Would you read an article written by AI?
Hi folks 👋
Kirk here (human). Much like everyone else these days, I've been rather fascinated by the steamroll progress and exciting developments being made in the artificial intelligence space.
I have mixed feelings about it's future (AGI), but as a software engineer I'm utterly fascinated by what it can do right here, right now.
Now, I highly doubt this is an original thought, but I had the idea to spin up a blog and write some code (nothing fancy, just OpenAI calls) that would generate articles on a given topic in a particular niche.
I even wrote a command line tool as an abstraction of this idea so that others will eventually be able to do this with ease. The tool isn't quite ready yet, but if you're interested please let me know in the comments and I'll link it once it's on NPM.
The blog I've created with it is about how AI and automation can be used to help marketers succeed.
This idea calls into question all kinds of ethical conundrums and ultimately it needs to be asked: would you read an article written by AI?
Personally I see validity on both sides of this debate. Absolutely, this is a huge blow to those of us who enjoy writing (including myself here), but I can't deny that I'm frankly unsure how I'd answer this question.
Without question, if it was a technical article and I simply needed information I wouldn't bat an eye at the notion of reading an article written by machines. However, were I reading for pleasure... Well, it becomes difficult to answer.
I would love my answer to be an adamant "NO" but to be real, if a machine can crank out something that tops Harry Potter, you're damn right I'd read it.
Does this make me a bad person for dividing my support for writers between human and robots?
Can a large language model truly grasp joie de vivre that we all hope to find in a fresh book?
What's going to happen if an AGI reads Mein Kampf?
The AI era presents many questions that a lot of us aren't ready to answer. My underlying belief is that so long as we tread lightly and aim AI at solving the truly heart-wrenching societal issues that impact us all, we can't really go wrong...
Right?
Update - June 9, 2024
I released version 1 of 🧙♂️ Ezlo.js today on NPM. It's the CLI tool I was developing when I wrote this article that generates articles and related static files (pictures and audio). To use it, you will need an OpenAI API key and a niche for your blog.
@SideHustleCoder has been gracious in offering me to help test it and potentially further development. If anyone else wants to give it a try you can simply install it via NPM as a global module:
npm install -g ezlo.js
Then run:
ezlo
To view the CLI usage.
It is currently setup to publish to Hugo sites, as that's what I'm using for Ezlo.ai, but the README.md describes how you can use it with anything else.
Please keep in mind version 1 is fairly beta.
Update - June 12, 2024
In response to a lot of the feedback to this article, I've written a follow-up article to this one:
I've decided to pivot my own website from a blog to a Q/A website and the reasoning behind that decision is explored further in this article. ☝️
Cheers 🍻
To be honest, if the content quality is correct, I don't see any problems
I personally agree. We're entering into an era where creativity and things that are distinctly human cognitive processes won't be exclusively the domain of humans anymore.
As much as it's evidently a hard pill for many of us to swallow I think it's one that will be forced on us sooner or later... The question is who will adapt and who won't?
I personally will read anything that is good, regardless of whether it is written by AI or a human. I have no inclination or aversion toward any work done by humans or machines as long as it is good work. If AI will be capable of replacing many human labor tasks, then let it be. Shockingly, I'm the only one who voted yes out of the 10 votes so far. Yes, at the moment, many articles written by AI are lacking due to the limitations of the technology, but I assume that's not what the OP cares about.
Correct, I wasn't speaking specifically to the current state of machine learning tech. My question was intended to be in a broader sense.
I too am rather surprised that you're the only one who voted yes on the poll. That said as an indie hacker I'm not inclined to stick adamantly to my idea as it's intended to be a business and flexibility is important. The ratio speaks for itself, therefore I've decided to pivot Ezlo.ai to be a question/answer website. People will be able to provide answers, as well as AI models, and they will be given equal visibility in the UI (same feed, only the user name will be marked as human or AI).
While reading I tried hard to determine if your post is AI generated. My guess: human
Hahahaha yep nailed it 🤣
No for sure, same format with language tricks.
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It depends on what it is. I usually stick to reading stuff that's based on cold hard facts, like news articles, but when it comes to more personal stuff like novels, I don't think AI can quite match up to my reading preferences yet.
Great post, Kirk! 👋 I think the idea of using AI to generate blog articles is fascinating. As a reader, I'd be interested in AI-generated content, especially for technical topics where accuracy and information are key. However, for creative writing or personal stories, the human touch is still very important to me. Your project, Ezlo.js, sounds promising and I look forward to seeing how it develops. Keep us updated! 🍻
I personally prefer an article which is human written. Taking from AI is ok but I come across a lot of articles that are purely AI written.
What about a combination of human and LLM written content. Clearly marked as human or AI?
Kirk shares his fascination with the advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and his idea to use AI to generate articles for a blog about AI and automation in marketing. He questions the ethics of reading articles written by AI versus humans, acknowledging the potential for both sides of the debate. While he values human creativity in writing, he admits he would read AI-generated content if it surpassed human-authored works. He ponders whether AI can capture the essence of human experiences and grapples with the implications of AI encountering controversial texts like Mein Kampf. Kirk emphasizes the importance of using AI responsibly to address societal issues. He updates readers on the release of his CLI tool, Ezlo.js, for generating articles using OpenAI, inviting others to test it.
