That's all, folks! Really?!
I recently read @ArcherGreen's informative article about "How to spot AI generated text" which I found very useful and it made me think. I started looking at the articles I was commenting on and wondering if they were AI-generated or not, and to what extend I thought the original generation had been edited. One word that stood out a mile for me, was the word "folks". It's not a phrase that I would use, ever, and yet I saw it being used in several blogs that alerted me to the presence of AI text. And it reminded me a lot of the "That's all, folks" catchphrase which was first used on the banner at the end of the Looney Tune cartoons in the 1930s .
Now I'm not criticising people that use this phrase, OR AI-generated text and the people that use AI at all - I use it myself and find it to be a labour-saving technology that has made my life a lot easier. But I wanted to alert people to think about whether they would actually write like that, or use some of the phrases that AI generates. If the answer to that question is yes, then use the phrases abundantly and your writing will reflect your own style.
But if you find something in AI-generated text that you would never say, then rephrase it to something you would. That way you will stay authentic as a blogger or writer.
Remember too that there are a lot of conventions and idioms that work in one country that would not be so readily accepted in another, so be mindful of your own country's quirks!
I have been writing and blogging now for several years, both on my own websites and professionally for education programmes and magazines and I have audience had to adapt my writing style according to the audience I'm writing for. It could be the language I use, whether I'm using first, second or third person, the sentence structure or the phraseology. If I don't adapt these things, then my writing will not resonate with the intended audience. It's "horses for courses" as they say. And yes, that IS a phrase that I often use, so I'm happy to use it here.
I love the fact that AI has made me more productive, and I intend to keep using it but I urge everyone to remain authentic in their writing too.
Happy blogging!
Gail
And yes, I did use AI to generate the image of the robot and the dictionary!
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Great advice. AI helps you do the bulk of the work, and do so efficiently. You are still in the creative driver seat, and if you are publishing your content publicly, you are the one behind the content so the last thing you want to do is to publish or send obvious AI content.
Use AI, it is powerful. But also realize that we are in an AI assisted world, not an AI created one. :)
Hi, Gail.
I often use AI and the word folk(s). I think "folks" is a generational thing.
It's hard to discuss using and editing AI among people who consider themselves writers. I've noticed that the purists among us hold on tightly to the idea that the human touch, specifically their human touch, is or will be the difference between success and failure, and the use of AI is anathema to them.
I counter that words are words, whether from a machine or a human. Letters scattered on a Scrabble board are cold and lifeless until editing makes them warmer or more human.
The word "resonate" used in an article makes me think an article is AI.
I believe the constant use of AI will result in a societal shift toward sounding more like it does as it moves closer to sounding like we do.
Dr. Seuss may have been canceled, but he wasn't wrong. Eventually, the Sneetches couldn't be differentiated.
I agree with you, Gail, and thanks for the reminder. This is a new skill for many (that'll be AI + editing) and many of us (arguably) get lazy when it comes to editing. It seems that the less some humans have to do, the less they want to do! We need to remain astute and mindful.
;-)
Richard
I agree, otherwise, we'll find that every blog on the internet sounds the same. One of the other 'dangers' of AI, if I were to be so bold, is that the more we use AI, the more less real-people examples AI will have to use in its algorithms, and therefore before long, AI is just regurgitating AI, regurgitating AI...
Just glad you found AI to be of help. It makes work easier. That's the goal from quills to AI. I also love the 'personality' in your suggestions. It takes a writer to know their unique voice first, then use AI (or whatever tools) to help them do it fast and professionally.
About phrases, I wonder if "memoir" is more American while "autobiography" is more of British English. This is because whenever I prompt Copilot or Gemini to write something and I use the word, "autobiography," they both prefer to use "memoir" instead, while I think these are not the same. I might be wrong.
English is my 4th language. AI is helping me a lot with it. I almost always use wrong words that might sound the same but have very different meaning: face, phase, pond, font, fine and find, just to name a few.
I like your advice.
Let's learn prompt engineering to tailer [tailor] content that fits our voice and audiences.
Blessings,
John
Wow, I'm impressed by your 4 languages. That's a real accomplishment and to understand the nuances of each is difficult. I agree with you that a memoir and an autobiography are subtly different, but I also think it may be the differences between American English and British English as you say.
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No one would ever accuse me or confuse my writing with AI-generated text. One reader called my writing pedantic, a word I had to look up. When I looked it up, my response was, "Ouch!"
I make many grammatical and spelling errors I don't find when proofreading before posting. I usually find a misspelled word or two when I read old blog posts.
Here is an old favorite story:
Sell….Don’t Spell!!!
Gooch, a newly hired traveling salesman wrote his first sales report to the home office. It stunned the brass in the sales department because it was obvious that the new salesman was ignorant!
Here’s what he wrote:
“. . . seen this outfit which they ain’t never bot a dime’s worth of nothing from us and I sole them some goods. I’m now going to Chicawgo.”
Before this man could be given the heave-ho by the sales manager, along came his letter from Chicago:
“I cum hear and sole them half a millyon.”
Afraid to fire the ignorant salesman yet fearful if he didn’t, the sales manager dumped the problem in the lap of the president. The following morning, the ivory towered sales department members were amazed to see posted on the bulletin board above the two letters written by the ignorant salesman this memo from the president:
“Weve been spnding two much time trying to spell instead of trying to sell. Let’s watch those sails. I want everybody should read these letters from Gooch who is on the rode doing a grate job for us and you should go out and do like he done.”
Glen 🙂
Hi Glen. I love this. I used to be a teacher of children with special needs, many of whom have dyslexia and have difficulty with spelling although it is not a learning disability but is considered a learning difficulty - a nuance but an important one! I hated the way that the education system (at least in the UK) so often tried to fit everyone into the same box and often overlooked people with many special gifts and talents because they didn't 'fit'. I had to leave because I no longer believed in what we were trying to do but that's a whole other story.
So, I luvved ur storey and rock on U!
Thank you, Gail!
I have been blessed with Parkinson's as I have met many wonderful people and started boxing to help with movement issues. I have lost fine motor control. So, using a mouse, typing, and speaking have become challenges. It seems my mouse has a mind because it clicks in all the wrong places. Meanwhile, my keyboard creates many new spelling variations of familiar words.
Lovely that you are being inventive! Language, after all, is an evolving thing. Me thinkest our man Shakespeare wouldst agree!
Funny to read though.
I had a funny predictive text typo recently. My sister asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I said I'd like some skincare from the Boots No. 7 'lift and luminate' range. It's a skincare range in England for the mature woman!
However, when I read it back after sending it, I'd requested something from the 'lift and LAMINATE' range!! I'm sure that's probably what I really need!