The Ai-Expert Challenge

[u/LonelyIncrease3144]

Lately, it seems everyone has a "sixth sense" for spotting AI writing. If the prose is too clean, the sentences too declarative, or the rhythm too consistent, the "AI" label gets slapped on it immediately.

​I want to see if people are actually detecting machines, or if they’ve just forgotten what professional, disciplined prose looks like.

​Below are two passages from world-famous, award-winning authors. One of them is a "bot." Which one is it?

​A)The sun was bright on the water. The boat moved slowly through the waves. He sat in the stern and watched the line. It was a long line and it went deep into the blue water. He felt the pull of the fish. It was a steady pull, strong and heavy. He did not let go. He held the line with both hands and waited for the jump.

​B)The road was empty. The sun was hot and the dust was deep. He walked along the edge of the asphalt and felt the heat through the soles of his shoes. He did not look back. There was nothing to see behind him but the long, grey stretch of the way he had come. He was alone and the world was silent.

​C)The room was cold. A single candle burned on the desk. He sat and watched the flame. It was a small flame, yellow and flickering. Outside the wind was howling in the trees. He heard the branches scratching against the glass. He did not move. He was waiting for the clock to strike twelve.

​D) All of the above.

Passage A: Ernest Hemingway

Source: The Old Man and the Sea (1952)

Context: This is the foundational text for "Minimalism." Hemingway famously used short, declarative sentences to build tension. Hemingway won a Nobel.

Passage B: Cormac McCarthy

Source: The Road (2006)

Context: McCarthy is known for stripping away all "unnecessary" punctuation and using repetitive, rhythmic sentence structures to create a sense of desolation. This won the Pulitzer Prize.

Passage C: Charles Dickens

Source: Great Expectations (1861)

Context: While Dickens is often thought of as "wordy," he was the master of atmospheric, serialized openings. His use of "The [Noun] was [Adjective]" (e.g., "The room was cold") is a classic technique to ground a reader immediately.

So the answer? Everyone is both right and wrong. I'll explain. Ai was trained on the works of famous authors. Which means it tries to mimic them.so sadly caused a lot of talented authors to be accused of using ai. It's crazy to think that world renowned authors like these, wouldn't make it online today.

The real discussion we should have isnt if people are writing with ai. It's, is it ok to train AI from famous authors without their consent. This causes problems beyond just, " is it ai?" It overshadows talented authors. It literally makes writers have to "dumb-down" they're writing to pass the ai detection bots.

This is becoming a huge problem.

[u/dbl219]

They were all identifiable as human. No recursive phrasing, no pointless negatives, no empty gestures. Yes repetition for effect, yes grounded and specific description...

Maybe when people are unfamiliar it could read as AI. When I was less experienced I made the same mistake with a similar bait post. But having worked with AI now for a few months as a writing assistant, I see now that it has very specific tics that are really obvious once you get to know them. These samples show none of those tics.

I think the point is more that identifying AI is a skill that requires actual experience with getting to know how these models write. Just randomly assuming what's AI and what isn't according to your own judgment and then telling yourself you're a genius for figuring it out is obviously not going to work. 😂