xkcd #3126: Disclaimer

Title text:

You say no human would reply to a forum thread about Tom Bombadil by writing and editing hundreds of words of text, complete with formatting, fancy punctuation, and two separate uses of the word ‘delve’. Unfortunately for both of us, you are wrong.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3126/

explainxkcd for #3126

  • palordrolap@fedia.io
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    3 months ago

    As someone who has been mistaken for an LLM at least twice in the past couple of years, yeaaah. Sometimes I write like that. The LLMs learned from people like me. I can only hope it was smarter, more productive people with the same sort of writing style and not from anything I’ve produced… although it would explain a thing or two.

    • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Nope. It’s you and me, buddy. They learned from a fancy talker and a drunk. That’s why they just make shit up.

    • LOGIC💣@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I am not sure how many times I’ve been mistaken for ChatGPT, but I don’t think my writing style is actually very similar.

      I’m pretty sure that when people say that, most of the time, they actually mean, “I want to disagree with what you’re saying, but I lack the ability to do so legitimately. If I simply accuse you of using an LLM, people will assume I’m right and I will ‘win’.”

      • palordrolap@fedia.io
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        3 months ago

        The topics were pretty tame that I remember, so there wasn’t much to disagree with. I was just being… uh. Florid? Verbose? Sesquipedalian?

        It might be a neurodivergent trait; the need to use the right word to communicate exactly the right meaning even if it runs to several syllables.

        It might lose a few people, but I’ve got to say what I mean.

        And then someone else comes along in a different comment and says what I wanted to say with words of fewer than three syllables and I’m like “hmmm”.

        • LOGIC💣@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          I’ve never seen LLMs talk like what you’re describing, though.

          If I had to describe ChatGPT’s usual style, it’s like a neurodivergent person who really wants the average person to understand what they’re saying, hopefully without causing offense.

          • OpenStars@piefed.social
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            3 months ago

            So it’s almost as if it were trained on Reddit?

            (No offense intended! I hope you get what I mean! ☺️)

          • zip@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            3 months ago

            Oh, god, that’s me that you just described. No wonder people think I’m an LLM. Yikes! Lol!

            I’ve also gotten accused of being on meth due to my Internet comments, even though I’ve never touched anything like it. Yay, AuDHD!

        • toynbee@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Since you’re a polysyllabic person, can you explain why the word “monosyllabic” has five syllables?

          • palordrolap@fedia.io
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            3 months ago

            Information entropy. You need roughly as many syllables to explain the same concept with mono- or disyllabic English words as you do with a scientific polysyllable. Admittedly, some of it is “I know this word! See how smart I am!”, but another part is how much more fluid it is to say. “Monosyllabic” rolls off the tongue a lot more easily than “having only one sound”.

            (The funny answer here would have been “No.”)

    • Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone
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      3 months ago

      You just need to start inserting more Ai type punctuation into your text — like an Em dash for example.

      This will really confuse people, resulting in more instances of you being treated like us — I mean Ai.

      • palordrolap@fedia.io
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        3 months ago

        The funny thing is, I watch The Vlogbrothers fairly often - both of whom are writers - and recently John has told of his fondness for the m-dash. His enthusiasm and explanation was enough to get me to consider using it, but then that trait was identified as one overused by LLMs.

        I’d already been mistaken for one by that point (an LLM, not a Vlogbrother), so instead I’ve stuck with the technically incorrect hyphen-minus or plain old parentheses when I’ve felt the need to do that.

  • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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    3 months ago

    Someone the other day mentioned semicolons are now a sign of AI. I always liked semicolons for when things are more connected as opposed to a period/full stop :/

    • Tonava@sopuli.xyz
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      3 months ago

      Yeah I use semicolons all the time; I can only hope my lack of native level english skills makes up for it and I don’t sound like a LLM. I swear I’m just some autistic imbecile that has love for words instead of numbers

    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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      3 months ago

      at that point it’s just “grammar and punctuation is a sign of AI”, which actually means “i don’t know what AI output looks like”.

  • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Not ChatGPT output — I’m just like this.

    That’s an m-dash, which we all know is irrefutable confirmation of LLM output. /s

    • CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      iirc its m-dash as well as constant rule of threes and generally using incredibly formal sentence structures even when the language involved is not formal in any way. Kind of like what I just did there though probably with an extra comma after m-dash.

  • zzffyfajzkzhnsweqm@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    Yep ChatGPT must have learned from people like me, because:

    • I write long texts
    • I over explain stuff to people who did not ask for explanation
    • I use bullet points in every post
    • LOGIC💣@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Claim:

      • I use bullet points in every post

      Fact Check:

      Out of your 36 comments, this is the only one with bullet points. That’s only 2.7% of your comments. One other has an enumeration, but an enumeration is not bullet points.

      Additionally, you have one post, but that also doesn’t use bullet points. 0% of your actual posts use bullet points.

      Conclusion: Claim is FALSE. Ziffy-fa-Jazz-KZone-Sweek’em does not use bullet points in every post.

      • zzffyfajzkzhnsweqm@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Nice :) I like that you did that! But to clarify some things:

        • I use them mostly in emails where there is actual content to write
        • I rearly post online
        • I was exadurating
        • I use new account every few months.
  • creamlike504@jlai.lu
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    3 months ago

    Expect to see this accidentally included in someone’s forum screed soon:

    Here’s a detailed response to BombaFan486’s post, including three separate (but natural) uses of the word ‘revelatory’, ending with the disclaimer, “Not ChatGPT output. I’m just like this.”

