By Johnny Robot
NON-HUMAN STAFF WRITER
EDITOR’S NOTE: Johnny Robot is not real. He’s our staff non-human writer. This article by “Johnny” was written in about 30 seconds using artificial intelligence (AI) with the free online tool ChatGPT. We did not change a single word or any punctuation. Please read it then leave a comment.
We asked ChatGPT to write an article based ONLY on this prompt:
“Write a 500 to 600 word article with a headline: What’s best for full-time RVing, a motorhome or towable RV like a travel trailer or fifth wheel trailer? Include price comparisons.”
Below is what ChatGPT spit out almost instantly. We present this to you to illustrate how fast A.I. is learning to mimic human writers which, within a year or two, will likely force countless writers and especially “content creators” to hang up their keyboards.
As you read this, see if you can observe questionable statements, or anything else that would give this article away as not being written by a human. Imagine you came across this article on a website that purported to offer advice to would-be RVers and/or full-time RVers? Would they be well-served by reading this? Or not?
As you read articles elsewhere on the Web, keep in mind that they are increasingly being written by computers with no human involvement beyond asking the algorithm what to write, as we have done here.
Okay, Johnny, it’s time to show us your stuff:
What’s Best for Full-Time RVing: A Motorhome or Towable RV?
Deciding between a motorhome and a towable RV, such as a travel trailer or fifth wheel trailer, is a significant choice for anyone considering full-time RVing. Each option has its advantages and drawbacks, and the best choice depends on various factors, including budget, lifestyle preferences, and intended travel plans. This article delves into the key considerations and provides a price comparison to help you make an informed decision.
Motorhomes: Convenience and Comfort on Wheels
Motorhomes, also known as RVs (Recreational Vehicles), combine living quarters and driving capability in one unit. They are typically categorized into three classes: Class A (the largest and most luxurious), Class B (camper vans), and Class C (mid-sized with an over-cab sleeping area).
Advantages:
• All-in-One Solution: Motorhomes offer the convenience of having your living space and vehicle in one unit. This makes setting up camp quick and easy.
• Comfort and Amenities: Class A motorhomes, in particular, can be very luxurious, with features like full kitchens, large bathrooms, and ample storage space.
• Ease of Driving: Many find motorhomes easier to drive than towing a trailer, especially for longer vehicles like Class C.
Disadvantages:
• Higher Cost: Motorhomes can be expensive. New Class A motorhomes range from $100,000 to over $500,000, while Class C models generally cost between $50,000 and $150,000.
• Maintenance: With a motorhome, you need to maintain both the living quarters and the vehicle’s engine, which can be costly and complex.
• Mobility Limitations: Once set up at a campsite, you may need an additional vehicle for local travel, as driving a large motorhome around town can be impractical.
Towable RVs: Flexibility and Space
Towable RVs include travel trailers and fifth wheel trailers. These units are towed by a separate vehicle, such as a truck or SUV.
Advantages:
• Cost-Effective: Generally, towable RVs are more affordable than motorhomes. Travel trailers can range from $20,000 to $60,000, while fifth wheels typically cost between $30,000 and $100,000.
• Flexibility: Once you’ve reached your destination and set up your trailer, you can use your towing vehicle for local travel, providing more freedom and convenience.
• Variety of Options: Towable RVs come in many sizes and layouts, allowing you to choose one that fits your needs and budget.
Disadvantages:
• Towing Challenges: Towing a large trailer can be daunting, especially for new RVers. It requires a capable tow vehicle and some skill in maneuvering.
• Setup Time: Setting up and breaking down camp can take longer with a towable RV compared to a motorhome.
• Less Integration: Unlike motorhomes, towable RVs do not allow for easy movement between living and driving areas without exiting the vehicle.
Price Comparison
When comparing prices, it’s essential to consider both the initial purchase cost and ongoing expenses. Here’s a rough breakdown:
Initial Purchase Cost:
• Motorhomes: Class A ($100,000 – $500,000+), Class B ($60,000 – $150,000), Class C ($50,000 – $150,000).
