Stone knew what he meant. He wrote about Vincent Van Gogh, whose life was one long struggle. And Jack London: much the same. And Sigmund Freud. Etc., etc.. Even when he wrote on more general themes, like the fur traders of the 19th century Pacific Northwest in "Men To Match My Mountains", he was dealing with lives full of struggles.
"Overnight Sensations" are rare and they are usually well-connected to have their paths smoothed. The rest of us have to shut up and deal.
He was once popular, and my local public library has (or at least had) the books I named in its collection. His Van Gogh book "Lust For Life" was the basis of an acclaimed film from the 1950s.
And yet, "Here's the kicker" is a *very* AI go-to. It worries me that people who truly are writing from their own hearts and minds will still be flagged as AI writers. How can you (we) prove we're not?
That stuff does happen for sure. But. I run several publications on Medium and I've used AI testing a LOT. Seriously, a lot. The average writer using phrases that "could be" AI are typically less than 10% of their writing. Once a score is over 50%, that's a whole different thing
You're an exception. There are hundreds, many hundreds of Medium pubs that do not edit, do not vet, maybe do not read submissions. Stubblebine's comment about the pubs are his remedy is nonsense crafted purely to deflect attention away from the avalanche of AI junk on Medium.
I'm a pub owner and spend an enormous of time sifting through writer requests and articles because of the onslaught of AI submissions I get. In defense of pub owners, Tony expects us to gatekeep for him and yet we don't get paid a dime for our efforts. It's like we're employees working for free. Talk about a terrible business model.
Thanks for clarifying Tags! I understood how they worked in categorizing for your publication website, but I didn't understand how that worked for the categories up top on the Substack home page. Hemingway's letter is great advice to all of us who aspire to write.
People are absolutely reading AI-generated work, which means the algorithm thinks that’s what everyone wants, and then our feeds are full of it. It’s a mess and it’s maddening. And the CEOs cavalier dismissal of its popularity didn’t help.
God I wish I could change the font size to 120 pixels, scream agreement to the treetops. Yes. They sure are. They really, truly sure are. I see AI writers with thousands of followers. Can't think of anything makes me angrier that people using AI to suck the funds that should be paying actual writers
It's a tough job. Real hard to root them out. If you think about it, Medium gets I think around 2.5 million posts per month. Figure out a day's worth and how many people it would take to root it all out. They ask writers to help, some do. Some say you want me to do your job for free? I don't know any easy answers. Don't think there are any.
Valuable advice on the tags, Linda, thank you. I’ve been working my way around Substack as a newer, more focused avenue for my writing. There’s always something new to learn.
As for AI, yes it’s a huge, huge challenge and people don’t recognise it very easily, but there’s no way it’s going to stop me writing. I can’t not write. I’d rather do it here on Substack now, as I prefer the way the platform works.
I’m mostly in the poetry and fiction world - that’s what brings me the most satisfaction.
Firstly, thank you for the interesting and informative post, especially the last bit- I didn't even realise I was supposed to be tagging the system to identify the correct tags.
Secondly (perhaps it should have been firstly) I am going to change my profile so that it says 'No AI will ever be used by this writer on this forum' (or any other). Perhaps if that was something we all did, then we could start to filter out and discard the AI bots- identify and block. Thirdly, I don't know if this is a false dawn but for a long time it seems to me that the powers that be have forced writers to conform to genre expectations. The closely defined and hammered down the checklist requirements, the easier it is for a bot to replicate. To my mind, formulaic work is the fast-food, factory soulless (literally) arm of our industry. But if you want slow cooked with home-grown ingredient literature (compete with wonky veg) then it seems to me that genuine ( as distinct from celebrity) memoir is where it is at. Real life doesn't follow rules or scripts, wild/surprising things blow up lives, emotions get messy, unforeseen consequences happen and real emotions are experienced. I like that. It feels real, it feels human and authentic. For me it is starting to look like that not only is memoir the last bastion in the literary world, but that it is unassailable by AI.
Surprise, surprise I write memoir. It's of its time, sourced from all diaries, letters and memorabilia. It comes warts and all - with all the flaws and brutality that living in the 20th century without the censorship of 21st century gaze implies.
Pia, the sad thing is that lots of the AI writers say "no ai" too. I think the profile is such an important place that you should use words that are so personal, no ai would think to say it.
