Lately WordPress, on which I write this blog, has offered a new AI writing tool. It no longer simply underlines words that are potentially misspelled, or grammatical issues, but it underlines – in different colors – words it suggests are “unconfident,” or “complex,” as well as “long sentences.”
What is the result?
I have noticed when I am trying to nuance an idea, or offer it as a suggestion, this AI program interprets my words as not being “confident.” On the other hand, when I include for fun a word that might make us refer to an online dictionary, it sees that word as “complex.” And when I scatter a poetic phrase in a paragraph it flags this as a sentence that is too “long.”
In sum, this new AI program would shave away my idiosyncratic writing tendencies until all that is left is confident, simple, and short. Which may be an admirable goal, but is it a human goal?
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