AI-produced Drivel at Scale

I just stopped by a cafe with a friend. We watched a group of undergraduates using ChatGPT to answer questions, but we didn’t linger long enough to see how they were using it. Our donuts were melting and our beverages were converging on room temperature. But the brief sight spurred a discussion about the kind of texts they were likely producing, and the answer seemed obvious to me. They were churning out boring, dull, insipid, drivel. It was going to be the kind of stuff that you wouldn’t want to read, no matter how much^[1] you were paid to read it.

It’s not true, but it certainly feels like these large language models are tuned to produce the most inane drivel, even though it’s possible to prompt them in interesting and creative ways. And if they aren’t starting out that way, the “AI safety guard-rails” being put in place certainly aren’t helping. But most people aren’t trying to use them to produce creative stuff. Then again, most people aren’t doing something like Tokyo Drift style stuff in the mountains with Tesla’s full self-driving^[2]. Instead, they’re using it by punching in their destination and hoping it will handle all of the boring parts, so they can just get it over with. To me, that’s a crime because machine learning and artificial intelligence tools can and should be used for interesting things.

When it comes to using these tools for writing, you still need an inner Ira Glass:

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

It’s disappointing because these tools can help you produce great content. Large Language Models such as ChatGPT can help you iterate and iterate and iterate. You can produce dozens of alternative renderings or something before combining the bits that tickle your fancy. But it’s rare to see people use any of these tools in a way that showcases their full capability.

Perhaps it’s because people don’t realize this is an option. Or they don’t care. Like the Tesla driver, they just want to get to their destination as quickly as possible. Like the undergraduates, they just want to get their assignment done so they can get back to doing whatever the cool kids are doing these days.^[3]

This is pretty much a call to action. Don’t be satisfied with AI Produced Drivel™. Don’t let ChatGPT take away your voice. Don’t let it turn you into a boring writer or speaker. I write emails in ways that are often quite heterodox. All of you people bending over and letting ChatGPT have its way with you have now justified me continuing to write this way.

And heaven help us all if ChatGPT starts churning out sentences like “All of you people bending over and letting ChatGPT have its way with you have now justified me continuing to write this way.” I’m not sure what we’ll do then.

Probably hunt out Sarah Conor to save us.