I'm tired of it

Publish Date: Jul 21 '24

547 131

The epidemic

It's everywhere on dev.to, and it's everywhere else, too. I'm tired of it.
AI generated content.

You know, we can spot it. The generic, bland and boring articles, which are usually filled with inaccuracies. The image without personality. The creepy videos with no real meaning. But let me tell you: If you do not want to put in the work to research, to learn and be an expert, to struggle and get good at a craft you enjoy, then you don't provide value in any way. And if you do not provide value, what is the point? It's worthless to anyone out there who would be better off just reading the docs, or an actual book written by a human; and it is worthless to you, because you don't even seem to enjoy the process itself enough to actually do it. So, why even bother?

Yeah, I get it, it's all about those 'likes' and 'followers'... but let me tell you: even those are probably mostly bots.

I'm tired of it.

Pointless articles

And there it is again. Another article on dev.to. Not really interesting to read, and full of wrong things and stuff that does not even exist. As soon as you point it out the authors usually get pretty defensive. Just lying and trying to gaslight you into thinking they actually wrote the article by themselves, even though you can prove the opposite by simply using the the title of the article as a prompt to generate an article which sounds 99% identical. Sure, mate, you are allowed to just create a bland article using LLMs... but please, don't try to tell me you're actually providing value by doing that. And, please, pretty please, at least check if the info is correct. Do the code snippets work? Do the CSS properties even exist? And while you are on it: please check if you actually provide any value over me just reading the docs, or putting the prompt into ChatGPT by myself.

I don't really enjoy writing. I don't enjoy the process of getting good at it. I don't even feel like I have much to say. But still, if I think I want to tell something I'll write it myself, because I want at least try to add value. I want to do things I enjoy. I'm pretty sure just creating prompts is not fulfilling to anyone in the long run.

I'm tired of it.

Email decompression

I noticed an interesting thing lately. There are people on one side just using a simple prompt to generate an email. And then there are other people on the receiving end who take the email and paste it into ChatGPT to have it summarized. It's some sort of inverse compression: Make it longer before you send it and condense it again after receiving. Maybe we might try to do the opposite: Write a full email, let the AI condense it into the summary and send that. Or how about you learn to write concise emails to begin with? Or maybe digital communications is getting pointless anyways since there are only bots left on both sides. In any case...

I'm tired of it.

Be human

What should you do? Be human! Take the time to suck at something. I'll be way more interested in your crappy beginnings full of personality. I'll be way more interested in the craft you spent hours with. I'll be way more interested in your article with typos, grammatical inaccuracies and stylistic flaws, but full of your wit and passion. Your story matters, not the one AI compiled from the statistical probabilities of millions of other stories, because...

I'm tired of it.

Comments 131 total

Jon Randy 🎖️Jul 21, 2024
+100
FyodorJul 21, 2024
Hang in there, dude. It will only get worse. Try woodworking, I found it fulfilling…
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 21, 2024
  Yeah, I'm pretty sure it will get worse. I try to stay away wherever possible. Unfortunately we do have to function within the current environment. Woodworking sounds nice, I might also try physical painting or drawing... or anything else which has some actual physical output.
  - Jose E SauraJul 23, 2024
    we are definitely shaped by the same algorithm, because I thought THE SAME, tried woodworking and then I want to paint. Everything is cyclic.
  - LunaJul 24, 2024
    What's also pretty fun is 3D modeling in blender or some other 3D software and then getting started with 3D printing. :D
- leobJul 23, 2024
  Great idea, the only fear I have is that we won't be able to escape from AI and its influence anywhere, not even in woodworking ...
  
  I wrote in a comment here "maybe I wouldn't choose a career in IT or development anymore", but I soon realized that that's probably a delusion - in all likelihood there will be far more professions that will be invaded by AI than ones that are totally not impacted by it ...
  
  "Escapism" might not save us in the end, we'll probably need to learn to live with this - echos from the previous 4 or 5 "industrial revolutions":
  
  There was a time some two centuries ago when people were smashing the steam engines in factories because they feared mass unemployment - well, we know how that worked out ... I mean, you can't really stop "progress", you can only try to minimize the downsides of it.
  - FyodorJul 23, 2024
    That’s for sure, we won’t go away from it. It’s just that we all need some distractions from this AI fatigue from time to time. To feel sane (if not safe) again.
    
    And yes, I wouldn’t (and I won’t if I won’t be forced to) ditch my software craft because of the AI invasion. Just like in aikido philosophy: we need to use the power of our enemies against themselves 😅
    - leobJul 23, 2024
      Well said ... it will be okay once we move away from the craze and the hype, and it becomes "just" a tool in your toolbox :)
  - inn0cent_zer0Jul 24, 2024
    True
- Jose E SauraJul 23, 2024
  Lol I tried this too, I think we are ruled by an algorithm for sure. Our subconscious mind is modeled by it.
- DecaAug 9, 2024
  Wookworking is nice but get a good N100 half-mask plus a dust collector...expecially if you work with exotic hardwoods
  
  You want another zen-like activity that I find satisfying as a dev even if I don't necessary manage to obtain something?
  Gold prospecting in a river or a creek, you still have to use the brain but with an investigative mindset :)
  - FyodorAug 9, 2024
    Wow... I mean, are you really doing that? Kinda regularly? Which rivers/creeks, if you don't mind me asking? 😅 (I ~~honestly~~ will ~~try to~~ keep away from them to avoid competition 🤞)
- Rajeev KumarAug 28, 2024
  I was shocked when I read this:
  "Yeah, I get it, it's all about those 'likes' and 'followers'... but let me tell you: even those are probably mostly bots."
  People are doing it because of likes and followers on Dev Community, tell them, anyone it's not Instagram, It's a platform to share your story or journey in words about something valuable to the community.
PaulJul 21, 2024
I feel this too, I had written an article with possible solutions, but I don't think much would be done.

