LEE PAYNE

Tag: writing

  • AI vs Human Writing

    AI vs Human Writing

    Identifying whether a piece of writing was generated by artificial intelligence (AI) or written by a human can be a complex task, especially as AI models have become increasingly sophisticated. However, there are certain indicators and techniques that can help distinguish between AI-generated and human-written content.

    1. Style and Tone Consistency

    One of the more subtle ways to identify AI-generated text is by analyzing the consistency of style and tone throughout the writing. While AI models have improved significantly, they may still struggle to maintain a consistent voice, especially in longer pieces. Human writers, on the other hand, tend to have a distinct style or tone that remains fairly consistent throughout a document, reflecting their personal voice, experiences, and emotions. For instance, a human writer might vary their tone based on the subject matter or the intended audience, while AI might apply a more uniform tone regardless of context.

    2. Complexity and Nuance

    Human writing often reflects a deep understanding of context, cultural references, and subtleties that AI may not fully grasp. Humans are more likely to incorporate metaphor, irony, humor, and nuanced opinions that are influenced by their unique experiences and perspectives. AI-generated content, while coherent and often informative, might lack this depth of insight. The AI might miss the implications of certain phrases or fail to capture the intricate details that a human writer might include, especially when dealing with complex topics.

    3. Predictable Patterns

    AI models, particularly those trained on vast amounts of text data, might generate content that follows certain predictable patterns. For example, AI-generated text might overuse specific phrases or structures, reflecting the most common patterns found in the training data. Human writers, however, are more likely to introduce variations, experiment with different sentence structures, or employ creative ways to convey their message. Additionally, AI might repeat certain themes or phrases within the same text, which can be a telltale sign of machine generation.

    4. Errors and Imperfections

    Ironically, the presence of minor errors, such as typos, grammatical mistakes, or awkward phrasing, might indicate human authorship. Human writers, even skilled ones, are prone to occasional mistakes that can slip through even after editing. In contrast, AI-generated text typically exhibits flawless grammar and spelling, though it might occasionally produce unnatural or awkward sentences. These odd phrasings are not errors in the traditional sense but can feel slightly off, which might suggest that the text was machine-generated.

    5. Creativity and Originality

    Human creativity often involves breaking the rules or combining ideas in unexpected ways. This can lead to original metaphors, unconventional viewpoints, or a narrative style that is uniquely human. AI, on the other hand, generates text based on patterns it has learned from existing data, which means its output can sometimes feel derivative or lacking in true originality. For example, an AI might generate a technically correct piece of writing, but it might lack the spark of creativity that a human writer could bring to the same topic.

    6. Contextual Awareness

    Human writers are generally aware of the broader context in which they are writing, such as current events, cultural trends, or the specific needs of their audience. This awareness allows them to craft content that is relevant, timely, and resonant with their readers. AI, while able to generate relevant text based on prompts, might not fully understand the current context or fail to address it appropriately. This can result in content that feels out of touch or misaligned with the intended audience.

    7. Purpose and Intent

    Human-written content often has a clear purpose or intent behind it, whether it’s to persuade, inform, entertain, or provoke thought. This intent is shaped by the writer’s motivations, experiences, and the specific message they wish to convey. AI-generated text, while capable of mimicking various writing styles, may lack the underlying intent that drives human writing. It might produce content that is technically accurate but feels mechanical or lacks the passion that a human writer would infuse into their work.

    Conclusion

    While AI-generated text can be remarkably convincing, there are still several indicators that can help distinguish it from human-written content. By paying attention to style consistency, complexity, predictability, errors, creativity, contextual awareness, and intent, one can often discern whether a piece of writing was crafted by a human or an AI. As AI continues to evolve, these distinctions may become more nuanced, but the unique qualities of human writing are likely to persist.

  • I’m probably never going to be a writer – it might be time to do something else

    You will have to excuse the irony of this. I’m writing about how I’ve been wasting my time writing.

    For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to write for a living. Since I was a child. I think it stemmed from getting The Beano and The Dandy delivered to the house, as well as MATCH! magazine. I would also have a look at my dad’s copy of The Sun on a Saturday (forgive me, I was young). I was fascinated by the different styles of writing, and how the written word could make you feel depending on how it was presented on the page. When I was around 8 years old, I made hand-drawn comics called The Jumbo for my grandad, which the wonderful man paid me the cover price for. I think I ‘borrowed’ the character of Dennis The Menace for it, too, but thankfully I never received a copyright claim from the publisher of The Beano. A couple of years after that, I was mocking up newspaper front pages.

    Now, aged 30, it is clear to me that writing – communicating with the written/typed word – is probably what I’m best at. Despite being the grandson of a respected mechanic on one side and a talented carpenter on the other side, I am entirely useless at anything practical. Actually doing anything with my hands is beyond me. On one attempt to learn how to cook, I tried to crack an egg into a jug and ended up with the yolk all over the worktop and all of the shell in the jug. I also can’t communicate easily by other means. I’m debilitatingly awkward in face-to-face situations, and irritatingly inarticulate when speaking to someone. I have been asked to do a TV show and a podcast before, but tellingly never been asked to do them more than once.

