by Peggy Robin
I've got a short, simple column today, and you may wonder if I wrote it myself or used AI (as more and more people are doing when asked to turn in an assignment these days). The answer is no. Like a lot of writers -- mainly older ones, I suspect -- I'm no fan of this tool. I've never used it myself, and as soon as I'm aware that someone else is using it, they sink in my estimation. It's not that they're cheaters. I'm not about to try to make a case that even when writing a basic set of instructions, you always need to be creative and original. Also, if I started down that road, all the Gen Z'ers and Gen Alphas would dismiss me out of hand as some sort of 20th Century throwback (which I suppose I am).
No, my pitch is that an AI-written piece is always so....bad. It can be awkward, but even when it's smooth, it's still not quire right. It always feels like there's something missing. Maybe it's that hint of personality that even the shortest scrap of writing needs to provide. You can't really imagine someone actually speaking the words that you're reading on the page, or more often, on your monitor. And even if you can imagine that someone is behind those words...you know it's not anyone you'd like to spend any time with, because they just seems to be lacking...something -- even if you can't quite put your finger on it.
Well, now someone has put his finger right on it. Evan Eldinger is a blogger, YouTuber, and transatlantic, cross-cultural commentator, and I've just watched his informative video on this subject: "I can spot AI writing instantly -- you can too."
In just 16 minutes of very fast talking in front of the camera, Evan says he's giving "a master class in how to tell if something was written by AI in the year 2025."
He identifies ten red flags to AI writing -- and I'm not going to bullet-point them, because that's exactly the sort of thing you can get AI to do for you. All I'll say is if you've ever spent any time wondering if you've been reading AI-generated text on websites, in guidebooks, in emails, or even in newspaper and magazine articles, you will find Evan's video well wortth the time it takes to listen to him go through all the tells.
It's also entertaining!
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Still Life with Robin is usually posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays, but it's sometimes a day late.
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