I did not use artificial intelligence to write this column
To be honest, you don’t have to be all that smart to write a daily column in a large metropolitan newspaper. You just have to be curious, possess a certain level of stamina, and believe the perfect is the enemy of the good.In other words, a daily column in a large metropolitan newspaper seems like the ideal candidate for artificial intelligence. Feed a few prompts into an AI program — “Write an 800-word column about squirrels in the style of John Kelly” — and take the rest of the day off.
But I am curious about the way programs such as ChatGPT harvest the informational wheat fields of the internet, grind the digital grain, mix the virtual dough, bake the artificial bread, then serve up a synthetic slice in the mere blink of an eye.Of course, that bread usually proves pretty hard to swallow. AI language programs often make stuff up. It is called hallucinating. They make stuff up and then they lie about it with a perfectly straight face.
Last week I asked ChatGPT to “Write a brief biography of Washington Post Metro columnist John Kelly.” Now, to its credit, it didn’t confuse me with all thoseThe 478-word bio called me a “renowned” journalist, which I don’t think even my mother would claim. It said I was born and raised in Washington, which is only 50 percent true.
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