GenAI in Writing and How to Spot It
I know I said I was going dark. But the situation with @thistimeitsdifferent--if has got me heated.
So here's how to spot GenAI in writing:
YOU CAN'T RELIABLY SPOT LLM USAGE.
The em-dash, en-dash and ellipses have been in use ever since their respective inventions. Crack open a novel from anytime before 2020, and you're bound to encounter any combination of the three.
The rule of three is human nature. Think about it. Damn near every fairytale involving the acquisition of something is in threes. There's the three-act structure. Trilogies. Trilogies of trilogies. I could go on.
Repetition of certain phrases: everyone has a pet phrase or two. Non-writers included.
Constant similes is something GenAI got from fanfiction where the authors are, by and large, amateurs and hobbyists who haven't quite gotten the hang of when a description is more effective without a simile than with.
Starting a sentence or paragraph with question? Well, that's just what people do. Continuing this with another question? You guessed it, still something that humans do. Is it annoying when it gets overused? You bet. It's still not a reliable indicator of LLM usage.
'It's not X, it's Y' is something English speakers have been doing for ages. The fact that people get witch hunted over this has made several authors in the writer spaces I lurk in completely change their language and the voice they chose just to avoid being accused of LLM usage.
But Siri! What if—
Nope. Not even having multiples of these is a reliable indicator. Some people just write like this, and LLMs generate text based on these people's writing.
But their English sounds so weird!
Did it ever occur to you that some people's first language isn't English? Eller er det noget, man mĂĄske er lidt for amerikansk til at overveje?
But I just know this person used it!
Do you, though? Who's to say an author you really like doesn't use GenAI? Scepticism is good, but scepticism without the critical thinking skills to apply it is as bad as taking everything at face value.
So what can I do, then?
Stop reading. Block the author if you must.
Don't go into their DMs or askbox or email or whatever other means of direct communication with the author to accuse them.
At best you're right and they'll own up to usage and quit.
At worst you're spitting in the face of an author metaphorically killing themselves to write, who might just have certain pet phrases, who just happens to have a favourite set of punctuation, who loves to use the rule of three because human nature dictates that three is pleasing.
At worst you're killing someone's passion and making them quit working on something that would have become brilliant with time and practice and effort.
At worst you're being xenophobic—unintentionally or otherwise.
And since this is the IF scene, consider this, too:
Writing is lonely and difficult and some people struggle to find writer's groups they mesh well with. Consider that IF writers are doing this largely for FREE. Consider that word count inflation has gotten so absolutely INSANE that IF authors are expected to drop 12 novels' worth of words into ONE SINGULAR piece of media.
And then consider if sending in that accusation really is worth spending your limited time on this planet.
