrote: post #17

I’ve been using AI to write with great success. Mostly business documents. My general process is this: Think of the concept I want to write about as well as the supporting evidence for the topic. Ask ChatGPT to write me something in my target format using the topic and supporting evidence as input. What I get back is essentially a well-written skeleton that I can use to fill in additional details. Finally, I pass my…

I was doing this with work. Dot points were becoming paragraphs. Seemingly for others comfort. Yet, the dot points had all the information. So am I still preparing the paragraphs? Maybe the change we need isn't AI assist, but a break in the conventions around communication at work so we can all be more robotic and terse.

I think you're discounting the benefit of a well-prepared argument. The order in which information is introduced prepares the reader's mind to be receptive to an argument. Phrasing is also important. Certain things sound natural; others sound needlessly verbose and cumbersome.

One interesting thing I've found about ChatGPT is that it removes a lot of unnecessary information from my final drafts. The information removed usually doesn't add to the overall point, and it reads so much better without it. In this way, ChatGPT is making things more terse.

Re: What if AI didn't make you a bad writer, but a better thinker?

#92

Post by morelisp »

_Algernon_ wrote: post #83
jeffbee wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would have been easier to read the T&C than to post this comment. The answer is yes. OpenAI specifically says in their T&C that your content will be used to train their models.

Not only that, it also gives a popup that states this clearly, as well as a request to not input confidential information when you first start using it. Do people just not read anymore?

> Do people just not read anymore?

Well, you're in a thread that's fundamentally about how people just don't write anymore...

Re: What if AI didn't make you a bad writer, but a better thinker?

#93

Post by rhacker »

I had a conversation with ChatGPT yesterday where I came up with the first few episodes for a new season of 24. I provided a set of events that happen in episode 1, 2, 3 and 4 and it "rewrote" it to sound better. Which it basically did. Then I let it "provide a compelling episode 5". here is is:

In episode 5 of the new season of 24, Jack Bauer's mission to infiltrate and take down the terrorist group leads him to a critical moment of decision. With the help of his team and his contact in Moscow, Jack manages to uncover the group's plans for a major attack on the city and learns that the group has a mole in the White House. Jack must now decide whether to reveal this information to his team and risk blowing his cover, or keep it to himself and try to take down the group alone.

Meanwhile, the White House and CTU are in a state of high alert as they race to track down the mole and stop the terrorist attack. The Vice President and acting President is under pressure to handle the crisis and maintain the illusion of Jack's kidnapping while trying to find a way to bring him home safely.

As the clock ticks down, Jack must make a difficult decision that will have serious consequences. He has to choose between his loyalty to his country or his loyalty to his team. The episode is filled with intense action and nail-biting suspense as Jack and his team race against the clock to stop the terrorist attack and clear his name before it's too late. The episode also features a dramatic twist that keeps the audience guessing until the very end.

OK, but but actually it quickly devolved into generic description of many episodes of 24. The human creative element can't be captured by GPT yet.

By the way this totally should happen: Jack is president, has to fake his kidnapping because of a plot coming out of russia, meanwhile apparently the mole is the first lady.

Re: What if AI didn't make you a bad writer, but a better thinker?

#94

Post by hutzlibu »

morelisp wrote: post #92
_Algernon_ wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that, it also gives a popup that states this clearly, as well as a request to not input confidential information when you first start using it. Do people just not read anymore?

> Do people just not read anymore? Well, you're in a thread that's fundamentally about how people just don't write anymore...

Going a steps further, at some point, there will be no need to upload brains anymore ...

But to be honest, I doubt that will happen. I don't define myself over the grind I have to do, but the interesting things I do.

Re: What if AI didn't make you a bad writer, but a better thinker?

#95

Post by karaterobot »

popinman322 wrote: post #49
lm28469 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it make people less good at everything it touches like it did for basic maths we're utterly fucked.

What kind of basic math are we talking about here? Arithmetic? Calculus? Group theory? What makes those "basic maths" a good benchmark for whether we're fucked? Freeing up head space for more important things is valuable. Not having to maintain 7 digit numbers in your head lets you focus on the actual problem. Not having to worry so much about the phrasing in a document because anyone can ask a bot to rephrase it, in…

> What makes those "basic maths" a good benchmark for whether we're fucked?

They weren't saying basic maths was a good benchmark for whether we're fucked, they said that if GPT does for every other skill what calculators did for basic maths — viz. make us forget all the fundamentals and rely on computers for everything — we're fucked.

My personal opinion is that sometimes our head space is maybe a little too freed up by tool-assisted thinking, and we lose the ability to focus and concentrate.

Re: What if AI didn't make you a bad writer, but a better thinker?

#96

Post by sam0x17 »

moonchrome wrote: post #21
rcme wrote: post #17

I’ve been using AI to write with great success. Mostly business documents. My general process is this: Think of the concept I want to write about as well as the supporting evidence for the topic. Ask ChatGPT to write me something in my target format using the topic and supporting evidence as input. What I get back is essentially a well-written skeleton that I can use to fill in additional details. Finally, I pass my…

So you are providing sensitive business information/facts to a third party service that's likely going to use those for training, analysis, store it, etc. ? It should be fine for most places I guess - but I suspect a decent amount will have a problem with this. This is my main reservation about copilot as well (quality issues aside).

Fair, but if you're writing a communication where you care about wording, it's probably going to be public or semi-public anyway

Re: What if AI didn't make you a bad writer, but a better thinker?

#98

Post by mywacaday »

melanieb421 wrote: post #2

Yep, yet another post on AI and the future of content creation. Looking at it from a different angle - what if AI could search your internal docs, and help you problem-solve? Aka help you exploit past knowledge to inform future decisions? The hope: GPT will democratize creation, not fill the internet with shitty articles.

Large Pharma and Life science companies generate huge amounts of documentation around change. They have a huge historical corpus of categorized structured documents that have been reviewed and approved. The quality should be good. Can definitely see a draft document using AI option in the future.

Re: What if AI didn't make you a bad writer, but a better thinker?

#99

Post by mpalmer »

_Algernon_ wrote: post #64
rcme wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So you are providing sensitive business information/facts to a third party service that's likely going to use those for training, analysis, store it, etc. ? Every business needs to make their own decision. Personally, I’m not worried about OpenAI using my data, but I understand others might be. That being said, I already give Amazon literally all my data about my business via AWS and Google gets a copy of all my do…

The difference is that GPT is training future versions based on the information you provide. It could potentially be returned to a future user. AWS does no such thing.

Are you talking about the free to use ChatGPT application or the paid APIs? Very different things.

Re: What if AI didn't make you a bad writer, but a better thinker?

#100

Post by mpalmer »

startupsfail wrote: post #43
jason-phillips wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The symmetric flow of information back and forth between yourself and the AI assistant is the key distinction here. It's a very beneficial, symbiotic relationship. The problem will be the asymmetric, uni-directional flow to those whose sole function is mindless consumption of AI-generated content.

"Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain?” J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Jokes aside, do be careful. A prolonged interaction with LLM agents had resulted in at least one Googler being terminated on their jobs. On the other hand, I would not be surprised, if they’ll make millions now, s…

You're referring to the Googler who thought an LLM was self-aware and made public statements that were damaging to the company's reputation?

I guess yeah, be careful you don't do that.

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