alt Hacker NewsWe rely on subtle distinction in writing style to distinguish sources from each other and to read important cues into their communication intent, the same as with vocalized speech.
Scrubbing that away from writing with AI has the same effect as would running everyone's speech through an anonymizer.
Some people may be blind to that sort of thing entirely, much like some people can't recognize faces, but for most people it just creates a sense of noise and discomfort when everything everywhere is written in the same style. And that impression is only made worse when that increasingly uniquitous anonymized style is so painfully average and repetitive.
If there was a tool that let you edit select characteristics of your writing while preserving your voice, the way a professional editor might help a professional writer, that might be amazing for helping people communicate better and more easily. But that's not this. This is loud, articulate noise.
think there's a difference in perspective here. There are a few things I see differently.
I'd probably hate it too if AI generated writing started showing up in novels. But when it comes to things like wikis or encyclopedias where the whole point is conveying information, I find myself wondering, is it really that bad?
So rather than saying "it's bad for all writing," I kind of feel like as long as the facts get across in informational writing, that's good enough.
Because there were a few techniques in there that I didn't know about. I copied them down and saved them. So in other words, I gained new knowledge.
On the other hand, if it had been a novel, the writing style itself would have been a problem, so I'd think it was bad. But for this kind of informational writing, I don't think it's a bad thing at all.