    My TV debut, on the short-lived Mustard TV, in 2016. I haven’t been asked to do TV again in the six years since.

    I did work experience at Archant, who publish the Eastern Daily Press, Norwich Evening News and other local titles in East Anglia, in 2009. I didn’t actually have much work to do – I got a piece in the paper about a couple’s landmark wedding anniversary – but I was able to observe this huge office putting a newspaper together, as well as sit in on an editorial meeting. I really enjoyed it, and I was left feeling even more sure that I wanted to be a journalist. In 2015, the EDP advertised for contributors to a new Fan Zone page, all about Norwich City Football Club. I went for it, not expecting to get picked, but to my surprise I was chosen as one of four columnists and I’m still doing it now. In fact, I’m the only one of the original four still doing it.

    The closest I’ve ever been to getting paid for writing was when I had an interview at Archant in 2017. They were looking for a trainee reporter. Unfortunately, I failed to impress in the interview (face-to-face interactions letting me down again) and I didn’t get the job. Since then, I’ve never even applied for another job, carrying on with pretending to know what I’m doing in a supermarket.

    I have kept this blog going, as I like to write, but I have never pushed it to the extent that would get me noticed. As an introvert, it’s not in my nature to blow my own trumpet. In any case, when I do share what I’ve written, I don’t get many readers anyway.

    This is why I think that’s the case: TikTok. I’ve never been on TikTok myself because I can’t really see the point of it. My mum, however, is borderline addicted to it. She will spend ages scrolling through the app. I’ll often be shown videos from it. I can’t really get my head around it, though, because there is just so much crap on there. I can spend hours writing something, share it, and get maybe 50 readers if I am exceptionally lucky. Someone can record a 30 second clip of their dog farting, upload it to TikTok, and get millions of views. Short attention spans have ruined the art of writing.

    I’m not bitter though. That’s just how it is. After having this dream for twenty years, I have to start to wonder if my writing is really better than anyone else’s. Perhaps it is time to change tact. Do something else. I don’t know what that might be. But maybe the first step is to admit that writing is a dead end.

    Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far.

  • This one’s for you, dad…

    Latest newspaper column

    As you probably know by now, I write a column for the Eastern Daily Press. It’s about Norwich City FC and there are four of us who write one to be published in the paper on a Tuesday during the football season. We rotate, so I have one every four weeks.

    When I realised that it would be my turn on Tuesday 1st February, thoughts turned to my dear old dad. On 1st February 2014, he passed away at the age of 69 from Alzheimer’s disease. He was a mad Norwich fan and is largely responsible for me supporting the club, so I thought it would be nice to dedicate my column to him.

    Click here to read it now, and if you happen to be in a shop tomorrow you can read it in the paper as well.

  • Thoughts on Norwich City and the new manager

    Earlier today I was contacted by someone from a website looking for a Norwich fan to answer a couple of questions about how the season has been going, what went wrong for Daniel Farke and what the hopes were for the new manager Dean Smith. As it turned out, by the time I’d written my piece they had found someone else and didn’t need me. So it doesn’t go to waste, here’s what I wrote:

    Verdict on season so far

    It couldn’t have gone much worse. I approached Norwich’s return to the Premier League with some trepidation because I feel as fans we are still damaged from the awful experience we had last time. When the fixture list came out and gave us the champions, the previous champions and the FA Cup winners in our first three games I was concerned that we would be playing catch up and low on confidence from a very early stage and that is exactly what happened.

    Dean Smith is now the manager of Norwich City

    Verdict on manager

    There will always be a lot of love for Daniel Farke from Norwich fans. When he took over the club had a poor squad, full of players who either weren’t good enough or didn’t want to be here. He played a big role in the development of James Maddison and the money we received from selling him to Leicester helped to get the club back onto a sound financial footing. I have never seen a Norwich manager with such confidence in youth – Max Aarons, Ben Godfrey, Jamal Lewis, Todd Cantwell and Andrew Omobamidele are just some of the academy products that blossomed under his guidance. He had a real connection with the fans and, in supposedly one of the hardest leagues of them all to get out of, delivered the Championship title twice.

    Sadly, he was never able to crack the Premier League. I had desperately hoped that he had learned from two years ago and this time would take us into the top flight with an attitude of ‘unfinished business’. Unfortunately, he shied away from the attractive, possession-based style of play that had brought us success and tried to make the team play in a way that they weren’t capable of. By the end, he didn’t seem to know what his best eleven was or how to arrange them on the pitch and he simply ran out of road. I have seen the world ‘underwhelming’ used a lot in the reaction to the appointment of Dean Smith (including from myself) but the more I think about it, the more I think he fits. He just needs to find the right combination to get the club feeling good about itself again. I am convinced that the squad have not shown anywhere near to what they can do so far and if he can get them going then I honestly think we could still stay up. Good luck to him, we will be right behind him.