By Chuck Woodbury
We’ve all been hearing a lot about artificial intelligence (AI) and how it is being used to generate articles in periodicals, online, and even used by college students to write term papers.
We have discussed this topic repeatedly at RVtravel.com. Our staff agrees that sometimes what is written by AI is accurate, and it’s challenging to tell whether it was written by a “robot” or a human. The fact is, sometimes it is right on — and it’s pretty darn amazing that it could be written so well by a computer and not a human.
On the other hand, sometimes the results are horrible — the facts dead wrong and the points made in the article way off base. As experts in AI say, the technology has a way to go.
Which brings us to our question today: If AI technology can evolve to where it can write as dependably accurate as what a human can write, is that okay with you? Or is anything written by AI unacceptable?
What do you think?
One of the problems is, AI is NOT accurate and will never be accurate. It must have fact checkers. That is the way it works. As it is pulling from a consensus of information, some accurate some not (and the more controversial a topic, the more misinformation out there to pull from).
I am sure it will improve with time, but I don’t see it not needing serious fact checking any time soon. I think writing quality will also improve with time, but right now, it’s about what a C-level high schooler would put out IMO.
I played with it and took some classes about it. It was fascinating, but my final conclusion was I could write better and more quickly without its “help.”
Good points. Thanks, Cheri! 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
I am ok with AI written articles so long as the information is true and accurate.. That would mean that an unbiased human would need to proof read the information in the article for accuracy. What I am leery of is who would be determining what is true and accurate? If the New World Order has a paradigm shift in its agenda and IF they become OR control the human proof readers, then I think that AI written articles are not a good idea. We need to continue to think for ourselves, challenge what we believe to be inaccurate and not become Sheeple.
My Dad was a journalist for 44 years. Mom was an english major and then a college instructor for years. I come from a family that likes to read what real writers have written. AI does fortell the futuresome. It might even get better and with some serious guidance write some documents. AI will have to work to get facts correct and context right.
I strongly disapprove.
It is pretty obvious AI articles are by AI. They contain minimal to no information. So frustrating.
It is worthless clickbait only posted to generate income.
like reading the national enquirer, does that still exist. We have enough artificial stuff in the world and enough people to investigate. Let’s the humans to the work and they to deliver across the table not shifted one side or the other. But then again we’re dealing with humans.
Considering there are a lot of humans writing bad or misinformational articles, AI is just another add-on to that, it could be good, or bad, or really bad. Also, AI technically is written by a “human”. Some programmer wrote the code to generate the “article”, funneling words together. How they manage to test and verify all that code makes me a “little” curious, but just a little. (I am a software engineer). I dabbled a little in AI, (if, then, maybe, possibly) coding.
Just say NO to Cylons.
I don’t want or need self-checkout (they can jump straight to an Amazon GO format, because that is different. Bots doing certain industrial jobs are better than people because they reduce repetitive stress injuries and burn-out, but writing content is NOT one of those things.
I wouldn’t care if the article used A.I. if and only if it were edited by a knowledgable human and there was attribution to the A.I.’s contribution. Otherwise, I’d prefer a human source.
I’m actually looking forward to reading articles without poor grammar and misused words. Hopefully it will also be devoid of “agenda” that so many reporters seem to have. I remember when the evening news reported facts and let people make their own interpretation instead of being told what we should think or feel.
I agree. I see way too much poor grammar and way too much bias in a lot of articles; not here, but in many news pieces. You have to mentally correct the message for grammar. The bias, right or left, can usually be detected within a couple sentences. Neither appeals to me. Just present the facts, and maybe the impact on both sides, and I’ll be happy to form my own conclusions, thank you.
The robot gets the information from some place and those places could very well have a bias, couldn’t they? Just asking a general question.
That’s why I said hopefully. Likelihood? Probably not.
how do i judge an article’s accuracy about a subject i kmow nothing about? but in general i don’t like the idea of AI “reporters” replacing humans.
It is not just writing that bothers me. There are, and will be more, you tube videos that are compilations of others postings put together and ‘voiced over” by computers. With the advent of green screens and human like animation how long will it be before entire moves are nothing more than computer generated reality. Think of “Deep Fakes”.
I portend a future where it will become quite difficult to distinguish AI generated content from “real” content and that will be a sad time for the world.
AI generated writing and art needs to be labeled as such
Do not mind as insight. Know AI is a lot smarter than me. In fact; some of so called Friends frequently question my Intelligence!!
Ahhh, but your (or my) intelligence CAN be questioned, and maybe rightfully so in my case anyway, But we can be questioned – evidently not so with IA.
RVTravel pointed this loathing out to me, I didn’t realize what it was. I would always pick up on it but I thought it was just bad writing on the author’s part. Now that I know what it is I recognize it immediately. If the article has a comment section, I will always point it out and expose it for what it is and to heap some shame on them. Thanks Chuck for the insight.
Today’s “CBS Sunday Morning” show did an excellent segment on AI writing. Well worth watching. Link below.
https://youtu.be/2MZs44gSIwg
Accuracy is only one thing I look for in an article. Completeness of covering all sides or info on the topic is another. An article can be accurate but incomplete.
I think “Best Reviews” are AI written. They are always just a regurgitation of brochures. I don’t even click those web sites anymore.
I want people, not a machine they can blame for mistakes, telling me the truth. I know, expecting the truth is pollyannaish.
It’s funny that people want humans reporting the news yet they complain about fake news. Can’t have it both ways.
So you’re saying only AI can report truthful news? I think not.
No, he is only saying that just because a human writes it does not mean it is accurate. The premise of the poll question was accuracy.