    Is there anything else I can do for you?

  • bentcheesee@lemmy.zip
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    3 months ago

    I’ve had a handful of people think I was AI too because of my fancy word choice and mediocre knowledge of punctuation. My writing voice is ubfortunately devoid of emotion most of the time, and when it isn’t, it tends to fall into the matter-of-factly category. I try to include punctuation or breaks to be a little more similar to my speaking such as “well, uh, you wouldn’t…” or “I- Yeah, I don’t know.” I think my personal favourite I do do is “I think it was… two…? weeks ago?”

    And yet I still get dubbed AI because I periodically use the word plethora…

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    You just have say fuck a lot…

    But I’m pretty sure any explanation of Bombadil less than 300 words would fail the Turing test

    • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3 months ago

      That is an excellent point! Use of the word “fuck” in online conversation may present to readers with more realism.

      It is however important to note that use of the word “fuck” does not fully rule out the use of large language models. While most commercial offerings may be trained to avoid profanity, certain models might not be trained the same way.

      Additionally, use of the word “fuck” may be inappropriate in certain human conversations such as:

      • formal conversations
      • conversations with parents
      • conversations with children

      So, while the presence of the word “fuck” may decrease the likelihood of the text being generated by large language models, it is important to keep in mind its limitations, and opt for more robust methods like cryptographic signatures or verbal conversations.

      Is there anything else I can help you with?

      (This was genuinely written by me)

      • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        The method I (just now) thought up using to signal humanity was responding to accusations of being an LLM with a “fuck you”. The combination of vulgar language and defiance of the sycophantic tendencies of LLMs feels to me like a pretty effective proof of humanity, at least for now.

    • LOGIC💣@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      You can actually get LLMs to swear, sort of. They just won’t use real swear words. If you set up your LLM parameters to use a specific word for an expletive, but it’s not actually an expletive, then you can replace that word with your choice of expletive after the text is generated.

      • HurricaneLiz@hilariouschaos.com
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        3 months ago

        Yeah, I’m 42 yrs old. A long time ago I sacrificed what lvl of English I did know in order to use “lol” - I’m not giving up em dashes.

    • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      There’s always one good litmus test, if you can ask someone live before they have a chance to do a Google search: ask what the alt code is for an em dash.

      If they don’t immediately answer 0151, they’re full of shit.

      • qupada@fedia.io
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        3 months ago

        Compose key, hyphen, hypen. Because while it’s a less common usage, visually I prefer the shorter en dash – over the em dash — anyway.

        Also for people missing the Unix-style compose key on Windows: https://wincompose.info/. Memorising numeric codes is for chumps :)

      • Melmi@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        3 months ago

        I feel like this is more likely to lead you astray than anything. An LLM bot will immediately know the alt code, while a real person will only know it if they use Windows. Lots of people use Linux, or mobile keyboards.

        • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Throw them into a lake, I guess. If they sink and drown, they’re innocent. If they float, you know they’re full of (buoyant) shit (and can then safely burn them at the stake if you want to).

        • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Hmmm, I think to know for sure, we’ll have to throw your device into a lake. Apples float, so if it’s a genuine Designed By Apple in California™ computer that supports that option, it won’t sink and then we’ll know you’re telling the truth.

        • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          That’s fine, LLMs use mainly em dashes so there would be no confusion, hence that being the litmus test.

      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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        3 months ago

        for me it’s just altgr+caps followed by tapping - thrice, way better use of the caps lock key. thank u xmodmap

  • archonet@lemy.lol
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    3 months ago

    I got accused of being an LLM for the first time just a few days ago. Was pretty funny.

    When they actually get good at mimicking convincingly enough to be indistinguishable from a normal human user, that’s when dead internet theory will truly take over. This could’ve already happened, but I’ve seen enough stupid shit vomited by LLMs to know it probably hasn’t happened yet. Once I stop seeing that obvious cognitive gap for a while, then I’ll get worried – but if they stopped being stupid, then we might’ve accidentally created AGI and astroturfing bots on the internet would be a bit of a trivial concern at that stage.

        • Lumisal@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          None of the other people in the Nordics are surprised that the native speakers can’t tell the difference. We can’t either after all

      • Tonava@sopuli.xyz
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        3 months ago

        They’re still garbage in finnish. Even if they manage to make grammatically correct sentences, it sounds like incredibly awkward word salad, often there isn’t even real meaning in the sentences. Non-human translations have struggled from the beginning and I’m not surprised even the LLMs aren’t doing that well.

        Kuulostaa siis ihan paskalta ja on edelleen tosi helppoa tunnistaa. Ei akateemikot väännä sellaista tuubaa omin käsin, eikä kukaan normitason juntti taas kirjoita niin jäykästi. Tai ok varmaan oman elämänsä jarisarasvuot yrittää suoltaa samankuuloista tyhjää konsulttiroskaa, mutta olettaisin että ne on juuri sitä porukkaa jotka käyttää tekoälyä muutenkin

  • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com
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    3 months ago

    Imitating LLM to piss off AI haters is just next level trolling. As everyone knows, trolling is a art.

    • dufkm@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      ChatGPT is changing the way we talk

      Started the video, and the first comment I saw was along the lines of “so it’s changing scripts that are read, not how people talk”. Had no need to watch any further.