So glad I came to read your latest piece because it ties directly to my comment on the one Substack showed me first. My day job is in technology, and we are relying more and more on AI to do simple tasks (and to your point, articles on Kim Kardashian may not necessarily require a human touch. AI is prob okay for those ones. Bad news for journalists.) But when I think of what needs to be done in *creative* writing -- we're in a bit of a "garbage" situation. The AI requires our content to generate thoughtful, human-like responses. But it will always fail at the type of innovation that say Shakespeare was capable of... because it can't make the decision to turn a noun to a verb etc. Writers are still responsible for that. And while we're feeding and training the machine as we continue to write.... those "unique word usements" (to quote Steve Martin in LA Story) are left to the wayside until they become commonplace, because the algorithms will not recognize them as (what is -- to me -- Chat GPT's favorite word) resonant.
Rebecca, I love that. You're dead right. Uncommon language usage is never going to be used by ai the way people can because AI is a probability generator and the probability of words being arranged in unique ways is uncommon. And thank you. I'm glad you enjoy my writing. Music to a writer's ears. :)
I receive an influx of writer requests on Medium from obvious AI writers. It takes so much time to sift through and research who I will accept at my pub. And Tony expects pub owners to do the work for Medium? Unpaid pub owners and editors? Gotcha. No wonder everyone's jumping ship.
I'm seeing the same. Before, some writers might use it to clean up the writing (especially if English wasn't their first language, which was fine. Now, I'm getting submissions that are the clear result of an AI prompt. They're not trying to hide that it's synthetic writing.
They're not trying to hide it at all! And the number of AI articles that are published and get thousands of claps is overwhelming right now. Crazy how Tony thinks we're supposed to be his unpaid gatekeepers.
I teach college classes online and AI is so rampant. But, for the first time, yesterday- I had a student post their discussions and peer responses with the AI output included. 🤯 On the positive side, they gave me the proof, so I didn’t hesitate to give them a zero.
“Certainly! Here's a structured response for your assignment on "Boyz n the Hood":” …..
“Response to Classmate 2:
Hi [Classmate's Name],
Your insights on the impact of "Bonnie and Clyde" on American cinema are spot on.”
Ugh. What a bummer! What’d they say when they got their grade?
I used to get so excited when I’d open our submission queue. It truly was the best part of being an editor. those sorts of stories still come in, but I have to first wade through a bunch of AI slop to get to them.
They haven’t said anything yet, and my guess is they won’t. They will probably take the time to remove the tells from their next discussions and papers, and will say they are using Grammarly in the acceptable ways…
I absolutely empathize with you having to scrutinize submissions now! It’s a huge time investment! Unfortunately, my college now has a policy against instructors using AI detection tools… I’ve been on the verge of quitting over the AI issue for the past year and a half or longer (but, this part time position is all I have, and it’s work from home). It’s just getting worse, and unfortunately it’s almost impossible to prove a student is using AI (even with the exact same prompt, you won’t get the exact same output). The future of higher ed is pretty bleak right now!
With all due respect - "Karen" from Boise Idaho. That's a loaded stereotype. You obviously haven't been to Boise. Jane from Boise would have been fine. Or if this was a satire piece. Why ruin a good article slandering folks you never met? It's the belittling of the Republicans that has contributed to the rift.
I edited and changed that. And while I have not been to Boise, I do have a good friend there. Hope the edited version makes what seemed like a stereotype read the way I intended it.
That class sounds just delightful Glenda. I'm over 50 though, so probably not before I was born. lol
Stone knew what he meant. He wrote about Vincent Van Gogh, whose life was one long struggle. And Jack London: much the same. And Sigmund Freud. Etc., etc.. Even when he wrote on more general themes, like the fur traders of the 19th century Pacific Northwest in "Men To Match My Mountains", he was dealing with lives full of struggles.
"Overnight Sensations" are rare and they are usually well-connected to have their paths smoothed. The rest of us have to shut up and deal.
I love that you know Stone's work. :)
He was once popular, and my local public library has (or at least had) the books I named in its collection. His Van Gogh book "Lust For Life" was the basis of an acclaimed film from the 1950s.
As a teen, I read every book he wrote---couldn't get enough.
Such a relief that the ending didn't have the corny plot twist that this post was written by AI, too.
lol. Yeah, that would not happen with me.