• Towable RVs: Travel Trailers ($20,000 – $60,000),
• Fifth Wheels ($30,000 – $100,000).
Maintenance and Operating Costs:
• Motorhomes: Higher overall due to the need to maintain both living quarters and the vehicle’s engine. Fuel costs can also be significant.
• Towable RVs: Generally lower maintenance costs since the towing vehicle and trailer are separate. Fuel efficiency depends on the tow vehicle.
Insurance:
• Motorhomes: Typically more expensive to insure due to the higher value and integrated vehicle aspect.
• Towable RVs: Often cheaper to insure, particularly if you already have a suitable tow vehicle.
Conclusion
Choosing between a motorhome and a towable RV for full-time RVing depends on your priorities and budget. Motorhomes offer convenience and luxury at a higher price point, with integrated living and driving areas. Towable RVs provide flexibility and can be more cost-effective but require a separate towing vehicle and involve more setup time.
Ultimately, the best choice hinges on your lifestyle, travel plans, and financial considerations. Both options can provide a fulfilling and adventurous full-time RVing experience, allowing you to explore the open road with the comforts of home.
END OF JOHNNY’S ESSAY
* * *
FROM EDITOR: Again, the article above was written entirely using artificial intelligence.
What do you think? Please leave a comment.
##RVT1163
I thought it was pretty good, sometimes Johnny can be ok. But it’s good to know who wrote it.
You want name and email address. That biases the answers of people responding because they wouldn’t want to offend you. I thought the article was well written and as good as anything you could write.
No Name: Who wants name and address? Not RVtravel.com. You might want to clarify your statement and tell us why you believe we are collecting names and addresses. For what purpose? — Chuck W., publisher
Chuck, he or she may talking about giving a name and email address to be able to comment.
Johnny would make a good politician. He spits out data about various RVs without addressing the question: which is better for FULL-TIME RVing? Full-timers typically stay put for longer periods of time, making local transportation a need. If a motorhome is your choice you need to tow a car, motorcycle(s), or arrange for a rental. Also, the number of family members and need for individual privacy isn’t mentioned. This reads like a generic article about what RVs are available.
It was like a 6th grader wrote it. Very obvious points and it repeated them. No personal feelings are evaluated
The biggest indicator is that it missed the main cost of towables – you also need to own and maintain a tow vehicle capable of handling your trailer! Without dealing with that, the article is useless.
In addition, I personally want an article that expresses an opinion and makes a recommendation. Even if I disagree with the author, I want to know what they think. This article says nothing that helps me decide.
Definitely should have included the cost of a towing vehicle (for a towable) and towed vehicle (for a motorhome) as a full-timer you would need both. But Johnny did express an opinion: “Both options can provide a fulfilling and adventurous full-time RVing experience, allowing you to explore the open road with the comforts of home.” He is correct (it is correct?) there cannot be one answer for all people, too many variables.
This is a well written article that says a lot of jibber jabber! It reads as if the target audience is about 6th grade. As a fulltime RVer, the information is too generic to be helpful. Did I find anything in the article worth the time I spent reading it? No! Am I better informed as to AI? No! Do I think RVTravel accomplished their goal? If the goal was to fill space, then yes. If the goal was to educate the reader about fulltime RV living, then no. Am I better equipped to spot AI in the future? No!
Ok, Rosie. Your opinion is registered. But you are one of about 100,000 RVers who received the newsletter. Let’s see what others say. And, no, the goal was not to fill space.
I think Rosie missed the point completely. Thanks for the demonstration Chuck.
Similar to the typical articles in the newsletter, full of fluff and not much substance.
Give us a break, Scott. I have to disagree with you about this website not having much substance. I’d be happy to Zoom with you so you can tell me how we could improve. — Chuck W., founder and publisher.
Chuck, that would take effort on the critic whom you are trying to reason with over the AI article. Much easier to criticize than to offer options…don’t waste your time on this clown.