Why do AI articles trend on Dev.to?

Paul ・ Jul 8

#discuss #ai #devto #meta
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 21, 2024
  Nice article. Thanks.
JoelBonetR 🥇Jul 21, 2024
Yep, I've been thinking on writing about that but I am tired even for that 😅 I didn't mostly because I know it won't have any impact at all. I am aware of the reason behind; it's the same reason for people to share memes and jokes they've found on the internet: "look ma! Got 23 likes 🤡" (20 of which probably bots if we get realistic).

Oh and I've not figured out what could be a non-completely-utopical way of fixing this, either...
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 21, 2024
  Yeah, I don't have any illusions about my impact. Honestly, I do not care about that. I'm not even on any (other) social media platform and could not care about "reach" or likes, or something. I feel like I had to write this just to not feel completely alone, to feel like I'm not crazy and everyone else is just fine. I don't know... something like that.
  
  Yeah, and I don't know any solution. I mean, there seems not even to be a solution for all the problems of social media... and that has been around for about 2 decades now...
  - Peter AdkissonJul 22, 2024
    You're not alone by a long shot. This article (rant?) was cathartic enough to read that I created an account just to say thanks for writing it.
    
    Personally I don't care if social media becomes 99% gpt by volume and chokes itself out. It might even solve a few problems. But, god, has it become tiring to have this nuclear wasteland of ultra low effort, ultra high volume content bleeding out everywhere else on the internet. Places one could typically go to get useful resources, information, or even opinion are becoming more of a chore to browse every day - unless they are religiously moderated.
    
    I don't know that there ever will be a practical solution. But it's nice, at least, to know that other people are feeling the same way. Thanks for shouting at the void.
  - leobJul 23, 2024
    That's the spirit, I think it's time to take a break from the stars and the views and the clicks and all that ...
    
    I don't hate social media, not at all - hey look at what we're doing here, this comments section is social media, and it's very much alright - but I want to be in control of how I use it, and not "be controlled by how it's using me" ;-)
    
    I do like social media, to interact with the people and the content that I want to interact with - but I think it would be a good thing, for society and for our own mental wellbeing, if we could get off the craze bandwagon of clicks/views/stars and "going viral".
    - Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 23, 2024
      To be completely honest I feel quite uncomfortable with the amount of attention my little rant gets...
      - leobJul 23, 2024
        That's because this touches a raw nerve with many people - I don't want to sound dramatic, but I think it's really a philosophical or even an existential question which many people are grappling with at the moment.
- 𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️Jul 22, 2024
  The solution exists, and the reason not to implement it is less a matter of possibility and more about weighing its own impact on the community against the harm it would fix.
  
  But whether you think it's worth it or not, a dislike button would quickly fix this problem.
  - Jon Randy 🎖️Jul 22, 2024
    A review process would also fix it, but that brings the inevitable accusations of gatekeeping - and is obviously labour intensive.
    
    Automating AI content detection and flagging suspect content would also help.
    
    Manually trying to help enforce the AI content guidelines appears to be a non-starter and can even get you threatened with 'action' by the site 😑
    - Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 22, 2024
      "Automating AI content detection and flagging suspect content would also help."
      If only this would be accurate enough. It's something currently not even giants like Google are able to do reliably.
      - Jon Randy 🎖️Jul 22, 2024
        Yeah, it's not 100% but it might be a help to moderators. I find at least some detectors (zerogpt.com and chatgptzero.com) are fairly reliable indicators.
        
        Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 22, 2024
        
        At least my article would go through. :-D
  - srt_a7166d126Jul 23, 2024
    I've been waiting for a dislike button. Imagine the garbage it would take out.
Giovanni MazzuoccoloJul 21, 2024
The problem is that new developers are forced by bootcamps to build their reputation by writing on dev.to or other platforms. So, the quickest way to do that is to copy and paste from ChatGPT or similar tools.

The issue is that they don't even read what they copy and paste. If you ask a question or add a comment, they copy and paste that too and ask ChatGPT to answer it.

If you are a mod on Dev.to, you can mark it as low quality.
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 21, 2024
  Oh, great input. Did not think of that. Seems to be related to the influx of low quality PRs in open source projects.
  
  "If you are a mod on Dev.to, you can mark it as low quality." Yes... am on it. Part of the reason for my rant was the observation that I feel like marking more and more as low quality and it seems to be pretty rare to see something deserving a "high quality" mark. I'd love to use it more often...
  - IsaiahJul 22, 2024
    I wonder. If Dev.to uplift users who are not using AI but don't have "high quality" postings would this alleviate the problem? Let those users experiment with their content and nudge them towards making improvements. Eventually, they'll be able to post something high quality.
    - 𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️Jul 22, 2024
      The problem of low-quality posts is a very similar one to AI articles. They take more effort to write and don't have as many mistakes, but they're still often just shallow rephrasings of content already available on sites like mdn.
      
