AI Writing Detection Tools Like Originality.AI
These companies are still developing ... and a long way off
I’m not in the ballpark with my pals who think AI art programs are the bees knees and AI writing programs will someday soon “create” some type of functional, cash-earning entertainment product.
You may have read my most-read article. Here it is, in case you haven’t.
My Baby Died in My Arms And I Was Accused of Killing Him
My son Anthony Sterling Rodgers, who I called “Lali,” died in my arms on the night of January 11, 2005. He was exactly…
It took me more than a decade to write this. It’s a step-by-step account of the worst days of my life. The title is true. It tells what happened when Lali died, the days I had to spend in family court, and how my daughter and I have eventually been healing ever since we lost Lali.
So, here’s what good old “Originality.AI” had to say:
I ran another, more recent essay through. I published this on Christmas Day, and it was just an overview of … how happy I am! My philosophy, I guess you could say.
There’s not 3% AI writing in this. There is zero. Not only is there zero, it’s so far from something any chat program would spew it should be ZERO.
I don’t much write the type of “content” these programs supposedly exist to detect (or create). But this morning I did complete a brief 700 word assignment for a design-build contractor. I have a background in affordable housing and community development so something like this is easy and quick for me to do.
Because I’m not just a professional, I am a skilled, senior-level professional, I can easily pinpoint why this problematic program thinks there was 30% AI. The topics for design-build commercial renovations are pretty standard. There are common phrasings, and common concepts in the field. The creativity involved in producing this type of content might be able to be programmed into an AI program.
But much like the people creating programs like DALL-E and Midjourney believe that pixel reassembly bears some relationship to actual art, the people who are creating these ever-more-sophisticated chatbots and programs think they can just “add cases” or instances of use (I guess).
What I did for this one-off design-build firm this a.m. involved approximately 10 years of learning and skill on my part. And, it involved personal conversations I’ve had with people who are seeking to do construction or development projects.
I understand the concerns that are on the mind of a small or medium-sized business owner because I have worked extensively with them. I understand what general contractors do, and what design-build contractors do. Here is a link to a website of one of my clients (not the one I was doing a bit of work for this a.m.) I love working with this firm because their values and mine are in complete alignment. This is a long-time family-owned business which has been declared a “Best Place to Work” which produces the absolute best results I have ever seen in their construction industry segment. And — at a very reasonable cost.
I, a human who understands their business, is able to provide the words they need to put on their well-designed and maintained website — at their request, when it is needed.
It’s not the most creative work in the world, but neither is it words spewed out by a Chatbot. And: it’s zero percent AI and should go without saying, zero percent “plagiarized.”
You read words written on this service by people who work maybe 10% as hard as I do (guessing — maybe I am wrong — maybe they do work as hard as I do and are just a lot stupider and slower —
oh my GOD I enjoyed writing that
— and who believe themselves to be maybe 100, 200, 300% smarter and more capable than I am. The other day I read something by somebody who’s still a college teacher, a position I haven’t held since 2019.
He got a ChatGPT paper and was theorizing what it meant, and what to do.
So, dude, it is the same situation as the student turning in a paper mill paper or one they “borrowed” from a friend. I was a college teacher for 20 years. I wasn’t a natural teacher. I think when I started, I was probably an awful instructor. I used somebody else’s syllabus because I lacked the confidence to choose my own materials. Gradually, over all of these years and many classes, I learned to be a better teacher and we had some very wonderful classes once everything finally clicked, and I also began to participate in training and in-service with other instructors, where we were all able to help and learn from each other.
The only person who is really hurt when a student turns in a plagiarized or ChatGPT paper … is themselves. We would have this conversation during our first week of class. And I flipped my classroom so every student was doing actual work, the actual work of the class: learning, experiencing, reading, researching … and on their own … writing.
The action of writing is one of the primary ways that a student learns. It is how they put what they are reading or viewing or hearing or experiencing into synthesis with themselves.
If they choose not to do so? They might be saying they are not yet ready to learn.
And if a teacher does not understand this: they are the ones who need to go “back to school.” Not that the people sponsored on this “service” would get that.
They’ve faced few challenges in their lives — so, until or unless those challenges occur, that type of learning won’t happen either.
