[mlhpdx]

Is writing with LLM assistance that different than writing with a typewriter 100+ years ago? Than using a computer and printer 30 years ago?

Each can be seen as using a tool to add false legitimacy. But ultimately they are just tools.

[QuercusMax]

Those two things aren't even comparable. Both of those are using technology to physically imprint letters onto the page, but in both cases those are still your own ideas in your own words.

[mlhpdx]

But not the appearance. It’s not the same, but it rhymes.

Edit: to clarify, people were judged by the clarity of their handwriting in the past and these tools made that impossible. Similarly, LLMs spackle over higher level language issues.

[QuercusMax]

Dictation has existed for millennia; alternatively, hiring someone to neatly write out your letters after making a messy draft has also existed for a very long time. My mom paid half her way through college in the 60s by typing people's papers for them who didn't know how to type properly.

These things are not remotely comparable.

[mlhpdx]

Isn’t that exactly the same? People hiring someone (or using something) to make themselves better understood, more professional looking, or falsely authoritative?

[QuercusMax]

It's more like hiring a ghostwriter, something which also has been around for a long time, and people who use ghostwriters are rightly criticized for putting their name on someone else's work

Example: Donald Trump did not write Art of the Deal

[zephen]

Yes, it's different.

All these tools provide leverage to the author, but only one of these tools provides non-deterministic leverage.

[mlhpdx]

That’s a great distinction — the non-determinism is a huge difference.

[umanwizard]

Yes, it is obviously fundamentally different.

[mlhpdx]

Explain?

[umanwizard]

Because LLM-created content is not an expression of your own human creativity or intellect.

It's not like typewriters -- in a written work the content is the entire point, not the handwriting. So unlike previous tools, this one is replacing you for the part that actually matters.

[mlhpdx]

I see your point but that’s not mine at all.

People use these tools for a variety of reasons (as diverse as people’s experiences). One can use an LLM to help express a perspective or develop and opinion (very important for those who struggle to communicate), or one can fake a picture or voice for fraud, or a million other purposes. It’s just a tool. How it gets used is about the people, not the tool.