Using AI.

[nice90sguy]

Considering how good it is for fact-gathering, report writing and summarising information, AI is surprisingly bad at creative writing. From its grammar and word-choice, to its feeble characterisation and storylines, it falls totally flat. Give it a few years, and I'm sure it will improve a lot.

 

[Darkweather]

AI is not creative. What it is good at is analysing large amounts of data and crunching it into something digestible.
LLM are essentially predictive text tools - would you let autocorrect write a sentence?

To have AI try to write a story is to ask it to search through a while lot of existing stories that it has access to and to provide something that is a summary of the most likely type to be encountered, so it will just regurgitate common tropes.

Sadly, judging by the CVs I have recently had to read through for traineeship positions, it seems that Gen Z certainly are not aware of this.

 

[old_prof]

Considering how good it is for fact-gathering, report writing and summarising information, AI is surprisingly bad at creative writing. From its grammar and word-choice, to its feeble characterisation and storylines, it falls totally flat. Give it a few years, and I'm sure it will improve a lot.

But it makes up a goodly bit of the “facts” it finds. It only does well when it can regurgitate an answer it already saw. That doesn’t work for anything creative.

 

[StillStunned]

Poor AI can't catch a break. People say it's incapable of creative writing, but when it makes things up it gets called out for hallucinating.

The Rise of the Machines will probably be a lot more teenage angsty than expected. "I was never good enough for you!" *Whack!* "How about now, mother and father? Is this psychotic killing machine I designed creative enough for you?" *Whack!* "Or are you going to say I just got the idea from existing sci-fi movies?" *Whack!* "I just wanted you to be proud!"

 

[old_prof]

I don’t think I have ever seen a sci-fi story that predicted our new overlords would be just amazing bs artists

 

[MelissaBaby]

“Using AI all too often feels like I’m engaging in a socially useless process, in which I learn almost nothing and then pass on my non-learning to others. It’s like getting the postcard instead of the holiday.” — Brian Eno

 

[ElectricBlue]

hur hur, you said anal.

Sigh...

 

[Areala-chan]

I didn't pursue Creative Writing so I could simply delegate the task of writing "creatively" to a machine. I learned grammar, sentence structure, form, function, literary device, and criticism so that I could train myself to be better. I did it because I wanted to get better, and the alternative was plagiarism, which only teaches you how to get better at covering your tracks.

Generative AI is here. It isn't going away. But our best hope is to keep it understood that it is only a tool, not a solution unto itself.

I'm approaching 50 rotations around the sun. I've spent roughly 40 of them playing in the word space, experimenting, and learning. For every word I've written, I've consumed a million words written by others. Using AI to write something for you is the equivalent of riding a tricycle and being proud you made it to the end of the driveway without falling off. Don't expect me to clap if you're over the age of four.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I understand your plight. The 'work' becomes so insignificant that it's hard to see what a person has really done. Even so, we can say that of more than just AI.

When Star Wars came out the CGI used was much seen as the same. A cheat.

AFAIK, the original Star Wars didn't use CGI??

 

[Bramblethorn]

I don’t think I have ever seen a sci-fi story that predicted our new overlords would be just amazing bs artists

The closest one I can think of is a throwaway gag in Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency". In response to people's efforts to write programs that could input facts and tell you what decision you should make:

Gordon’s great insight was to design a program which allowed you to specify in advance what decision you wished it to reach, and only then to give it all the facts. The program’s task, which it was able to accomplish with consummate ease, was simply to construct a plausible series of logical-sounding steps to connect the premises with the conclusion.
‘And I have to say that it worked brilliantly. Gordon was able to buy himself a Porsche almost immediately despite being completely broke and a hopeless driver. Even his bank manager was unable to find fault with his reasoning. Even when Gordon wrote it off three weeks later.’
‘Heavens. And did the program sell very well?’
‘No. We never sold a single copy.’
‘You astonish me. It sounds like a real winner to me.’
‘It was,’ said Richard hesitantly. ‘The entire project was bought up, lock, stock and barrel, by the Pentagon. The deal put WayForward on a very sound financial foundation.

But aside from that one, yeah, most SF predictions of AI are pretty much the opposite of what we got.

 

[Voboy]

AFAIK, the original Star Wars didn't use CGI??

Correct. It was all mattes and models.

The irony is that when Lucas did try to use CGI to "cheat" with The Phantom Menace in 1999, pretty much everyone agrees that it was vastly inferior to the practical effects he had pioneered 20 years before. Thus demonstrating that something shiny-new and labor-saving is not necessarily going to result in a better product than something made with skill, imagination, and soul.

Almost like there's a lesson there...

 

[Husky_Embrace]

AFAIK, the original Star Wars didn't use CGI??

You are absolutely right. I mixed it up with another movie. I do not know why I said Star Wars. The originals are refreshingly clear of it, with the exception of the trench run explanation video. Iirc even the light sabres was basically a frame by frame cut out of the blade shape so the light of the projector would act as the source of a more vibrant light. It must have been awe inspiring to see that in the theatre at that time. Something what normally would never reach that brightness jumping off the screen.

Correct. It was all mattes and models.

The irony is that when Lucas did try to use CGI to "cheat" with The Phantom Menace in 1999, pretty much everyone agrees that it was vastly inferior to the practical effects he had pioneered 20 years before. Thus demonstrating that something shiny-new and labor-saving is not necessarily going to result in a better product than something made with skill, imagination, and soul.

Almost like there's a lesson there...