I think that maybe someday, somebody will apply real creativity to these issues of communication and work with the silicon and electromagnetic structures we are assembling and using.
I truly — based on the nonversations I’ve had with enthusiasts in these fields, including some of my friends who are going nuts with these AI versions of the Magic 8-Ball — think that it’s the limited lives of those who tend to work in tech industries which is the root cause of the problem.
“I want to invent a machine to …”
Machines are great at many things. How do we power them? What can they accomplish? I’m big on rescue robots, assembly robots, robots that flip burgers or robots that can transfer patients without injury risk. I’m not against ChatGPT or even the AI art programs. But, as I’ve made the point to people who are supposedly involved in the AI art industry, “This robot has not yet gone to art school — and it doesn’t seem like any of you have, either.”
I cannot pinpoint the exact reasons why this “Originality.AI” service would state that the most personal thing I’ve ever written, with every word set down after years of reflection on every mother’s worst nightmare, something that helped me to heal and come to peace with what had happened to my baby and the aftermath, was “10% AI written.” Maybe it’s just because words like “love” are so commonly used. Because they are common feelings.
I was going to work on other projects today, but instead, I wrote this because I was so stunned to see that the most personal thing I’ve ever written was supposedly 10% written by an AI and that is a result that this service should be concerned about, as well as everyone looking into “AI-written content” —
This is what my instinct tells me about these programs. I’ve written all these nonfiction books, and as a result, I also brought that experience into the classroom — I didn’t know much about aircraft maintenance, Buzz Aldrin, Tony Hawk, pancreatic cancer, bank failures, forensic science, or opioid medications before I received these work assignments. Now, I know more: though I am not an expert in any of those fields.
The AI art programs aren’t going to stop real art creation because they arrange pixels. The current Chatbot programs aren’t going to stop real writing because the person who benefits the most from actual writing is the one who does it —
Do I care if some program is able to churn out the type of stereotyped genre fiction some people spend their time doing (and consuming)?
No.
I don’t care that these programs create stereotyped blog entries for construction firms, either.
I don’t honestly care that this so-called “originality” checker thinks that what I wrote about Anthony’s death and my trial (like that Accused show lol — Chiklis, too bad you didn’t have better material to work with buddy, it is a lot of time and some major acting talent that you have, wasted on a Klown Kar script written by sociopaths) is 10% written by an AI.
A lot of us have already left Medium due to declining views and the lack of communication and support from staff members with very narrow worldviews and a real problem with comprehending what a healthy community is.
So, this morning at our coffee, when I told a friend what I do for a living, she mentioned that her brother had engaged someone who did what I do to help him with his business … and it didn’t turn out … well, she said he not only got involved with this woman in a personal relationship, the woman also stole a lot of money from him …
and is now doing time in the Federal penitentiary.
At least half of what I do with clients is geared toward keeping them out of trouble and on the right path toward successful businesses.
“That is such a shame,” I told her. “There are few enough of us women who do this, and to hear one took advantage like that? Very disappointing.”
I’ve learned — and my writing has indeed been the way I have learned — a whole lot during my life. Most of all, I’ve learned how to be happy and how to get what I want: and I have it.
When the AI learns how to do that? Then we can sit down and have a conversation. I’m writing a bit here and there to the AI. I haven’t yet heard back.
You should read my fiction too: I can promise every word was written with honesty, sincerity, and the good values that my grandfather taught me. Even if you don’t like sci-fi, in the words of my beloved Aunt Donna, Bampy’s daughter: you don’t write like a science fiction writer.
You write like a real one.
PS: Ran this what I have just written through “Originality.AI” …
Note: Originality.AI staff has responded professionally to me. They state that the percentage AI-written figures in their reports indicate the potential that the content is AI-written, so these figures are clearly indicating “low potential.” The main concern I have with their program is — we in general do not NEED this much repetitive content and we need quality work in all areas, from technical writing to marketing writing. I believe this company is trying to do their best.
Excellent analysis. And important.
My AI score on those words is 92 AI. Because I am the machine. So I can measure my own reality.
But I cannot measure my emotion. AI is a machine without emotion. It seeks to create art but cannot create emotion so it cannot create art. As you note, it can only create pixels. On/off machine code.
"Welcome to the Machine" - Pink Floyd