And yet, "Here's the kicker" is a *very* AI go-to. It worries me that people who truly are writing from their own hearts and minds will still be flagged as AI writers. How can you (we) prove we're not?
That stuff does happen for sure. But. I run several publications on Medium and I've used AI testing a LOT. Seriously, a lot. The average writer using phrases that "could be" AI are typically less than 10% of their writing. Once a score is over 50%, that's a whole different thing
You're an exception. There are hundreds, many hundreds of Medium pubs that do not edit, do not vet, maybe do not read submissions. Stubblebine's comment about the pubs are his remedy is nonsense crafted purely to deflect attention away from the avalanche of AI junk on Medium.
Yes, there sure are Maryan. And lots of editors that wouldn't know AI if it bit them in the tushie, too.
I'm a pub owner and spend an enormous of time sifting through writer requests and articles because of the onslaught of AI submissions I get. In defense of pub owners, Tony expects us to gatekeep for him and yet we don't get paid a dime for our efforts. It's like we're employees working for free. Talk about a terrible business model.
Bingo.
Yes, and we all knew that going in, but it is a tough pill to swallow. I wonder what would happen if pub owners went on strike...
Adventure intrigue family drama literary science fiction. How's that for a niche audience? I liked your essay. Good advice! johndyerwrites.com
Some of the most fascinating writers weave really esoteric topics together. I'm glad you shared a link, too. I'll go have a lookie.
Hi Linda - thanks for the AI insight and also for the Substack tips. I'm just getting started here, so appreciated your insights here too!
You're so welcome Julie. Hope they help you get some traction
Thanks for clarifying Tags! I understood how they worked in categorizing for your publication website, but I didn't understand how that worked for the categories up top on the Substack home page. Hemingway's letter is great advice to all of us who aspire to write.
Timothy, you don't even want to know how long it took me to figure that out lol
People are absolutely reading AI-generated work, which means the algorithm thinks that’s what everyone wants, and then our feeds are full of it. It’s a mess and it’s maddening. And the CEOs cavalier dismissal of its popularity didn’t help.
God I wish I could change the font size to 120 pixels, scream agreement to the treetops. Yes. They sure are. They really, truly sure are. I see AI writers with thousands of followers. Can't think of anything makes me angrier that people using AI to suck the funds that should be paying actual writers
This explains my massive $0.15 payout for January!
After eight years of being exposed to a wonderful cadre of writers, it may be time to move on...
It's a tough job. Real hard to root them out. If you think about it, Medium gets I think around 2.5 million posts per month. Figure out a day's worth and how many people it would take to root it all out. They ask writers to help, some do. Some say you want me to do your job for free? I don't know any easy answers. Don't think there are any.
Valuable advice on the tags, Linda, thank you. I’ve been working my way around Substack as a newer, more focused avenue for my writing. There’s always something new to learn.
As for AI, yes it’s a huge, huge challenge and people don’t recognise it very easily, but there’s no way it’s going to stop me writing. I can’t not write. I’d rather do it here on Substack now, as I prefer the way the platform works.
I’m mostly in the poetry and fiction world - that’s what brings me the most satisfaction.
Me, too, Zivah. Can't not write. Glad the tag info was helpful to you :)
Firstly, thank you for the interesting and informative post, especially the last bit- I didn't even realise I was supposed to be tagging the system to identify the correct tags.
Secondly (perhaps it should have been firstly) I am going to change my profile so that it says 'No AI will ever be used by this writer on this forum' (or any other). Perhaps if that was something we all did, then we could start to filter out and discard the AI bots- identify and block. Thirdly, I don't know if this is a false dawn but for a long time it seems to me that the powers that be have forced writers to conform to genre expectations. The closely defined and hammered down the checklist requirements, the easier it is for a bot to replicate. To my mind, formulaic work is the fast-food, factory soulless (literally) arm of our industry. But if you want slow cooked with home-grown ingredient literature (compete with wonky veg) then it seems to me that genuine ( as distinct from celebrity) memoir is where it is at. Real life doesn't follow rules or scripts, wild/surprising things blow up lives, emotions get messy, unforeseen consequences happen and real emotions are experienced. I like that. It feels real, it feels human and authentic. For me it is starting to look like that not only is memoir the last bastion in the literary world, but that it is unassailable by AI.
Surprise, surprise I write memoir. It's of its time, sourced from all diaries, letters and memorabilia. It comes warts and all - with all the flaws and brutality that living in the 20th century without the censorship of 21st century gaze implies.