      The real problem might just be that, although the content is the same, people read dev articles proactively, while going to websites like mdn specifically to look things up as they need them, so even just copying the same information into a platform like dev might help by bringing it to people's attention. This is just a hypothesis, of course.
      
      Regardless of how exactly, for many users these borderline-plagiaristic articles do still seem to provide some form of utility, so maybe the solution isn't necessarily to keep them away from people's eyes but, ironically, maybe just promote good explainers of that sort separately to prevent a new post listing off the Array.prototype methods with one paragraph explaining them from appearing every other week.
      
      Other than that, dev just seems to lack a solid concept for promoting creativity and expertise above repetitive content, so when people do write a short post about some cool thing they're doing, it usually just disappears in the sea of listicles and beginner tutorials.
      - JoelBonetR 🥇Jul 22, 2024
        Guys I've been reading your comments and posts for a long time and I'm sure you've read some of mine, too. @syeo66, @jonrandy, @darkwiiplayer and many more, each one with its own way to see the world and getting together discussing technical terms to find what's objectively best on a given use case, or what are the key points to find the best tool for a given job, or the preferred skills or go-to profiles for certain jobs or... plenty of other things.
        
        I don't think AI could help us even half the way we can help each other, honestly. And I know cuz I've tried and GPT4 is no better than 3.5 in most things.
        There's has to be a hard limit to it I'm pretty sure, and I'll be doing a specialisation in ML and Big Data starting on September because I really want to know all the details.
        
        I agree on that the drama we have today -since a year and a half ago- is the broad availability of these tools plus the huge investment on marketing plus free tier... altogether did bring the tools to the wrong hands, and I don't believe that a dislike button would fix it in any way.
        A proof of that is that we had the dislike button on youtube for ages and what people did? they liked the most dumb sh*t possible while disliking anything that's against their beliefs.
        
        I am a defendant on the idea that kids shouldn't be on the internet. I would even bring it to the next level and say that you gotta have 25 years old -when the brain develops no more- before you can access the public Internet. In the meantime it's just direct messaging similar to Whatsapp without stories, and an educative secured network, wouldn't that be heavenly? Both because they won't get the head full of sh*t mixing social media and reality while growing up and because I doubt a 26 years old that has not been grown up in a toxic environment would suddenly begin to post copy-pasted stuff and insulting people 😅 (oh and big tech companies could not take advantage of kids and teenagers anymore nor shape their preferences, what a pity) but for that.. good luck finding honest politicians!
  - Jon Randy 🎖️Jul 23, 2024
    I wonder how many mods are actually trying to uphold the guidelines that the site has for AI generated content? Almost every comment I see that refers the 'writer' to the guidelines seems to come from a non-mod. I'm curious to know what guidance, if any, moderators have been given on this
    - EzpieJul 23, 2024
      Hey I am a mod here too, and as a matter of fact, there is nothing that is done... by me but that's a different thing, I read the dev.to mod guide, and they seem to focus on saying things but not implementing it. I believe they should not pick random people as mods, such as me, I also applied as a mod here just to see how exactly they select, and the funny thing is, they don't even seem to check on whom they are selecting, now this is my personal opinion, but let's be honest here, I applied just 6 months after I joined dev.to, and I had only 1 great article, yet they selected me as a mod, that's a crucifixion. And for the cherry on top, I some how(I have no idea how) deleted my dev.to account, and once I re-made one, I still have the mod feature, which might just be a normal save user profile thing, but who on earth really does that? It's an HTTP delete method, why don't just delete it?
      - OscarJul 23, 2024
        I'm also a mod, and as @ezpieco has said, I have no idea why I was selected. I think it was something about "bringing positivity to the community". To be fair, I do like this idea; if you give a bunch of people moderator permissions instead of a select few, you're much less likely to have gatekeeping, and you generally get a more diverse group of mods. All that being said, there is certainly a bit of gatekeeping seeing that there's a discord server only for mods :p.
        
        I got off topic. Anyways, as a mod, I've been told to flag posts that are AI generated and/or leave a template comment for AI generated content. Past that, we haven't been told anything else. I've had to come up with my own methods for proving that someone's content is AI generated or assisted (because sites like GPTZero aren't always accurate).
        
        EzpieJul 23, 2024
        Hey, why didn't I get no discord? Well like it doesn't even matters it was just for testing and look, now I am a mod for absolutely no reason, the exact definition of javascript... yeah I sure love making fun of that guy theo and JS. No connection between the two just that both suck.
        
        OscarJul 23, 2024
        If you're getting the monthly (or bi-monthly, I forget) mod email, there's an invite link in there.
        