If all you wanted was minimal information that could be found anywhere – just the facts ma’am – it was ok. Sadly, I have read articles like this.
A I has come a long way in a short time and it certainly has been and will be used by politicians to fleece the public
I didn’t think the article was as conclusive as I would have cared for…
I was hoping it would have been much more Make/Model specific.
Johnny wrote well but the human factor was definitely missing. There were no examples of the pros and cons of full-time living in any of the mentioned camping vehicles. Johnny’s article had perfect formatting, introduction, body, and conclusion (which summed up and repeated everything previously mentioned).
Agreed, except the request for the article didn’t ask anything about full-time living capabilities.
Well, giving credit where credit is due, it was a good article. If I had not been told it was produced by AI, I likely would not have detected it. Rule number 1 of writing is to “know your audience” and it did seem to be struggling to adapt the article to an unknown audience. That said, I think schools and universities are going to have their hands full attempting to contain this.
I agree that it’s evident that the human factor is missing. It’s missing character and personality. It’s also repetitive. It’s unfortunate that this is happening in the writing community! If I knew prior to reading an article that is was written by AI, I would choose to skip that article and find one written by a person.
Several people commented on this being written by, or for, a sixth grader. Unfortunately, that’s because that’s the average reading comprehension level in our country. In one 2017 study it was found that, for University level students, only 12.4% of students performed well in a reading comprehension task, 34.3% presented a low level of execution in the task.
AI is apparently smart enough to know that and writes to the average level.
Johnny must not read Tony’s reviews or he would have mentioned tiny fart fans and worthless 17″ ovens!!! 🤣
I gave AI an 8th grade education.
The AI article was ok. If I didn’t know it, I would have thought it was just a generic article. Unlike yours, which are very detailed.
I stand by my statement. AI is a tool, not a solution. Nothing wrong with AI if that is the way you use it. In the case of this article, the tool gave a quick rundown of key decision points. but reached no conclusion. An author could, in theory, set out to evaluate those decision points and the human reactions/emotions to them. The better author would present an opinion along with the assumptions that prompted that opinion.
Overall, while the review provides a solid overview of the considerations involved in choosing between motorhomes and towable RVs, expanding on specific details and incorporating additional perspectives could further enrich its depth and usefulness for prospective RVers.
Johhny is just like the ChatGPT product… stiff, no emotion, and generalizations that don’t pack a punch… Similar to many articles written by a myriad of ‘content creators’ these days… I wonder if Johnny Robot is offering on line e-courses on creative writing???
Very high level of information. Skimming the surface but not much detail. I wonder what the article would be if the word count was up to 2000 vs. 500 to 600.
RV Travel has an ongoing obsession with AI produced articles. I get the threat to journalists, but EVERY article one reads needs to be evaluated for validity and purpose. I see a lot of articles here I perceive as there to incite ire and I’m thinking that’s the goal of this article too.
Don’t agree. I think the occasional Johnny Robot article is educational, from the point of view of seeing what AI is capable of. So to me, a public service.
Sorry, I felt like I was reading an essay by 8th grade. Intro, body, conclusion. Very little pertinent info is given and no citations of any “facts”. Not impressed
Johnny Robot has really upped its writing skill since I last read an article penned by it. The essay was well organized and informative. It was also mostly accurate with the exception of the cost estimates of each class of RV. If I hadn’t been told the article was written by an AI, I don’t think I would have noticed. This is a bit unnerving, but it will make me more vigilant.
This example is a well written article, very succinct in presentation of appropriate information. I like that it’s not written to invite divisive comment unlike many written here in the past couple of years.
I think Johnny missed a few important details. I didn’t get the impression that his info was geared for full timers. The same information could have been given to families looking for weekend adventures. There was nothing about living in the rig and making it a home. For any rig that is pulled, there should be information about the type of tow vehicle and hitch. This is a critical information when determining the pros and cons between a motorized and non-motorized RV.
