AI's Impact on Writing: From Reviews to Literature

Detecting AI-Generated Writing: A Challenge for Experts

Can you tell which hotel reviews were written by artificial intelligence? Three paragraphs, from three different hotel reviews. Can you spot the authentic ones among them?

• The hotel is in a great location for everything. Lots of places to eat and drink. The hotel itself is always abuzz. The tavern located on the ground floor is definitely a must. Food, service, prices and atmosphere were great.
• A good hotel, though the room had the proportions of a well-appointed lift. Slept well, shower was excellent, staff were friendly. Breakfast was busy but competent. Would return, though probably not with a very large suitcase.
• Excellent base for a London trip. The room was quiet, the bed comfortable, and everything worked exactly as it should. Staff were helpful without hovering. A smooth, unfussy stay from start to finish.

Most people, says Claire Hardaker, a professor of forensic linguistics at the University of Lancaster, get this kind of judgment right only about 60% of the time. Her online test, Bot or Not, asks users to identify the fakes in a series of hotel reviews.

The success rate might come as a surprise to those convinced they can spot AI writing at 50 paces. When doubts were raised in May about the authenticity of a prizewinning short story, social media users were quick to condemn it. However, Hardaker says that respondents tend to rely on simplistic rules, such as the presence of cliches and the use of dashes or the “rule of three.” These telltale signs are also characteristic of human writing, given that large language models (LLMs) were trained on extensive human data.

For example, neurodivergent people might write in a way that would be seen as AI-like. Moreover, humans are influenced by the styles they encounter online, including those from LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Thus, it can be challenging to distinguish between human writing and machine-generated text without definitive evidence.

AI's Influence on Human Communication

The impact of AI extends beyond literature into the broader realm of language use. Words like 'delve' have become increasingly common due to their frequent appearance in AI-generated content, even outside these models. This influence is not limited to writing but also affects how humans communicate and write when AI isn't present.

As Gary Shteyngart’s students reacted strongly to the prospect of AI-generated works, it's clear that the issue goes beyond technical accuracy into deeper concerns about the nature of authorship and creativity. Language changes continuously, with new technologies often driving shifts in usage.

Source: The Guardian