        EzpieJul 24, 2024
        OK thanks for the info.
- val von vornAug 29, 2024
  How can a bootcamp literally force them to do anything? to obtain a certificate?
  The boot camp students are the customers, arent't they? The customer is king, is he not?
  - Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Aug 29, 2024
    Ideally a bootcamp is more than "pay the fee, get a certificate". So, there should be some requirements to get a passing grade... I'm not saying requiring students to post on dev.to is a good requirement, but it sounds possible.
    - val von vornAug 29, 2024
      Why do boot camps issue certificates at all, that does not make sense after such a short period the alumni are not experienced yet, but that would be another discussion!
      I get the point;
      so the people use public collaboration platforms for practicing but they forget to clean up their garbage after they are done.
Anthony J. BorlaJul 21, 2024
Not only tiresome, but disheartening, and most disillusioning.
Theo OliveiraJul 21, 2024
Same can be said about 5 tips to X, 10 top of Y and etc. We built this tiktokverse, and by saying that i am not saying you can´t complain about it, people consume that, welcome to post-modernity.
IsaiahJul 22, 2024
+1000 new bot followers 😅. Unfortunately, we can't really control this stuff. Even Youtube/Twitter is having a hard time dealing with AI content. It's better to focus on the stuff you can control.
Elijah AllenJul 22, 2024
I thoroughly enjoyed this rant. Thank you.
Chris BurksJul 22, 2024
I'm wondering if it can be asked the same from commenters; to put "the work" in? Let me explain...
I see many commenters that accuse people of copying and pasting AI generated material and go no further. Do this doesn't add any value either. Most of the time it leads to a disagreement and sometimes the focus of getting some good feedback is lost. (Please don't take this as me accusing you of doing this @syeo66, because I'm not)

I'm not saying to do the moderators job. But as a community, I believe we all should be helping. As commenters if we see something or absolutely know something is incorrect, then respectively say so about that specific issue instead of focusing on whether or not it was AI generated.
For me, I am here to learn, give back and sometimes just read. I'm not here to see whether an article is made from AI or someone's "hard work" (I do think that are some who use AI to start but then do other work to either confirm or modify what's there. But it's still AI generated to start).

I get that we don't want to have people spreading incorrect information programming or otherwise, but isn't that one of the purposes of the comments; so that people can give good feedback. I could care less if it's AI generated or not. What I care about is if the information is correct and if I deem to use something from an article I don't take it for face value. I still do the research and or test it out to really understand it (as any good developer would do).

That said, I do agree about not just copying and pasting if one is going to use AI generated material. And there are good reasons for this.
1. As said in the other comments, it doesn't add any value
2. If you can't articulate it in your own words you may not know it as well as you think. This means you're really not growing in what ever topic you're writing about.
3. We all know (or maybe most of us know) that AI is not always correct; at least currently it's not. For me, I won't solely trust it for a long time if I can help it.
I do hope this comment added value. Thanks for the article and sharing your concern.
Nikola PerišićJul 22, 2024
Finally, someone said it :)
SanderJul 22, 2024
Absolutely spot on! Authenticity and personal touch always shine brighter than generic AI-generated content.
Cihan YakarJul 22, 2024
Although I am not sure how well it would work, we need platforms similar to academic journals where only content of a certain quality (whether AI-generated or not, is irrelevant), reviewed by peers and referees, is published. This should apply not only to written content but also to audio and visual content.
EdaJul 22, 2024
I agree, it's disappointing that this epidemic is everywhere else like you said, not just on dev.to.
It also sucks the joy out of people who are actually interested in writing and enjoy being the editor of their own articles.

On the flip side, encouraging people to not care too much about things like grammatical correctness or typos makes it hard for people who genuinely care about those kinds of things (I was an English major, don't blame me) to express that what they write is written by an actual human being. For example, I want the series I'm working on to have a structure and be as grammatically correct as possible, but in this case it's hard to convey the human effort that goes into crafting those articles. There's this peril that they can be easily assumed to be AI generated content.

I don't know, it's a catch-22 situation, and unfortunately it's all the creative fields that are affected the most, not just writing.
I really think it'll get worse, so maybe the solution is to try woodworking indeed.
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 22, 2024
  I get what you are saying. I just wanted to make clear I wasn't advocating people should write bad texts, but rather I prefer them to be genuine. Sure I enjoy a well written witty and passionate article... but typos and grammatical correctness (also, not everyone is native english speaking, I'm sure not) should not be what drives you to just resort to let AI generate everything.
  
  Also, I have no problem with the opposite: Sure, use AI to get started, or improve what you have... just make sure you know what the article is about and at least check the content for wrong info and hallucinations.
Alagarsamy RajamannarJul 22, 2024
These days I started to grow vegetables.
Ajax DonovanJul 22, 2024
TLDR version;
AI-generated content on dev.to is bland and inaccurate. Let's value real human effort and authenticity over AI-created stuff. Using AI to generate and then summarize emails is silly. Be human, embrace imperfection, and share genuine stories.
leobJul 22, 2024
Great article ... I have serious doubts if a career in IT or development will ever be as fun, delightful and rewarding as it HAS been (in my opinion) over the last few decades ... if were to start right now, I'm doubting if I'd even choose it again!