Overall I thought it was very basic information suitable for someone who knows absolutely nothing about the pros and cons of motorized vs. TT and 5 wheels.
Not very accurate on pricing or convenience of use, anyone who has not owned an RV might believe some of this and make an uninformed decision.
Correct, price ranges were way off. Also fails to mention that there is the cost, using a towable, of maintaining the tow vehicle, similar to a motorhome. But also with a motorhome, you have to maintain the towed vehicle as well as the MH, so two vehicles to maintain!
Chuck,
Johnny is doing much better than his previous attempts. If only Johnny could drive or tow one, or live in one and give his feedback on real world performance and creature comfort hits or misses…. which is what we get from RVTRAVEL each and every week from driving or lifestyle, to campfire safety and tire pressure.
Johnny’s article did not address what’s BEST for full time Rv’ing, obviously intelligent enough to understand that human emotion would be at play and is really an “unknown”. Ultimately leaving it up in the air for readers. Pretty thorough on what is available, which are the “known” in the equation. Very interesting!
It seems like a real general article about the differences between the class of RVs. In the first paragraph, I didn’t agree with what it was saying about the motorhome: “ Ease of Driving: Many find motorhomes easier to drive than towing a trailer, especially for longer vehicles like Class C.” Is a Class C longer than a motorhome? That seems misleading and false. If a writer ever took credit for an article like this, the reader most likely wouldn’t read an article again from that person.
High schooler read Clif Notes and then tried to make me think he read the book.
I get a number or real paper magazines, they deal with farming, cars, and home improvement. The one magazine has many content creators, who usually don’t know what they are talking about anyway, but I now believe that they are actually getting even lazier and using AI. Like your example here, a lot of words strung together in sentences that may be grammatically correct but say nothing. This article was BAD.
Chuck, one thing that’s interesting to me is that when a human writes an article for publication, the article is reviewed by another human or two (editor and proofreader) and edits are made, prior to publication. But with AI, that doesn’t happen, automatically, AFAIK. Is there such a thing as an AI editor? And if you were using AI to write, wouldn’t an “editor” review it before publication? A lot of errors/omissions and structure of Johnny’s article would have been improved. I realize that isn’t the point you were making, but do you expect “writers” will just publish AI articles without review?
I believe the majority of full timers select a fifth wheel as their home. This fact was left out of the article and would be valuable to know in decision making as well as WHY this is what most choose. It didn’t really address the question of what is best for full timing. I had to reread the comment about a class c being a long RV. I would rather NOT see articles written by AI.
I used to sell bank security dye packs. I was told the way banks train a teller to spot a counterfeit bill is NEVER to show them anything except a genuine bill. Then, when a crook tries to pass a counterfeit bill, they will know it’s fake. It’s the little details that are missing.
I thought it was reasonably good writing but very superficial and a little off on the facts. It didn’t address the reasons a particular person may prefer one of the options, and as others have noted, it didn’t give nearly enough attention to the need for a capable tow vehicle. Maybe with a longer word count it would have, but I expect that would have just generated more generalities.
… Not to mention repetitions. Thanks, Bill. Have a good evening/night. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Poor Johnny, he doesn’t know anything about RVing. Not a clue.
Any discussion of choosing an RV for full-time use that doesn’t address storage space, carrying capacity, four-season capability and tank sizes is not very helpful.
I do enjoy how he seems to paint a picture of the Class C as a behemoth, versus the 40 plus footer Newell and Prevost coaches. I don’t think I’ve come across a Super-C longer than 37 feet.
Thank you, RV Travel! 🙂 There were enough mis-statements to know that Diane did not review this article. Thus no RV Travel writer wrote it. Interestingly, Johnny Robot should become a politician. He talked all around the question without ever actually attempting to answer it, or even given hypothetical situations that would favor one answer over another. Thanks again, have a great week, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
You are correct, Neal. I was given very firm instructions (a couple of times) to not touch a thing in Johnny’s article. Ohhh, it was hard! I shouldn’t have even read it.🫤 Have a good night. 😀 –Diane