Seeing people use AI to post to DU is weird

[EarlG]

129. I don't really understand the purpose of this OP

You have no way of knowing whether someone's post was written by AI or not. You say you do, but you don't. Nobody does. That's why they're having all these problems with ChatGPT in academia right now.

You know that this is true, because you've been careful not to single anybody out. If you singled someone out, you'd be committing a personal attack. That's because you have absolutely no way to prove that someone's post was written by AI, so you'd be making a completely unfounded accusation. Do we really want a DU where everyone can go around accusing each other of using AI to write posts? I don't. That would get old very fast.

So instead you've got this sort of vague finger-pointing OP where you're not singling anyone out for using AI, but you're just saying that "people" are doing it. I don't really understand how this is helpful to the community, since it just seems to be making a lot of DUers paranoid.

I am not a fan of generative AI at all. I think for the most part it's a bunch of bullshit that is only going to make people who rely on it dumber and dumber over time. But the die is cast -- the technology is here, and I can't write a rule to stop it because there is literally no way to prove that anybody is using AI to write their posts.

And yet, before the advent of AI, anybody on DU could ask a partner or friend to edit their posts for clarity and spelling. They could even ask a partner or friend to write an entire post for them. Nobody would have been any the wiser -- but knowing that it was possible didn't seem to bother anybody.

I believe that most people who participate in this community do it not just because they want to read, but because they have something they want to say. I don't use AI to write my posts because I've been writing posts on here for 25 years and I enjoy doing it. I like using my brain. I think that the vast, vast majority of DUers feel the same way.

So for most people, it's a choice. Do you choose to believe that other DUers you're interacting with here are writing their own posts because they have something to say and they want to participate in the community, or do you choose to believe that other DUers aren't really people, and that you should be on high alert at all times because you might be talking to an AI?

I choose to believe the former. I think people participate here because they like using their brains and enjoy the process of engaging in written communication. But the purpose of this OP seems to be to encourage people to believe the latter, and the result is that you've created a long thread full of anxiety and paranoia. Since I'll also choose to believe that it was not your intention to do that, I don't really get the purpose of the OP.