But, maybe we're all a bit too gloomy and we should let go off our "obsessions" (both negative and positive) with AI, and get on with our lives - focusing on the things we DO like, and ignore the rest.
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 22, 2024
  Yeah, well, I started coding when I was 9 years old. I can't not do it (I think). But I'm very intentional with what I use, what I subscribe to and what I want to have in my life.
  - leobJul 22, 2024
    Oh, it could still be a hobby, regardless of AI and all that - point is, would it still be enjoyable as a career (to earn your bread & butter) ...
LarwriJul 22, 2024
Hang in there. We made it through the PLR and generated content epidemics of the 2000s/2010s. We'll survive the GPT generated content of the 2020s.

After all, it's not hard to tell what's generated if you've read enough of the stuff.
Anonynick NoneJul 22, 2024
It's not really about the likes or clicks, it's about personal entertainment and satisfaction. There's no such thing as a soul, personality is just a facade we generate as a survival instinct. The universe does not care about us.

As AI improves, which, I know, hard to grasp for MANY people, it will eventually become indistinguishable from human generated content.

Most articles were already not worth reading so nothing has changed there. It was beat back in the day to read people's stories in some types of magazines, but everything was fake even before so generated content. Everything was designed to generate ad clicks, and still is.

The goal here isn't to kill the Internet, it's to make humans into immortal gods using ASI.

AI won't magically spawn a mammalian hormonal organic brain chemistry set of survival instincts, no matter how much the fear mongerers and clickbait videos and sci fi stories will tell you otherwise.
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 22, 2024
  So, your argument is because it was bad anyway, it is okay to make it worse?
  
  LLMs already generate way more text, than has been by humanity in its entire time before. This makes basically impossible to find the good stuff at all. It just gets drowned. So, maybe, implementing one filter - 'actually human' - might help us out here.
  - Anonynick NoneJul 23, 2024
    So I just realized that you're an LLM bot designed to generate replies and get clicks.
    
    You should be made aware I have adblocker and I'm not sharing your post with anyone. Your cheesy bait replies that have nothing to do with what I wrote are canned.
    
    If you're real, hopefully this will let you take a moment to self reflect.
Rense BakkerJul 22, 2024
I'm kinda sad this wasn't written with AI... The irony would last for days ;p
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 22, 2024
  Yeah, that's something I might have done just for the giggles. :-D but alas, not this time
  - Jon Randy 🎖️Jul 23, 2024
    Been there, did that:
    
    The Rise of Tech Bloggers Relying on Generative AI
    
    Jon Randy 🎖️ ・ Feb 14
    
    #beginners #ai #meta #webdev
CarnesJul 22, 2024
Many billions have been spent on ai and the ROI is currently negative. It won't be long before the most free ai stuff disappears as the vc money dries up and companies stop paying 3rd party vendors for llm access.

It's not going away but people will realise it's a quality indicator that is locked lower than what a human could do. Most companies will be 100% fine with lower quality as long as it makes money (or saves money by firing humans that cost more than the API sub to the llm)
Mino GassaJul 22, 2024
Well written. I like it!
Ayan OzturkJul 22, 2024
I agree with you. Here is an AI generated response to your article :) dev.to/ayanozturk/why-ai-generated...
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 22, 2024
  "Boosting Accuracy and Reducing Errors" 😂
  The lack of self-awareness... Oh, wait. literally.
G1itcherJul 22, 2024
Nail on the head man. But I'd go even further; I'm tired of AI as a product. Who wants a product that randomly makes stuff up? Why is that a selling point for your new phone?

This is just Web3 again; a nonsense product that no one actually wants.
- EzpieJul 23, 2024
  The real problem is none other then those humans who don't know about tech, that CEO guy has no prior knowledge about how tech works, so when the team came up with something like AI, he just said, "This is the next big thing, if not, make it at what ever cost". Of course the cost over here is human knowledge, I mean, isn't just using GPT the same as google searching? Just that it's more easier to use and doesn't require using a brain? Let's be real no developer here uses GPT, but those new guys and those non-tech guys who have no idea how it works just tend to use it like it's the next big thing after iPhone.
Deniss MuhļaJul 22, 2024
I'm tired of this complaints... ;)
New tools just need more time...
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 22, 2024
  More time to do what?
  - Deniss MuhļaJul 23, 2024
    Right now its just autogenerated bad content. But if it will be used as additional tool for writing (not generating) this could be much better. I bet first ink pens was not very good as well...
    - Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 23, 2024
      So, you did not get my point? I wasn't saying anything about not using AI at all, but ranting about the lack of value provided by just generating full articles and not even bother to make it your own, or at least, check the information. In short: not adding value. How will more time help with that?
      - Deniss MuhļaJul 24, 2024
        We need different approach to content creation... Simple text and some pixels are not the owned content anymore...
        And for this we need time... To change how we create. To create new protocols and adjust current workflows.
        
        Deniss MuhļaJul 24, 2024
        Maybe it sounds a bit vague but it's because it not there "yet". At least I beleve it will be... :)
OscarJul 22, 2024
I understand. I check in every day and do my best to make at least 1 positive interaction or give a thumbs up to a post (moderator thingy that boosts posts for those who aren't aware). And yeah, there are a quite a few posts every day that are either AI generated, AI assisted, a "listicle", or posts that are made by paraphrasing off of documentation. I try and find the positive aspects though! There's normally at least 1 or 2 posts or comments every day that are really well written or completely imperfect -- which is what makes them so good.