Pia, the sad thing is that lots of the AI writers say "no ai" too. I think the profile is such an important place that you should use words that are so personal, no ai would think to say it.
The rotters! Ok I shall put two plus zero and no photos of bikes equals I am not a robot- do you think that will work?
So glad I came to read your latest piece because it ties directly to my comment on the one Substack showed me first. My day job is in technology, and we are relying more and more on AI to do simple tasks (and to your point, articles on Kim Kardashian may not necessarily require a human touch. AI is prob okay for those ones. Bad news for journalists.) But when I think of what needs to be done in *creative* writing -- we're in a bit of a "garbage" situation. The AI requires our content to generate thoughtful, human-like responses. But it will always fail at the type of innovation that say Shakespeare was capable of... because it can't make the decision to turn a noun to a verb etc. Writers are still responsible for that. And while we're feeding and training the machine as we continue to write.... those "unique word usements" (to quote Steve Martin in LA Story) are left to the wayside until they become commonplace, because the algorithms will not recognize them as (what is -- to me -- Chat GPT's favorite word) resonant.
It's a strange time.
Really enjoying your pieces.
I began life as a journalist - so I really dislike seeing AI involved in ANYTHING meant for the public to read
Right? I wasn't in journalism, but just a magazine feature writer. I feel the same, though.
Rebecca, I love that. You're dead right. Uncommon language usage is never going to be used by ai the way people can because AI is a probability generator and the probability of words being arranged in unique ways is uncommon. And thank you. I'm glad you enjoy my writing. Music to a writer's ears. :)
Thank you, Rebecca. Some good news..
Christ.
Yeah. You said it
Great insights and thanks for posting the tags on Substack!
You are so welcome, hope it's helpful
I receive an influx of writer requests on Medium from obvious AI writers. It takes so much time to sift through and research who I will accept at my pub. And Tony expects pub owners to do the work for Medium? Unpaid pub owners and editors? Gotcha. No wonder everyone's jumping ship.
I'm seeing the same. Before, some writers might use it to clean up the writing (especially if English wasn't their first language, which was fine. Now, I'm getting submissions that are the clear result of an AI prompt. They're not trying to hide that it's synthetic writing.
They're not trying to hide it at all! And the number of AI articles that are published and get thousands of claps is overwhelming right now. Crazy how Tony thinks we're supposed to be his unpaid gatekeepers.
I teach college classes online and AI is so rampant. But, for the first time, yesterday- I had a student post their discussions and peer responses with the AI output included. 🤯 On the positive side, they gave me the proof, so I didn’t hesitate to give them a zero.
“Certainly! Here's a structured response for your assignment on "Boyz n the Hood":” …..
“Response to Classmate 2:
Hi [Classmate's Name],
Your insights on the impact of "Bonnie and Clyde" on American cinema are spot on.”
Just wow.
Ugh. What a bummer! What’d they say when they got their grade?
I used to get so excited when I’d open our submission queue. It truly was the best part of being an editor. those sorts of stories still come in, but I have to first wade through a bunch of AI slop to get to them.
They haven’t said anything yet, and my guess is they won’t. They will probably take the time to remove the tells from their next discussions and papers, and will say they are using Grammarly in the acceptable ways…
I absolutely empathize with you having to scrutinize submissions now! It’s a huge time investment! Unfortunately, my college now has a policy against instructors using AI detection tools… I’ve been on the verge of quitting over the AI issue for the past year and a half or longer (but, this part time position is all I have, and it’s work from home). It’s just getting worse, and unfortunately it’s almost impossible to prove a student is using AI (even with the exact same prompt, you won’t get the exact same output). The future of higher ed is pretty bleak right now!
That is one epic title.
I’m waiting for AI people with AI bodies who are my friends and I can’t tell they’re AI.
I already feel like I am AI quite a lot.
lol. Thank you Kathy. Sometimes I feel like an alien
With all due respect - "Karen" from Boise Idaho. That's a loaded stereotype. You obviously haven't been to Boise. Jane from Boise would have been fine. Or if this was a satire piece. Why ruin a good article slandering folks you never met? It's the belittling of the Republicans that has contributed to the rift.
I edited and changed that. And while I have not been to Boise, I do have a good friend there. Hope the edited version makes what seemed like a stereotype read the way I intended it.
Thank you.