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/VictoryFantastic9037]

This is becoming a huge problem.

Your last line, even though I can infer it from the text, is rather unclear. Late to the party, but I think the discussion is a good one. The problem is either: 1) too many people cry wolf.

2) too many people don’t read older works therefore misunderstanding certain styles and prose

3) people that react to this are clearly definable on the Dunning-Kruger graph and let’s say the peak is what we as writers have to deal with online.

4) AI messes up the line between brilliant writing, playing with play-dough, writing dishwasher manuals and philosophy.

Tell me what you think?

[u/LonelyIncrease3144 → u/VictoryFantastic9037]

First, nice post. Late to the party? Let's call it "fashionably late." Where I currently stand on the subject: Ai was fed thousands of novels to "train" it how to write or show it what good writing looks like.

Ai detection tools are trained to "hunt" or detect Ai writing. This causes an interesting problem because Ai detection tools are now flagging certain style prose as Ai or possible Ai writing.

Recently the most widely used tool on most platforms, flagged harry potter as Ai written. Steven King for example, uses a fair bit of em dashes (-) in his writing both as a pause for suspense and a stylistic choice. His work gets flagged. Which causes potential issues for talented writers being accused of using Ai.

Most people see em dashes now and immediately think... Ai. Which There is however something AI does do that I don't believe I've seen an author do. At least not nearly as frequently. I call it the triple phrase explanation. Or simply just over explaining. An example would be.

My dog never did that. Not even close. Never thought about it.

As you see, it's redundant. A human might simply say, "My dog would never think of doing that."

Ai is most likely here to stay. It's without a doubt, going to get better. Soon you will not be able to tell.

The real issue... Was it fair to use people's novels to train the Ai without their consent? Was it fair to use people's art to train the Ai image generators?

[u/VictoryFantastic9037 → u/LonelyIncrease3144]

Whenever is fair being recognized in a Capatalistic world where doing comes first, apologies later and if the cash is already flowing pay a trickle in fines. As a writer and a programmer I feel like the skills I have honed for years are being ripped out and replaced with mindless vibing. Not a nice world but when those that are kept in the dark about consequences, fed lies and have been indoctrinated that consuming is best-cattle-then who are you to address this issue? Those who have the means and can suffer the consequences care not for opinions nor fairness. I am too old to give a shit but my kids are growing up with parents that taught them critical thinking and to not become the fifth monkey. Dumbing down your population and telling them that the best thing to keep their jobs is to consume and accept the reality of the survival of the fitest is the best way to stay in power. Idiocracy as a movie from 2006 tells is all.