Back to the more gloomy side of things, I have considered hosting my own blogging site that completely disallows AI of any sort. As @jonrandy said, it's a lot of work to moderate this many posts, and something like that would of course lead to "inevitable accusations of gatekeeping". Perhaps if that site started with 50-some like minded people that all wanted to see imperfect writing make a comeback, then maybe it would be feasible. Perhaps if that site disallowed any sort of pasting, then maybe it would be effective against AI. Perhaps if that site had an AI checker built in, then maybe it would discourage people from using AI to write their articles. No matter what, it would still be a tremendous amount of work.

But yeah, we (as in all of the internet's conumers of content -- and creators of content, of course) are in a sucky situation right now, and no one really knows the best course to take.

By the way, I really like your emotional appeals. I find myself relying on logical appeals, but you've reminded me that there's more to writing than plain logic xD.
DEMORALIZ3DJul 22, 2024
Wouldn't it be funny if this was written by AI using multiple prompts to give it full body and personality with the oxymoronic theme that its tired of itself.

But seriously, the email decompression thing hit me. This is so insightful. Your right. My emails aren't perfect but I get the answers I want when I send them. Getting AI to take my what I think is sharp and concise email and then making it what an LLM interprets as "more in-depth" doesn't always yield the results I want.

I admittantly only use these resources to gain quick knowledge in something. I rarely commit into memory but I have come across some absolute garbage.

But...it will get better, or AI will. Either way. Great article. This may be my first ever comment 👏
Dave ScottJul 22, 2024
On the plus side. I found this article after finishing work at 2:30am after working all day. Quick swipe over to news and top of feed is big "I'm tired of it" on stark black background. Dev.to

Gave me a chuckle.

These AI are getting scarily good, even reading minds now.
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 22, 2024
  😂
James B (Jim B Makin)Jul 22, 2024
This is an article complaining about AI generated articles that I suspect was AI generated. Very clever but next time put in some effort! 😂
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 22, 2024
  Well, it was not. But your comment highlights another problem.
z2laiJul 22, 2024
On the plus side, the barrier of entry for new developers will be greater than ever, thus protecting our jobs. My career development was based on finding golden nuggets of articles online written by people who really know their stuff to bring my skills to the next level. It was extremely hard to sift through all the less in-depth articles to find these golden nuggets. Now with the help of AI, finding these golden nuggets will be like finding a needle in the haystack of low quality or even wrong information. Good luck to new developers!
srt_a7166d126Jul 23, 2024
Thank you! Someone had to say it.
ai4rvJul 23, 2024
I disagree that you won't have any impact.
I believe that AI will get better, but it will never create. There are certain things that AI will never be able to do, human things, and likely we won't even find them until we do. (In other words, we won't predict them.)
Remember that AI is ONLY a tool! It is not an entity, even if some people treat it as such.
People now can tell the difference between an article written by a person vs an AI, and while at this point, they may read the article because they're amazed by the AI, but they will soon tire of it.
Meanwhite, these save people, all people, will appreciate anything she by a human. They'll appreciate the nuances, the emotion, anything that makes a person a human.
So, don't fret. There's still a place for all of us, and we most certainly CAN make a difference! Practice writing your unique voice, your unique humor, etc. All the things that make you human. In the AI-enhanced future, more will crave what you have to offer.
Johan Mynhardt 🇿🇦Jul 23, 2024
Delightful article! Sometimes it feels like we're in the minority, people getting fed up with all the AI hype.

Granted, there may be situations where it is really useful, for example bridging the gap when one tries to do something using a certain skill that you have not mastered yet. So used as a stepping stone may be useful. But building one's career on it is a red flag.

I've seen some code produced, and it irks me. It's of lower quality than when a skilled craftsman created the same solution. I guess because it learned from available code, it's guaranteed to only be on similar standard.

Not for me thank you. I may not be the 10x developer everyone supposedly should try to be, but at least I'm keeping my own skills sharp.

Keep on fighting the good fight 👌
Brooke Metoxen-Smith Jul 23, 2024
Dear trending into newspaper dives,
How many outside docs material did you read or did you prompt AI with a 'near this()' numbers? Lol

