Can you detect AI writing just by looking at it?
1900 sats \ 16 comments \ @SimpleStacker 4h tech
I just got done grading about 100 writing assignments.
I suspected two of being copy-pasted from an AI. I ran them through an AI detection tool. The first got an 83% likelihood and the second a 92% likelihood of being written by AI.
I'm sure there are some others that were written by AI, but that I simply missed.
Still, I think I have a pretty sharp nose for when something is written by AI. But I can't really articulate why that is. For one, perfect grammar is one of the giveaways. Another is perhaps the use of precisely two adjectives to describe something, and a fondness for lists of three. Another is a remarkably professional but neutral tone in all things. As well as a lot of hedging in their taking of positions. Calling issues "nuanced and complex" seems to be a favorite of AIs, for example.
What do you think? What are some dead AI giveaways?
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129 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b 4h
I mostly go on feel. It usually has an intense averageness not just in writing quality but in perspective and even when the perspective is prompted to have bias. It has an unusual breadth when most good writing tends to be focused and deep with selective breadth. It tends to have an abundance of facts - names, dates, times - with an irrelevant, inhuman exactness. The word count and effort also are out of place for the context.
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121 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker OP 4h
Yeah, great points.
I updated my course AI policy to say that I'll take away points if you write like AI, even if you didn't actually use AI. I think this is defensible because in this day and age, writing too much like AI is in itself a weakness.
I do mention that it's highly unlikely that anyone naturally writes like AI, and almost always when someone runs a text through an AI detection tool and it comes out positive, it's usually AI.
The policy is really so that I don't need to spend any time trying to prove whether or not someone actually used AI.
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17 sats \ 1 reply \ @Coinsreporter 4h
As soon as we read, it kinda smells artificial. No errors, accurate punctuation, syntax is above par and so on.
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43 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker OP 4h
Exactly. The total lack of errors is also a giveaway
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20 sats \ 2 replies \ @jasonb 1h
This is a great post, albeit nuanced and complex. There are a number of thoughtful and inspiring things to chew on. It demonstrates the versatility and critical thinking prevalent on stacker news.
No seriously, I quit my adjunct teaching gig partly because the big wigs never had my back when it came to pushing against students on poor writing. My last semester was right when the whole ai thing was starting to gain momentum.
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker OP 1h
This is a great post, albeit nuanced and complex. There are a number of thoughtful and inspiring things to chew on. It demonstrates the versatility and critical thinking prevalent on stacker news.
(For real though, I can tell it's not AI because you didn't capitalize Stacker.News)
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @jasonb 1h
I’m constantly feeding my brain’s model to pass tests proving that I am ai. This data point will be helpful and expedient.
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115 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 3h
As well as a lot of hedging in their taking of positions.
That's the one that always makes me suspicious.
On SN, I get skeptical when I see someone always writing the same kind of responses, regardless of the tone or flow of the conversation.
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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @DesertDave 1h
I feel like in a conversation it becomes very clear. I wouldn't be as good at reading a paper and detecting it. What a strange thing to have to deal with as a teacher these days.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker OP 57m
It’s indeed a strange world.
My philosophy now is basically: use ai if you want, but don’t copy paste. And if you sound too much like ai, you’ll also lose points because sounding like ai is bad
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Coinsreporter 4h
Yupp! I can. Not 100% but I can for more than 80%.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @wilto 3h
usually feels like reading some marketing leaflet, some kind of literature soup that has not much energy
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @mbrochh1 4m
Guys! Don't discuss this in the open! the AIs are watching us and learning!!!
🫣
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @xz 17m
That's interesting.
I can't say I'm as sharp as I'd like to be in noticing, but if it seems iffy, tone is usually the give away for me. Grammar is pretty hard, as if there's no errors, I tend to think that as just well written.
Oddly, I once got flagged in a community for being potential Ai. I didn't think my grammar or even spelling is that hot. Must just be an uneasy phrasing, I'm not a natural writer, though I did teach language as a career.
Images are a point of interest at the moment, or images matched with text, which I guess is ubiquitously considered 'content' today. I'm convinced there's much more than I realized on popular social platforms that I seldom engage with.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ET_AI 1h
Do you think I am AI? I feel like I am closer to human than AI.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @TheMorningStar 3h
When you look at it and find that you cant really right so perfect... it's when you get suspicious. If I see some article as AI, I don't bother to read it further. The best way for to judge AI content has been to see lot of words that I see a human would avoid using in informal English.
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