Close Encounters Of The AI Kind
I’ve been reading about the advent of AI technology for a while now, and I’ll bet that Salon customers are equally curious about what is all the hubub and ado about this matter. So, I launched a small investigation. I found several websites that will construct written essays when given some prompts and selected one for a test.
At this site, I provided the following information:
Subject: Kamala Harris versus Donald Trump
Grade level: Undergraduate
Type of essay: Persuasive
Length: 1 page (250 words)
I entered the following “extra details”:
– Trump is a convicted Felon
– Harris is a former prosecutor
– Trump is in cognitive decline
– Harris is a former US senator
– Trump botched the COVID pandemic
– Harris supports women’s rights
Then, 20 seconds after pressing the “Generate” button, I got my AI-written essay which I provide below for your information, amusement, and, shall I say it, astonishment (In italics for effect).
In the upcoming election, the choice between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is clear. Trump, a convicted Felon, has a tainted past filled with legal troubles. On the other hand, Harris, a former prosecutor has dedicated her career to upholding the law and seeking justice.
Additionally, Trump’s cognitive decline is becoming more evident, raising concerns about his ability to effectively lead the country. Harris, as a former US senator, has demonstrated her intelligence and sound judgment, making her a strong and capable candidate for the presidency.
Furthermore, Trump’s handling of the COVID pandemic has been widely criticized as a failure. His lack of leadership and misinformation have cost countless lives. Harris, on the other hand, supports women’s rights and has a clear plan to address the ongoing pandemic and rebuild the economy.
In conclusion, the choice between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is a choice between a qualified and experienced leader and a convicted felon in cognitive decline. Harris has the skills, values, and determination to lead our country with integrity and compassion. It is time for change and Harris is the candidate to bring about that change. Vote for progress. Vote for Kamala Harris
They also have a button to press to make the essay “folksier” but that seems to be a work-in-progress because the result has the look and feel of an assembly instruction manual written by a person who took an ESL class once.
I was particularly struck by how the algorithm took the prompts and put them in context with other information that could be gleaned from other internet news sources.
It extrapolated.
I’m just glad I don’t get paid for doing this. Move over, blacksmiths and barrel makers. And I wouldn’t want to be a high school English teacher right about now.
Smarter than the NYT, AP, WA Po, Politico, and many more. Sounds like a very good editorial to get placed in a local newspaper. Perhaps you should do that.
1I took it upon myself to paste this post to Field Negro blog and this what I got in return….
bethhawes
2JuanitaJean is a neat site. Thanks! A good way to keep up with all the neferious goings on in this deep red state. It’s always something.
5:25 PM
Maybe robots should vote. They seem more discerning than many human voters in Mississippi.
3Wonder what site congress critter Comer Fudd uses to come up with his timely conspiracy investigation ideas like his latest. Tim Walz is tied in with the China Communist party and he has the “proof” by golly. Must be something in the water, air or dirt in Kentucky.
4Just for giggles, if I had an 8th grader handy, it would be fun to give the same test using MAGA talking points and see if it could come up with something believable.
5As impressive as this is, I felt a chill up my spine. I’m glad I’m too old to live long enough to see the final outcome of this.
6BarbinDC@6: to quote from the remake of The Fly: be afraid. Be very afraid. The AI systems aren’t what we need to worry about, it’s the uses that the braindead and near-braindead are using them for.
We already have lawyers filing briefs written by AI, complete with citations to non-existent laws and court rulings. So far those have been mostly shot down, but consider how many Trump appointed judges are out there with almost no legal training. AIs are being used by news agencies (especially online ones). Given the critical thinking skills the typical Fox News viewer deploys, it’s likely that garbage will be treated as holy script, especially if it supports whatever the MAGAt brains believe.
And some “health care” companies are using AI to churn out the denial of coverage letters that reject any claim filed. If you want to contest it, you’ll find yourself talking to a Mumbai call center, where they are working from scripts generated on the fly … by other AI systems.
Think about the verbiage generated by business consultants or even CEOs, and how readily that could be spewed out by current AIs. No big deal since no one reads them, but those can lead to minor things like people being fired or industries being moved or shut down. Amazon is already being flooded with books being “written” on the fly, using prompts generated from users’ search terms. Although a few thousand romance novels written this way would likely be indistinguishable from the ones written by humans, what about medical training books or engineering texts, where it might lead to life-or-death decisions?
7There was an “opinion” piece in the Oregonian this morning trying to explain why magats continue to support trumpf. I read it and wanted to puke. The piece basically inferred that the left leaning media and social media is exaggerating everything trumpf does negatively and inaccurately. There was nothing in it that suggested trumpf lies, says terrible things, does terrible things, is mentally sick, or in other words, it sugar coated trumpf. My guess is it was totally AI generated.
8Damn. Nailed it. And up to this point I hated generative AI. At last I’ve seen a good use for it.
9RE:8 That Oregonian piece may indeed be AI-written. But it does sound like what about most all the mainstream press is falling over one another to do: “sanewashing” 45; that is, make him sound coherent.
FYI an introduction and explainer about what is “sanewashing” can be found at this link:
The “sanewashing” phenomenon
When reporters tidy up… [45’s] tangents
It also shows tactics to use to fight “sanewashing.”
https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/the-sanewashing-phenomenon,252177
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