You’re not defending the writing community, you’re putting a target on our backs for doing “normal” things in our work…
There seems to be this frustrating new trend doing the rounds online about “how to spot AI” in content writing. I’ve probably seen about 14 LinkedIn posts in the last 24 hours touting the exact same “surefire ways to know content was AI-generated”.
I’m here to tell you why I think these claims are utter crap, and not only that, but a huge insult to the human writers these posts are supposedly advocating for.
Some of the things to watch out for are “lack of personal experience or emotion”, “overuse of certain phrases or vocabulary”, “writing that is repetitive”, “formulaic sentence structure”, and my least favourite “the use of long (em) dashes”.
Yes, all things that are absolutely quantifiable and not subjective in anyway.
Based on this “evidence” pretty much all technical writing or anything that requires the use of specific jargon would be a dead giveaway for AI writing. None of these claims can have any real factual basis since MANY human writers do these things. This might prove poor writing skills in some cases, but it doesn't in any way prove use of AI.
All your little “exposé” does is make it more likely that those same human writers will be accused of using AI when they haven’t. If Reddit is to be believed, even software that is built to detect AI can’t reliably detect AI content, so how is a mere human supposed to do it with any degree of accuracy?
Please remember that AI is trained using samples by humans, the fact these “markers” exist and are so prevalent is an indication that many humans do indeed write like this. AI doesn’t create it EMULATES. It didn’t invent these stylistic choices. Humans did. If AI uses them, it stands to reason this is in fact how many writers authentically write.
The vast majority of people can’t reliably differentiate AI from human writing, which is why it’s so problematic to our industry. If it was that easy to spot AI it wouldn't be viewed as such an existential threat to writers. This feels like a new era of digital-McCarthyism where people will be accused of being robots (or robot sympathisers) simply because they choose to call themselves writers.
People are going to use AI to write, it’s just a fact. There will always be people who want an easy option. However, unless you have legitimate proof that someone used AI, then stop touting this nonsense about “how to spot AI in writing” because you’re doing far more harm than good to the writing community.
I’m a writer, like many others, who uses hyphens as well as “en” and “em” dashes because I was taught that they each have a different function. I now have to make the decision as to whether I should change my writing style in order to not be accused of using AI, even when I know wholeheartedly that I don’t.
To quote Sarah Millican, “that boils my piss”.
Human writers shouldn’t have to completely change the way they write because you’ve decided you can “spot AI writing” based on circumstantial evidence. It’s not a “cool trend” for you to jump on. What you’re doing is disingenuous and irresponsible. You’re inciting a witch-hunt upon fellow writers because you know it’s easy engagement.
Please stop.
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