AI opinion

[MarekSusicky]

Oh, do me!

Sorry, limited amount of uses

 

[Racosharko]

Sorry, limited amount of uses

It's ok, bet it will just say blue.moon is not the account of a person, it's just three raccoons in a trench coat riding a shark.

 

[sbdrag]

I know you mean well, but the function of chatGPT like deep research is very useful, doing the grunt work for you. You can go through the citations to double-check the information, if you want.


For example, I asked the AI this:


And, uhm, it found what I was looking for, sort of. I will point one thing, it found this thread :)


and then funnily enough:

Wow, it verbatim repeated exactly what I said in this thread where you already read it and added one clause of support I had included in my initial post. How amazing.

The problem with using chatgpt to do research for you is the same problem with using it to write a story for you - it means you aren't building your own research and analysis skills. Summarization is an analytical skill of being able to process large amounts of information into a more digestible format by identifying key points and overarching themes. If you have chatgpt summarize a subject for you, then you aren't practicing these analytical skills.

And sure, my opinion on smut and AI isn't the biggest hot topic in need of an actual research study, and plenty of people use it for casual information like this - but people who are using this for their jobs and for classes are people who need to be able to do this analysis themselves. Most subject matter experts I've heard from quickly drop chatgpt for any serious research beyond looking up a fact like a fancy ctrl+f because its analysis is rudimentary and misses nuance needed for the understanding they're looking for. This is even setting aside when it makes things up to fill gaps in its knowledge instead of just saying it doesn't know.

People using chatgpt for high school and college research are literally missing out on learning how to do their own research and analysis, which is often half the point of research essays aside from the subject itself. How do you know if chatgpt is doing research and analysis right if you don't know how to do them yourself?

Sure, you can check the citations to see if chatgpt made something up - but how can you assess the efficacy of its actual analysis of the information without your own knowledge of the subject and analytical skills? The grunt work of research is a skill. Being able to find credible sources then comprehend and analyze their content is a skill.

If you are just trying to look up basic facts on a subject, then sure, chatgpt will get you that. If you are trying to do actual research to gain knowledge and understanding of a subject, chatgpt will hold you back.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

The problem with using chatgpt to do research for you is the same problem with using it to write a story for you - it means you aren't building your own research and analysis skills. Summarization is an analytical skill of being able to process large amounts of information into a more digestible format by identifying key points and overarching themes. If you have chatgpt summarize a subject for you, then you aren't practicing these analytical skills.

So essentially using Cliff's Notes for a book report, but on a larger scale.

If you are just trying to look up basic facts on a subject, then sure, chatgpt will get you that. If you are trying to do actual research to gain knowledge and understanding of a subject, chatgpt will hold you back.

I have heard one other common and decent use - to set up encounters for role-playing games. Have never tested this myself, but know some people who claim to have had great results with it - they just give it a general theme, it writes the encounter, they insert game stats, and then go back and make any changes the game stats force into the text and viola, something that used to take an hour or two is done in about ten to fifteen minutes.
Heck, the guys I used to game with when my job didn't make it nearly impossible, have a regular GM who uses AI to generate initial maps and tokens for use on Rolld20. Sometimes he has to go in and edit to give an access point or such (and when he doesn't have time for this it is often very obvious), but it has done some very cool - and weird - stuff for him.

 

[MarekSusicky]

Wow, it verbatim repeated exactly what I said in this thread where you already read it and added one clause of support I had included in my initial post. How amazing.

I didn't specify anything. If I was just curious, it would find it on its own and I could read it for myself :) So you were wrong, AI can search.

For fiction writing, AI isn’t replacing research skills... It is better access to information. A writer isn’t trying to publish an academic paper lol, they’re trying to tell a good story. If AI helps them find the details they need faster, what’s the problem? If they needs a quick summary of medieval armor, obscure folklore, or plausible futuristic tech, AI is awesome. The end goal isn’t a research paper... it’s great story.

Yes, learning to research properly is important. But once you know how, why waste time reinventing the wheel? And professional authors have research assistants and editors to help them. AI is just a version of that y'know. Helping indie writers save time and focus on writing.

If someone already has research and analytical skills then using AI is no unlike from using calcs in math, google for quick lookups, or for us writes spell-checkers. The tool doesn't replace it, it enhances our efficiency. Why should we waste time on busywork when we could be focusing on analysis and creative thingies?

Using AI for summarization doesn’t mean someone lacks analytical skills, it means they are prioritizing higher-level thinking over repetitive tasks. Even in unis, research assistants help with literature reviews and rely on existing abstracts. Why is it suddenly a problem when AI does the same?

When in school research is about learning, but in the real world, research is about solving problems and makin' informed decisions. AI is just another tool to increase productivity. If using AI makes a skilled profi more efficient, why resist it?

 

[dukerino]

I like using AI when I'm GMing tabletop games in order to quickly give sparks of inspiration and offload the cognitive effort of improvisation. Creative writing, being much more of a sit-down-and-puzzle-it-out thing, isn't a place where I use it. A big part of the fun in this hobby, for me, is the way it makes you slow down and think about how to employ language and creativity in new, tricky ways. Using AI is like looking up the crossword solutions.

 

[EverenVale]

I use Grammarly to correct my errors and only do it for the red lines. For the blue errors, I mostly ignore them because they change my style of writing.
I also use ChatGPT for research. And if I have writer's block or even I'm not in the mood to write. I play with my characters for a bit and ask ChatGPT to put my characters in 'What if" situations. That usually unblocks my writing or puts me in the mood to continue writing.
Another thing I use ChatGPT for is to ask it to assume the role of a beta reader. Then I feed it my story chapter by chapter and see what it sees that I didn't.
The last thing I use is brainstorming. At times, my characters behave in a way I didn't anticipate and live their own life (Which mostly they do ) I get off-tracked. So, I brainstorm with ChatGPT to help me get new ideas on how to go from there.

So, to conclude, I guess I agree with those who believe it can be an effective tool. But it shouldn't write the whole story for you.

 

[LacyRecs]

I used AI for reading MTL ? MTL has horrible grammar and AI helps me read without turning off my brain. At one poin, my English got worse because I kept reading MTLs ?? This is not writing related tho

 

[Evinoran]

I personally don’t use it, but it’s mainly because to me, it would be like outsourcing my fun. What’s next, ask AI to play my games while I do the taxes?