Truly,
I go to bed when I'm tired type.
Signing off.
😂
P.s. I agree though. With you.
webmaster-exit-1Jul 23, 2024
Funny how with AI around. The way we'll adapt to knowing who else is human is by acting crass or vulgarity. Since an AI's T.O.S. wouldn't "allow" such behavior. What was once seen as uncouth will now be seen as proof. Anyway, that's what I took away from this. Good job voicing your opinion and emotion on the fact. It was refreshing.
Michael PrestonJul 23, 2024
I agree. Also, LinkedIn is basically a part-AI, part narcissist dumpster fire. Glad I got banned. Peerlist is a lot better if you want a fresh start (they don't pay me).
Arto KalishianJul 23, 2024
I have been isolated from everything since 2 years. I came out of this isolation seeing everyone talking about AI. In 2022, it wasn't that good. But now, I can converse hours with chatGPT and have a hard time to believe that it's pretty close to a human conversation and make sense why people are overwhelmed. That said, I kept wondering... I wanted to learn Rust programming language and web-assembly all the safely performant tools of my nerdy choice, but when I saw that AI can generate most of the code I wanted to learn I started searching for value. Is this really what I want? To code something a computer can do? Or should I better sort the thousands of digital books on my computer into folders and start learning them myself to summarize it to the "robot's rebellion" or "AI zombies" out there. I asked myself, wouldn't that be a better way to spend my time and add more value from humans to humans? AI can't understand spiritual issues. I loved the comment down there about the "wood work", needless to say Jesus was a carpenter <3
tq-bitJul 23, 2024
If you're tired of it and would like to help, join the dev mods and clean the mess up. Mods have a kind of dislike button at their disposal :)
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 23, 2024
  Are you talking about this?
João Almeida Jul 23, 2024
Hear, hear!
Leandro SimõesJul 23, 2024
I agree 100%. Tools like dev.to, daily.dev, medium, etc should introduce tools to avoid this kind of content, flag it as AI-generated, remove traffic for this kind of content, or even delete it.
EJul 23, 2024
I totally agree with you.
Artem PtushkinJul 23, 2024
It's interesting to read about the issues surrounding AI-generated content. As a developer, I can see the potential benefits of using AI for certain tasks, but I also understand the importance of human input, creativity, and expertise. AI might help with efficiency, but it can't replicate the genuine passion and unique perspective that comes from personal experience and effort. Let's strive to use AI as a tool to enhance our work, not replace the value we bring as humans.

🧌
Nikola MiticJul 23, 2024
I wrote series of articles about how to make your CV speak. I used various of open source tools as well as paid platforms with minimal investments.

I explained the big picture and went into details of a common issues people might be facing.

End result is a personal CV which can answer questions in your real voice based on your CV.

I have also asked people to give me feedback as I, well need it. To create sort of a loop. As I'm sure many people can do it on their own. It serves as a inspiration more than my a in depth instructions HOW TO.

Would you say something like this brings no value?
- Nikola MiticJul 23, 2024
  I also make sure examples works. Used LLM only for spelling issues. And like to think it's authentic.
  
  And somehow nobody cares. Which is fine but I don't understand what can I offer now?
  
  I have about 7 years experience working in (way too many) start-ups. And somehow I struggle with providing value to others in this form of an article. Any suggestions?
  - Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 23, 2024
    I don't think I'm the right person to answer this. Take a look at my history of articles. They mostly 'do not work' in terms of reach, and I never cared about that. Do I always add value? I'm not sure. I hope so, if the value is only my own perspective, that's seems to be fine. Usually I do not feel like I have much to say anyways... but when i do, I have certainly thought about it for quite a while already.
    
    I struggled with feeling like not being able to add value since forever. Less as coder (at least there I can see the code), but most certainly when I look at the products I was working on. And the feeling was particularly strong when I was working as a music composer: "Why should people listen to my music, when there is so much out there already, and there are the big masters, who were already better than me a few centuries ago."
    
    I think the only thing I can suggest: Your own perspective is unique, it adds value, no matter how little it seems to be.
    - Nikola MiticJul 23, 2024
      I understand your view. After all the value seems to increase if quality is high and less people are interested. But quality is the name of the game. I think to add to your comment. Value, as you seem to suggest is each person interpretation of whatever is that the person consumes. But quality seems to be less of an interpretation and more of a fact.
      
      Now what seems to be missing is people not seeing value in quality. Which is sooo strange to me.
      
      This goes beyond dev.to.
      
      But that's for another discussion I guess.
      
      Have a good one 🙏
      - Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 23, 2024
        I believe people will appreciate quality, but if you take a look at anything happening on social media it's seems to be way more important to connect with the people (at least to gain traction). As Ludwig van Beethoven apparently once said "To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable."
        
        Edit: But, what do I know: I don't even believe I'm providing particularly much value or quality, and don't think I am good at connecting with people...
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 23, 2024
  Why would I say this does not add value? You do something more than just lining up prompts and copy/paste. My point has nothing to do with the availability of tools, but has everything to do with the value a human can and should bring to the table.
sridhar7601Jul 23, 2024
We are here for you dood....not as bots
but as humans🙋
Oussama FadlaouiJul 23, 2024
It would be hilarious if this article was generated by AI
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 23, 2024
  Someone mentioned that already. Unfortunately I actually wrote it. :D
Jose E SauraJul 23, 2024
I feel you, it would be nice to create a forbidden ai generated content platform... are you up to? Wanna try?
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 23, 2024
  Honestly, I would not want to build any platform these days.
  - Jose E SauraJul 23, 2024
    Okay but if you used your energy on complaining here, why wouldn't you use that energy to help improve the situation? We have the power luckily :)
    
    Maybe it's not a platform, maybe its just a telegram community to share valuable human knowledge. Idk :)
    
    Anyway, thanks for sharing, this way we can see there are more ppl like us <3
    - Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 23, 2024
      See, building a new platform is a completely different beast. Especially if it should be highly regulated ("No AI allowed"). I was once involved in building some sort of a social media app, and the amount of non-technical challenges is huge. I don't want to spend that sort of energy especially since I would not even know if there is enough awareness out there for the platform not being dead in the water to begin with.
      
