heinskApr 13, 2023
Rob Napier

Please stop posting AI-generated answers to StackOverflow. Please. Most are just low-quality. Some are filled with subtle mistakes. If the asker wanted an AI-generated answer, they would have gone to an AI, not SO. You typing it into ChatGPT for them helps no one.

And they tend to be really obviously AI-generated. It's not as hard to notice the style as I thought it would be. ChatGPT doesn't write like most SO contributors. So I throw the question in myself, and see if I get answers like yours.

Apr 12, 2023 at 11:57pmWeb
Show threadEmilio PeláezApr 13, 2023
@cocoaphony I’ve used zerogpt.com to confirm when an answer looks AI-generated. I flag them and they usually get removed quickly, but it really is a big issue that will keep getting worse.
Show threadAndy IbanezApr 13, 2023
@cocoaphony StackOverflow should do double penalization for answers that are caught to be generated by AI.
Show threadRobert RyanApr 14, 2023
When ChatGPT answers are pointed out, the offender generally quickly deletes the answer, both recovering downvote in rep and hiding the plagiarism. Maybe I’m going off the deep-end here, but maybe deleted/flagged answers should be visible in user’s history…
Show threadFrançoisApr 13, 2023
@cocoaphony That sounds like the same issue as AI generated ebooks on Amazon, AI news articles and AI homework. As long as incentives exist that reward the use of AI generated content, no matter if it’s judged worse or better than human content, no matter how often it gets caught, AI content will just keep coming.
Show threadGabriel PettierApr 13, 2023
@cocoaphony is a high SO reputation still a market advantage? If so I fear it'll continue...
Show threadChris AdamsonApr 13, 2023

@cocoaphony @aijaz I got this from an experiment where I asked ChatGPT to do a background URLSession, and the weird var is a dead giveaway.

var backgroundTask: UIBackgroundTaskIdentifier = .invalid
backgroundTask = UIApplication.shared.beginBackgroundTask(withName: "Download Data") {
// handle expiration here
}

I’m sorry, but I’d ding someone on a whiteboard interview if they did this. It’s legal, but also thoughtless.

Show threadRobert RyanApr 14, 2023
OK, I’ll bite: What is weird about the `var`? The last thing I want to do is defend ChatGPT, but if you only need a few seconds to finish a network request after the user leaves the app, this is the right way to do that…
Show threadRob NapierApr 14, 2023
@robertryan Assigning the var to `.invalid` and then, on the next line, reassigning it to its actual value is...a weird choice.
Show threadRobert RyanApr 14, 2023
@cocoaphony IMHO, you almost ways always do it precisely as ChatGPT explained, because inside the expiration handler, you always check to see if it is `.invalid` and if not, cancel it and set it to `.invalid` (resolving potential race with your asynchronous process). But you can’t refer to `backgroundTask` inside the expiration closure in the same line in which you instantiate it. The pattern in the ChatGPT answer is right (though they made it more confusing than necessary because it didn't show what is going on inside that expiration handler).
Show threadBrad LarsonApr 13, 2023
@cocoaphony It's astounding how quickly this became one of the top flag categories coming in every day. I had thought this would be a fad that dies down, but I should have realized the same motivations that drive the creation of sock puppet accounts would fuel this.