jilleduffy

Everyone who writes for a living understands deep in their bones what's wrong with ChatGPT

I am quickly learning it's not the same for people whose jobs are to maximize eyeballs or revenue

The quickness with which one groups sees "potential value" and the other sees "unavoidable inaccuracies, false information, and pending lawsuits" is disturbing

Jan 24, 2023 at 3:00pmWeb
Show threadMax Leibman has moved!Jan 24, 2023

@jilleduffy I keep thinking about a tweet I saw last year, to the effect of, "The reason I'm using GPT-3 in production and you're not is because you ask when will it be able to do a smart person's job, but I ask what could I do with infinite dumb people?"

I took it mostly as a challenge to think up creative applications, but to your point, one of the most obvious ones is content farming. Judging by the state of my Google results, this area is already the purview of "infinite dumb people."

Show threadHailley GriffisJan 24, 2023
@jilleduffy One of our writers is writing a post about this exact thing right now. It strikes me how deeply personal her experience with writing is vs. what ChatGPT can recreate.
Show threadjilleduffyJan 24, 2023
@hailleymari I'm doing the same! I'm sure our angles will be very different, and I'm happy to hear more writers speak up about it. Please send me a link if it's an online piece once it goes live!
Show threadHailley GriffisJan 25, 2023

@jilleduffy Here's the post (Umber isn't on Mastodon or else I'd tag her) https://buffer.com/resources/conflicted-ai-writer/

I'd love to read yours when it's out as well!

Feeling Conflicted About AI as a Content Writer

In this personal essay, I attempt to tackle my complicated feelings about AI head-on and discuss how Buffer is approaching this technology.

Buffer Resources
Show threadjilleduffyJan 25, 2023

@hailleymari Nice. Umber's piece reads as quite personal

Mine just went up. https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/why-writers-know-using-chatgpt-is-a-bad-idea

Why Writers Know Using ChatGPT Is a Bad Idea

Writers are aggrieved by ChatGPT and other AI-written content not because it threatens our jobs, but because it's so clear how and why it's doomed to be a disaster.

PCMAG
Show threadHailley GriffisJan 31, 2023
@jilleduffy Thanks for sharing! Absolutely agree with this!
Show threadCreative! Queer!! Autistic!!!Jan 24, 2023
@jilleduffy “It’s ALL content!”
Show threadJohnRaymond Peterson Jan 24, 2023

@jilleduffy

Writers use their soul in much of what they write and how they write.
A.I. has no soul
It'll never feel real to me

Show threadDylan BraggFeb 3, 2023

@jilleduffy I'm not a professional writer, but I write quite a bit. I often seek feedback and critique of what I write. Humans are hesitant to provide that. They are busy, focused on other things, often have no idea how to give good feedback, and when they do, it's brief and of minimal effort.

ChatGPT will critique and discuss your work with you for hours on end, giving solid and valuable feedback. No human being would ever do that.

Don't use it to write. Have it review your writing.

Show threadjilleduffyFeb 3, 2023
@dylanbragg Perhaps, though my money is on human editors in that instance. (I have worked professionally as both a writer and editor for more than 20 years.)
Show threadDylan BraggFeb 3, 2023

@jilleduffy of course. But as I said, I am not a professional writer. I don’t have any human editors. To be clear, my advocation for GPT in this case is due to its shear willingness and and constant availability. I have no one else to give such feedback.

For the same reason, some teachers are seeing value in it, as they are stretched ever so thin to give their students valuable and exhaustive feedback.