@chris_evelyn

In this context I don’t I’m just asking where it can be effective.

My answer is 2 and 8 ONLY. it’s not really effective or could lead to catastrophic errors in all other cases. 3 might be OK too. If you have help.

@benh
#1 seems innocent enough, but when LLMs create titles, they often recycle well-known and copywritten material. The suggestions are kind of useless and worse they tend to be bland.

@futurebird 2 & 8 can suffer from hallucinations, too, that's why I excluded them - if you aren't able to do the task yourself already, you won't be able to check the outcome thoroughly enough is what I think.

@benh @futurebird
@chris_evelyn

Brainstorming with the help of an LLM has been tested, the results are worse than without

@futurebird @chris_evelyn

Why would you want a complaint email to be less harsh? Wouldn't that just water down what you need to say?

As I get older (And morph into a grumpy old git) I value clarity over politeness.

Too many misunderstanding arise because we are afraid to say what we mean

@sabik @benh @chris_evelyn

I have tried to have it give me title suggestions and the results are so basic, bland and unaware of connotations in the most unhelpful way I’m worried I won’t ever be able to pick a good title now because it’s poisoned me like some kind of anti-matter for creativity. Like it’s negated the creative spark through sheer force of boringness.

@benh @futurebird @chris_evelyn I have a friend who uses it to rewrite their emails because as an autistic person, they don't like people's reactions to their directness.

I would argue that's a societal problem and one of ableism, and continuing to mask through 'toning down' just perpetuates the problem for all of us.

@chris_evelyn @futurebird Especially for a second language, Number 8 is great stuff. Also 2 to get a bit further if needed. For 1 - no, but for project acronyms? Excellent stuff because triteness and trivialism is essential, the opposite of creative writing.

@noodlemaz @benh @futurebird But how does your friend know that the rewritten email has the right tone?

@mojala @chris_evelyn

This is a fair point it would probably be good for something like a course title where you want it to be similar to the titles of other courses doing the same thing. It very good at erasing the unexpected or unusual. And that’s what you want for things like spelling.

@chris_evelyn @noodlemaz @benh

You read it and see if it’s better. It is difficult to write in a polite tone if you don’t feel very polite.

I don’t agree that it’s good for those working in a second language without confidence- it will probably be very transparent that it isn’t your own voice (though there are cases where this might not matter)

@futurebird a decade ago I'd have said translation and making an email less harsh were the only appropriate uses.

Now, I feel even those two are a lot like using an SUV to commute to work. It might seem normal and comforting, but it's horrible for society and for the environment.