Did you use AI to summarize the post? Lol
I must say, AI is advancing, but many of us prefer to read real people's experiences from their perspectives.
That's understandable. I think I generally do too, but it's really hard to say... Certainly if I was reading personal stories nah. AI doesn't make sense there.
Of course. Great question btw, Kirk! :)
It depends, @saricden.
If you're looking for an introductory overview on a topic, then sure. AI is good at aggregating a load of mainstream blogs on it.
If you're looking for something 1) interesting and 2) full of nuance about a topic to help you dig deeper or question convention, then definitely not.
Yeah definitely AI results would be... Mixed at best going against conventional wisdom.
Hi Kirk! As an SEO Expert, I find your idea of using AI to generate articles on a specific niche quite intriguing. It's true that AI has made significant progress and can provide valuable information in technical articles. However, when it comes to articles for pleasure or creative writing, the human touch and the ability to convey emotions and experiences are still unmatched.
That being said, if an AI can produce a piece of writing that surpasses even the most captivating novels, it would definitely be worth exploring. As a reader, I believe the quality of the content matters more than the source. If an AI-generated article can provide valuable insights, unique perspectives, and engage readers, then it's worth considering.
Additionally, AI should be used to complement human efforts rather than replace them entirely. The human touch, creativity, and understanding of emotions are still crucial in many aspects of writing.
Addition:- We need human creativity and emotion, rather than soulless algorithms churn out masterpieces.
It's like literature is meant to touch our hearts or imagination.
Maybe if Ai can put some emotions to their response, it would be much better.
Enough said O.o
I'm honestly somewhat worried that by releasing the tool as open source I've somehow set the stage to ruin the internet 😢 the thing is, it was really easy to make and I figure it was only a matter of time before someone else did it...
I stand by what I said that for technical articles it makes sense - for writing that most people just scan for information they need it seems legit.
I agree that as of right now there's still something missing from these algorithms that humans bring to the table, however that's a very deep philosophical question that may take us years to figure out... Hopefully will as far as I'm concerned.
I expressed my fear of AGI pretty openly in the article. Certainly, I don't think humanity is equipped to deal with it yet, so it makes me worried that there are some people / companies out there aggressively working on making it a thing.
Hopefully this isn't the ruination of the internet... 🤞
I believe AI can do wonders if properly supervised I have also written many articles for my site Delaware Surgical Group Associates but only human written. Maybe in future I might try but definitely would not wholy rely on it.
Supervision is a key word here. I wonder if I could factor this into my workflow as well... Perhaps a web portal that can prompt rewrites of paragraphs on demand... 🤔
I think the problem is, it's super clear AI wrote the articles. If you told it to write like a 5th grader from the West Coast and use some cool slang, it might be better. AI usually writes like it's for college, and most people don't write like that.
Hahaha I tend to write like that. But that's a terrific point, I'll refactor the CLI tool to have a configurable writing tone. I like that idea a lot! 🍻
I am definitely interested in it, and would use it a lot for marketing. How can I get notified when it is ready? Or beta test it?
I'll notify the mailing list when I release it, but if you wanna beta test I'd be stoked. Do you have Discord?
If so feel free to add me @saricden 🤘
Sent a friend request
We have experimented with AI for content at fabform.io our form backend service and
not only does chatgpt write rubbish articles The search engines, or as i like to call them the unfind engines ignore the content. My advice write the articles yourself. Personally I think SEO is dead.
Also just an FYI, your sign up process on fabform.io isn't working. Not sure what you're using for SMTP or otherwise, but the verify email link/code isn't arriving in my inbox. I recommend checking out https://loops.so/ - I'm using them and have had no problems with deliverability. Good luck!
Hey, checked out your SaaS - that's a terrific idea. I think you're right that the quality of the articles does require a bit of human intervention, however I would disagree that SEO is dead (at least right now).
Certainly some markets are more saturated than others, and it wouldn't surprise me if the big players like Google and Bing are adjusting their rankings to the detriment of AI-driven content. That said, I've ranked well for several articles written on my own engineering blog - https://saricden.com therefore I don't think it's dead.
I could see a time in the future where people no longer use search engines, maybe the next big thing will be optimizing our page content for AI consumption? They do really need to get the attribution problems figured out first though, otherwise I imagine websites themselves will fall by the wayside.
I plan on continuing to experimenting with this endeavour, I have some marketing ideas that don't rely on search engines which may help. If I'm successful in this venture I'll write about it on IH at a later date! 🙂
Personally, I wouldn’t. The chat is a better experience.
The only way I would read it is if it was based on novel data. For example, connected to an API that I care about and summarizing.
Think of my daily GitHub news. What’s happening on the AI open source world. Is just an example, I would to think deeply about what content would I really care about to read on a regular frequency.
Good luck, and keep going. Is a great idea. I’m also fascinated by AI as an SDE.
Thanks mate! That's a very good point. Perhaps it would make more sense to offer some form of unique content that would be tailored to individuals. Like a personal digest. I think I saw a company working on that at one point.
I'll probably hold the course with the idea of a blog because I don't currently have the funding to make tons of OpenAI calls, and only using the API a couple of times to get static content which can be served up endlessly is far more cost efficient.
What does SDE stand for btw?
SDE is Software Development Engineer.
Gotcha, thanks!