When I read that Linda’s instructions for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt were to start our posts with “Once upon a time,” I couldn’t resist going to a chatbot, ChatGPT, and asking it to write a story starting with “Once upon a time.” Here is what the chatbot delivered:
Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, there lived a brave young knight. He was exceedingly loyal to his king, and was well respected for his bravery and courage.
One day, the knight was sent on a quest by his king. His mission was to find a magical item from a secret location deep in a distant forest. The knight set out on his quest with two horses and a faithful hound. As he travelled along, he encountered many strange and wondrous creatures. He bravely faced them all without fear, and eventually made it to his destination.
There, amidst a clearing in the dark woods, stood a magnificent tree. At the foot of this tree was a small chest. Within it held the magical item the knight had been sent to find. He grabbed the item with both hands and opened it. To his surprise, a beautiful necklace made of silver and gold was nestled inside.
The knight returned to the castle, where he presented the magical item to the king. The king was very pleased and awarded the knight with a wealth of riches.
The knight lived happily ever after with his family and friends. He never forgot the magical necklace that had started it all, and kept it with him for the rest of his days.
I read it and I thought it was, well, awful. I think, given the same instructions, a second grader probably could have done a better job.
I decided to run the story through a program that detects writing generated by a chatbot. Sure enough, the AI detector found a 99.91% likelihood that this story was written by a chatbot.
Okay. I’m done thinking about, posting about, and experimenting with ChatGPT AI chatbots. I promise that I won’t do this again. Well, in the short-term, anyway.
This, That, and the Other 
This story can be written by a kid.
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A very interesting post…
I hope mine fares better because I wrote it all by myself…. personally I like fairytales but I don’t believe in happy everafters 💜💜💜🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Yes, that was pretty terrible. Your own story would have been a lot more fun but these things are fascinating aren’t they?
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Back to artificial intelligence 🥴very interesting…
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Definitely artificial, intelligence questionable.
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Yes😁… For sure…
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I think this might work well for your story Starter, “There, amidst a clearing in the dark woods, stood … “
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I may use that! 😂
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That was very predictable–I mean, the fact that the chatbot lived up to its lowest-common-denominator reputation. I think if it was dumber, the end product might have been more interesting.
Last week I was wondering if we might start seeing blogs written by AI. I wondered if I already was, but tests like yours, above, make me feel like I’d be able to ferret them out easily. But, would I?
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In the few samples I’ve tried, the AI detector has done a good job of identifying AI-generated content from content written by real people, but as the technology advances, I’m not sure that will continue to be the case.
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In a way, it doesn’t matter. At least not where the Internet is concerned. We’re already savvy and wary of advertisement, and the rest, news, blogs, etc., we already or at least should be critical about what we read. And if we are reading for entertainment, mainly, then AI, if it is convincing enough, will serve that purpose. It is not convincing enough at this point, and for all I know may never be.
The real concern, and what we should be focusing on, is how AI is being used to determine prison sentences, parole decisions, bank loan decisions, job applications, resumes. AI is good in other contexts, like weather forecasting, all manner of research, medical diagnostics. Our job should be to be in control of AI, and use it as a tool where appropriate. The current fascination with AI art and literature (even fake friends, as in the app, Replika) is a diversion, in my opinion.
I’ll stop short of speculation as to AI’s eventual consciousness and self-awareness which–in my opinion only–is so much baloney.
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You should take the first two paragraphs and write the rest your way. I wonder what the AI detector would say about that?
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I would give that a try, but a promise is a promise, right?
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It is not writing, it is experimenting with technology. You don’t have to post it after all.
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I’ve been hearing a lot about the chatbot AI programme. I havent used it though. Xx
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Glad to see you are still persevering with the Chatbot……and that you are now giving up!! 🙂
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I liked that story. It worked on the premise that it would be for a child. Involved all the necessary elements, including the faithful hound, and had a nice happy ending. Disney here we come
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I’ve never heard of ChatBot or the other ones. I didn’t think the story was awful but isn’t something bad supposed to happen so the main character can do something good? No conflict, no story.
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I have to agree … it was pretty awful! I’ve been tinkering with AI during my 5-day free trial, too, and with similar results. I didn’t know there was a program that could detect if a piece was written with AI … interesting!
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