alt Hacker NewsThe most frustrating thing to me is to receive a 5-paragraph-plus email that was clearly written with some AI that filled in the email with vapid and useless talking points, like "Let me know if you need any other blah blah blah; While there is clearly a need for system improvement, we are working hard to address the underlying and fundamental issue; This is a lesson that it's not just a feature, it's a critical path for our users, etc."
My theory is that people are fundamentally averse to the thought and effort it takes to write a good quality email. Then there’s probably some underlying belief that more volume shows more effort, which people will perceive positively. And finally, there's the worry that if you write the email yourself, you might make some embarrassing wording, grammar, or spelling mistake.
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> receive a 5-paragraph-plus email that was clearly written with some AI
Which is promptly and ironically summarized by AI on the receiving side
> Then there’s probably some underlying belief that more volume shows more effort
Hopefully, LLMs will kill that attitude in the long run
> more volume shows more effort
I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead. - M. Twain
LLM-written emails are too wordy. But maybe people think that’s what a good email is.
(Did an LLM write your post?)
Specifically, lets imagine LLMs as compilers - you're passing your prompt through to get some pretty language at the end.
Don't send me your compiled code, send me your prompt. Let it be rude, if the wording is awkward I guarantee I can understand it just as well as an LLM, ignore the fact that my daughter just graduated and offering hallucinated platitudes.
Send me the actual question, don't make me try and decompile a big blob of empty text to the ten word prompt that contains all the actual meaning.
AI is a useful tool for a variety of purposes, what it is not useful for is expanding a short statement to an essay and reducing an essay to a short statement. Either the communication deserves to be an essay or ten words will get it done.