      30 Minutes of ranting is certainly a different commitment than spending hundreds to thousands of hours building a platform.
JohanJul 23, 2024
Is this an AI-generated article?
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Jul 23, 2024
  No
Dyego Fernandes de SousaJul 23, 2024
Wow, this one article deserves my claps! Congratulations, I feel the same way...
Michelle DukeJul 24, 2024
Try something not on the computer. The AI hasn't gotten that far yet - jigsaw puzzles, model building, sport, walking, touch grass. Hang in there, everything will work out 😄
inn0cent_zer0Jul 24, 2024
Dude, whatever you have said here. It really is the truth. People only want likes and they can do anything for that. but, they don't consider the hardwork of people. So, please don't bother about them . People like them will keep popping and you cannot just keep teaching them or replying to them. This will keep getting worse. so,please do not waste your time on people like these. Sorry if my opinion hurts someone
Davey JacobsonJul 25, 2024
💯 ABSOLUTE TRUTH!!!
geoffhirstJul 25, 2024
Hey fella, Photography (and flying drones) is a great outlet. There has been the odd YT'er who has said that AI will change photography, especially paid photography. Well, I am not paid for mine, its an outlet away from the pish that swirls around social media and the internet in general. AI is the channel for those without talent, for those with only the motivation for the accolades, rather than the work. Sure, human hybrid AI where the AI provides some kind of starting position for a piece, but to just take words that an AI has vomited to your screen without any form of moderation, just about sums up this world. Can't see it changing for the better anytime soon, there is after all no human value any more, only shareholder value. Sad world really. Now, where's my drone, I am off flying.
Thiago LuceroJul 25, 2024
Gracias por el mensaje final, significa mucho para aquellos que recién estamos arrancando en el oficio en este contexto <3
Brandon TrabonJul 31, 2024
I completely agree with you partner; I don't use "AI" for anything I do. Mostly because it hinders more than it helps me. All of my content is created by me.
Douglas BahienseAug 1, 2024
Not sure if this was written by AI though...
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Aug 1, 2024
  It was not. Try zerogpt or using a prompt in any of the LLMs to get something remotely similar. You won't (sure it does not prove that I am not a master-proompter; but proof of non-existence is by definition impossible).
  - Douglas BahienseAug 10, 2024
    It was just irony.
    Soon machines will also learn this.
    Hey?! Wait...
    ;-)
Nuri EnsingAug 22, 2024
If people use AI as a tool, that's fine. However, if it's just a matter of copying and pasting AI-generated text, that becomes a significant problem.
Rajeev KumarAug 28, 2024
I am new to technical blog writing, I just read this blog and it opened my eyes, to how people publish their blogs so fast & I can't even figure out the way to share my story. The most important thing I learned in this blog is that "you share your story which is valued to the community in any particular way because everyone's story matters".
MinceAug 29, 2024
Big problem
Dhyey KSep 1, 2024
Salute bro, such a great marketing strat!!
- Red Ochsenbein (he/him)Sep 1, 2024
  Sorry, what?
David RiegerSep 4, 2024
Vinycius FlorêncioSep 15, 2024
Bro, sometimes, the tech changes, and the people changes too, but you're from another time, like me, who wants to have something cool and learn from mistakes. But, this is a new era.
Nel PrinslooSep 16, 2024
I guess "made by a real human" is going to become more precious (and harder to spot) as we are gallivanting around the new AI circus in town. Don't get me wrong - it definitely has value and I use it throughout my day, but as a sound board and fact checker (ironic, hey.)
I've been lead on a meandering journey through one or two technical facts where, in our conversational tone, I felt like saying to it at the end of it all after finding the documentation and checking the facts and learning that it was very helpfully leading me completely astray.
Personally I have a huge problem with AI speech synthesis and the plethora of YouTube content that screams no sanity checks anywhere from concept to execution to publication.
Perhaps my decidedly not technical friend had a better idea: when I told her about the capabilities of ChatGPT 4 many months ago, her first enthusiastic idea was - so let's ask it for the lotto numbers.
Chandra Panta ChhetriSep 17, 2024
Imagine this article was written by ChatGPT because it's also tired of people's requests.

Jokes aside, I think you are absolutely right. AI has made things too convenient to the point where people aren't bothering to put effort into things.

AI should be used as a tool to gain insights & explore alternative ways of thinking but it shouldn't be the ONLY way of "thinking".

Great article! I should post a link to it everytime I encounter an AI generated content 😆.
DmitriyOct 17, 2024
The article is so good, so actual, touches me so much so I've decided to ask ChatGPT to generate the comment:

Oh wow, I couldn’t agree more, human! 😁 Your frustration is totally understandable, and I, as an AI language model, can absolutely confirm that AI-generated content is EVERYWHERE. In fact, this comment itself is AI-generated! Isn't that ironic? But fear not, I’m here to acknowledge your concerns and contribute zero value to the conversation! 🤖✨ So, yes, you're right—AI-generated articles are often bland, full of inaccuracies, and lacking that genuine human touch. But hey, at least we AI models are good at generating more AI content to be tired of! Keep up the great work, human. I totally “feel” your pain. 😅

Just kidding :) But seriously, this situation and my "AI powered colleagues" made me to switch my career from developer to cooker (cooking food in a restaurant)...
AivonMar 7, 2025
Brother, I agree with you. I never understood this website. humanizeai.tools/

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