Forum Posting Standards Update: Use of AI in member posts

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Aerides

Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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In recent months, interest in AI has grown, but so too has the number of posts made from AI-generated content.

ER.org is a forum where people have thoughtful dialog, about ER and all its many side-topics. However, when threads start to fill not with the words of members, but with those auto-generated by bots, we start to lose purpose and humanity.

Many threads are a virtual iteration of a group of near-strangers seated around a table. If one or two of those folks were conversing by reading AI-generated text off their phones, it would feel unnatural, inauthentic. Everyone knows how to Google or use AI, but members ask questions here to hear from each other, from their experiences, struggles and successes.

In that spirit, we are asking members to use discretion and limit use of AI-content posts: If you'd like to include a (very) brief summary of some AI response, in your own words, as a part of your post on occasion, that would be acceptable, but it should never be the majority of what YOU have to say. A copy/paste of AI-content is not going to be an acceptable post/thread going forward.

An update is forthcoming to the community rules (as always found at the bottom of every page). Thanks in advance for your understanding.

- Site team
 
Great!

Honestly if someone posts something like this “Here’s what [no-name LLM] has to say about this topic” in a thread that is not about AI, I just skip over the invariably non-brief post. I can always go look directly myself and so can others. In some important informative threads AI sourced posts have forced other posters to point out serious errors from the AI generated content and generally just clutters up the otherwise useful thread!

Almost makes me want to add “I am not a bot” to my signature line!
 
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Yeah, it's really distracting to post long excerpts from any source.
 
Thanks. AI is worthless babble in every situation I've encountered it.
 
My experience with AI is that the output is very dependent upon the input. It can be very useful, but I agree that it detracts from the forum experience.
 
Even though I really like AI and think it will be transformative, I agree with this policy. Cutting and pasting slabs of material from someone or something else does not contribute to a conversation.
 
Personally I have no problem with some AI sourced content as long as it is in a thread about AI. In which case they are examples of the technology, and not to answer someone’s important non-AI question.
 
Personally I have no problem with some AI sourced content as long as it is in a thread about AI. In which case they are examples of the technology, and not to answer someone’s important non-AI question.
That’s a good point.
 
I'm all for it, but--serious question--how can you tell if it's AI or someone's distilled response after a Google search? Writing style? Wording? In a year or two AI might be able to mimic someone's prose to be indistinguishable.
 
I'm all for it, but--serious question--how can you tell if it's AI or someone's distilled response after a Google search? Writing style? Wording? In a year or two AI might be able to mimic someone's prose to be indistinguishable.
Well so far posters have identified their AI source. If they post without identifying? Well I guess it’s like any other source copied and pasted without attribution. Fortunately doesn’t happen here much.
 
Well so far posters have identified their AI source. If they post without identifying? Well I guess it’s like any other source copied and pasted without attribution. Fortunately doesn’t happen here much.
We have seen some posts with AI responses cut and pasted without attribution or any user comment. Most have been removed.

AI is (so far) pretty easy to detect. It’s bland and generic, not at all like member comments. There’s also GPTZero, which analyzes and detects AI generated text.
 
Wonderful.
Thank you to the Moderators.
I enjoy this forum because of everyone sharing of their personal experiences and knowledge.
AI may have a small place occasionally, but definitely only if you add your own ideas to your post.
 
We have seen some posts with AI responses cut and pasted without attribution or any user comment. Most have been removed.

AI is (so far) pretty easy to detect. It’s bland and generic, not at all like member comments. There’s also GPTZero, which analyzes and detects AI generated text.
We should all start deliberately misspelling words! Turn off the auto-correkt!
 
We have seen some posts with AI responses cut and pasted without attribution or any user comment. Most have been removed.

AI is (so far) pretty easy to detect. It’s bland and generic, not at all like member comments. There’s also GPTZero, which analyzes and detects AI generated text.
Well that you for your hard and invisible work!
 
I read that a big percentage (greater than 30%?) internet traffic is already AI generated. If majority of posts are AI, it would be a big bore…at least for now.
 
AI content is glaringly obvious.
I think so, too, but only if you read it carefully and if it's been copy/pasted verbatim. Some AI models are becoming increasingly sophisticated and can produce text that is remarkably human-like. (That last sentence came verbatim from the Gemini chatbot.)
 
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