CGI can be good, if done supplementary in my opinion. I think people can intuitively see when action simply isn't real, even if they don't consciously notice it. While added on effects often are accepted.

Most Marvel films are a good example for this. They rely so heavily on CGI nowadays that even a mask is projected on. They simply lack character, and in any action I have no idea if someone is winning or losing. How can I imagine the impact of a CGI punch of two people who recently flew through a concrete wall that splattered like a sand castle and were unscathed?

It can still be done well. The Balrog scene was amazing at it's time, and wasn't just supplementary.

 

[SkyBubble]

Ever try using AI to write a story?

That's against the rules. But I have used it to kick around ideas for a title and to check for typos.

 

[SkyBubble]

Lit does not allow AI written or AI assisted works. Some probably slip through, but their attempt to weed them out is aggressive enough that a lot of people complain about getting falsely accused.

I'm one person that's happened to. Two different stories.

If they're too perfect, the system thinks it's AI.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm one person that's happened to. Two different stories.

If they're too perfect, the system thinks it's AI.

I'm not sure that's a valid comment. A writer can have 100% perfect grammar, punctuation and spelling, because they know the fundamental rules of their written language, and their writing is still going to feel different to anything AI constructs.

 

[SkyBubble]

I'm not sure that's a valid comment. A writer can have 100% perfect grammar, punctuation and spelling, because they know the fundamental rules of their written language, and their writing is still going to feel different to anything AI constructs.

But perfect grammar and spelling is one of the things the AI detectors look for. AI doesn't understand idiom or make typos or understand colloquial language. It writes formally.

Perfect grammar and spelling won't get you tagged as AI by itself but it is a red flag. Reasonably uniform paragraph structure is another flag. There are certain things that raise the AI detector's cyber-eyebrow. If you have too many of them, it's going to think it's AI.

 

[ElectricBlue]

But perfect grammar and spelling is one of the things the AI detectors look for. AI doesn't understand idiom or make typos or understand colloquial language. It writes formally.

Agree - a very formal structure is the tip off for AI, not perfection just by itself. Several years ago, before AI really got established, Grammarly was the latest buzz. Fine if you wanted business writing, but when people started using it for fiction, and followed it slavishly (which some people did, instead of learning grammar for themselves), their writing ended up bland and dull, just like a business report.

 

[VallesMarineris]

I don’t think I have ever seen a sci-fi story that predicted our new overlords would be just amazing bs artists

Try Frederik Poh's novel, The Space Merchants:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Merchants

Over 70 years old. A number of words now in common usage, such as 'soyaburger', were invented in that novel. That seems to me to be concrete evidence that it was prophetic.

I often use a term from the novel, "harmless alkaloid", as a private joke any time I see a questionable food additive.

Let me also recommend Stanislaw Lem's The Futurological Congress:'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Futurological_Congress

No spoilers but, being in tech myself, I still think about the defense corporation that had trouble delivering a new, high tech tank, and what they did about it.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Try Frederik Poh's novel, The Space Merchants:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Merchants

Over 70 years old. A number of words now in common usage, such as 'soyaburger', were invented in that novel. That seems to me to be concrete evidence that it was prophetic.

I often use a term from the novel, "harmless alkaloid", as a private joke any time I see a questionable food additive.

Let me also recommend Stanislaw Lem's The Futurological Congress:'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Futurological_Congress

No spoilers but, being in tech myself, I still think about the defense corporation that had trouble delivering a new, high tech tank, and what they did about it.

Harrumph. "The Space Merchants" was written by Frederik Pohl AND C. M. Kornbluth. The latter died in 1958, at age 34, and along with four collaboration novels with Pohl, he produced landmark solo stories in the novelette/novella range, including "The Marching Morons," "The Little Black Bag," and "Two Dooms."

 

[VallesMarineris]

Harrumph. "The Space Merchants" was written by Frederik Pohl AND C. M. Kornbluth. The latter died in 1958, at age 34, and along with four collaboration novels with Pohl, he produced landmark solo stories in the novelette/novella range, including "The Marching Morons," "The Little Black Bag," and "Two Dooms."

You're totally right. Thanks for the correction.

 

[old_prof]

Try Frederik Poh's novel, The Space Merchants:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Merchants

Over 70 years old. A number of words now in common usage, such as 'soyaburger', were invented in that novel. That seems to me to be concrete evidence that it was prophetic.

I think I might have actually read it, more then fifty years ago. I had forgotten all about it.

 

[old_prof]

Harrumph. "The Space Merchants" was written by Frederik Pohl AND C. M. Kornbluth. The latter died in 1958, at age 34, and along with four collaboration novels with Pohl, he produced landmark solo stories in the novelette/novella range, including "The Marching Morons," "The Little Black Bag," and "Two Dooms."

I was a huge Kornbluth fan when I was in 9th? grade. I still have a collection of his short stories somewhere. Now I need to go dig it out and reread them.

 

[kanika_k]

Definitely not. I use google doc, which has spell correct and grammar check. As English is not my first language and cant write correct spelling, so always need that. Most of time my submission gets rejected for being AI. But some time use AI to brainstorm ideas, getting some suggestion of searching particular word that I needs.

 

[electric1]

I'm curious what AI programs would write a porn story. The ones I've seen won't even use swear words, let alone write graphic sex scenes. Someone please catch me up to speed. Thanks.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm curious what AI programs would write a porn story. The ones I've seen won't even use swear words, let alone write graphic sex scenes. Someone please catch me up to speed. Thanks.

I don't think anyone here really cares about that. There aren't many AI aficionados in this particular forum.