👀
NOTICING WHEN THINGS WERE WRITTEN WITH AI
This is a fairly popular Substack post that people seem to find profound and insightful but skimming through it, it was clearly written with generative AI. I’ve been noticing it more and more recently (I’m pretty sure the script of this video was also AI generated https://youtu.be/mI-0I9JK6Us?si=FMf2394bO1MR13Ox sorry lol it doesn’t work when I try to edit embedded links) and I’m surprised when nobody seems to notice or point it out. The parallel sentence structure, strange unnatural cadence, and “it’s not X it’s Y” are huge tells… “You’re not protecting your energy. You’re hoarding it. You’re not setting boundaries. You’re building a fortress and expecting people to thank you for the locked door and to not lock their own.” Let’s not even get started on the em dashes I’m upset about it as a longtime em dash fan and parenthetical lover. It’s disappointing and kind of crazy to see slop like this being passed off as someone’s original work and people just eating it up…
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@taterhole
Jul 4, 2025
88
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Comments (40)

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@acer
the “it’s not X it’s Y” structure makes me so angry every time I read/hear it now I’m glad we’re talking about this
Jul 6, 2025
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@babyoblivi0n
bro the em dash of it all 😫 i need to use them
Jul 5, 2025
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@unplaced
severe em dash blasphemy
Jul 5, 2025
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@marianoleonczik
Really a struggle as a real lover of — and the occasional ; and the tactical ( ) 😔
Jul 5, 2025
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@taterhole
@MARIANOLEONCZIK yeah ✊😔 solidarity… but I know people can’t mistake my writing for generic AI generated slop so there’s that
Jul 5, 2025
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@marianoleonczik
@TATERHOLE need to add some OOOOMMFF maybe some ooOOOooOOOhhhHhhhSSsuuuuRRrrrRreeeEEee and some …………what — throws off the AI
Jul 5, 2025
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@jeannedielman
I hope for the “author’s” sake this was written by AI cause that one long ass stretch in the post where every sentence starts with “You…” is truly awful writing 😭
Jul 5, 2025
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@jeannedielman
@JEANNEDIELMAN and the title of the post being repeated throughout is crackinggg me up loll my favorite one is “And that’s why we are bitches and that’s why we don’t deserve community” LMFAOO
Jul 5, 2025
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@taterhole
@JEANNEDIELMAN “ChatGPT write me a viral girlboss Substack essay about how everyone is fake now and uses therapy words to be selfish. Make it sound angry and real. Call them a bitch a lot.”
Jul 5, 2025
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@robertdayton
It's the two exclamation marks that tick me off. Use one or use three but two??? That looks horrible.
Jul 5, 2025
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@softshelled
@ROBERTDAYTON uh oh, lol I do this. I tend to stack ‘em in sentences too. *example! example!! example!!!* a habit ‘spose. Didn’t know it was something ai yoinked too first they take the em dashes and ungraciously use snarky girlboss tone, now the double exclamation points? the Earth depletes for this
Jul 5, 2025
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@taterhole
@ROBERTDAYTON I like to use two in text messages but actually I literally never use any in my writing now that I think about it
Jul 5, 2025
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@softshelled
@ROBERTDAYTON same, only in texts or comment sections. Perhaps an informal email if I’m feelin’ funky
Jul 5, 2025
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@softshelled
yes the ‘X, Y‘ pattern is a big one!! I’ve consistently spotted “This isn’t just ___, it’s ___” “It’s not about ___ it’s about ___” “You’re not being ___, you’re setting boundaries.” “They’re not ___. They’re ___. They’re powerful revelations. They’re you.” also I’m more of a slut for mid dashes, but I feel for the cultural loss of em dashes too. to be ai, to be of stolen data aggregated slop, removed of human creative instinct and *perfectly imperfectness*, but to keep em dashes as legacy? instead of writers or fanfic writers of yore, like me, who don’t know what to do with too many commas in a sentence, and pretend it’s intentional punctuation — heinous
Jul 5, 2025
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@softshelled
@SOFTSHELLED I got an email reply from my uni subject coordinator and it was sprinkled with ai language (evidently it did not address my concerns and was completely disconnected to what I was actually enquiring about lol). which is especially disillusioning and soul eroding because my subject relates to social work
Jul 5, 2025
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@taterhole
@SOFTSHELLED another thing I forgot to mention is just the total lack of tonal texture and absence of concrete details where all of the ideas are gesticulated at but not expounded upon
Jul 5, 2025
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@mattshawsome
This is terrible. My AI detector thinks the Substack piece was human authored. It's hard to discern. How can I trust anything written on the internet as being written by humans?
Jul 5, 2025
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@softshelled
@MATTSHAWSOME unfortunately ai detectors don’t seem to be reliable, inversely either. you could write something completely original and one might tell ya it’s 80-90 percent ai
Jul 5, 2025
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@taterhole
@SOFTSHELLED exactlyyyy and sadly @MATTSHAWSOME you really can’t trust things written on the internet to be written by a human at this point and you just have to look for the signs and patterns. it’s bleak…
Jul 5, 2025
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@softshelled
@MATTSHAWSOME @TATERHOLE I’m so thankful I got my bachelor’s before chatgpt or whatever the fuck was birthed, the stress of trying to prove my literary voice and work is my own might unravel me now I see students use ai for assignments. bragging about it, even. bleak’s the word, *yeah*
Jul 5, 2025
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@marybethg
A coworker sent out an attempt at an inspirational email to their team that was so written by Copliot. Incredibly awkward.
Jul 5, 2025
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@soft
I wonder what the prompt was. Like ‘write an essay about why people don’t want to hang out with me but make me the victim’ Girl they don’t wanna hang out with you because you use ai instead of forming opinions and because you ruin nice things!
Jul 4, 2025
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@marxinista
have you seen the NYT ai quiz!!
Jul 4, 2025
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@taterhole
@MARXINISTA no!
Jul 4, 2025
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@marxinista
they made a quiz recently to test if you can recognize ai in videos! i refuse to give them $ cuz they’re evil but if you can get a gift or pirated link it’s an interesting quiz i disappointingly got 8/10! https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/29/business/ai-video-deepfake-google-veo-3-quiz.html
Jul 4, 2025
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@mattshawsome
@MARXINISTA nyt AI quiz gift link
Jul 5, 2025
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@umbertogecko
I made the mistake of reading the comments though … ugh
Jul 4, 2025
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@taterhole
@UMBERTOGECKO yeah lmfao 🥲
Jul 4, 2025
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@chloe_
@UMBERTOGECKO made me unreasonably mad at Chuck Conner whoever the fuck he is
Jul 4, 2025
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@taterhole
@UMBERTOGECKO LOLLLL the American flag emoji
Jul 4, 2025
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@taterhole
@CHLOE_ I tagged the wrong person…
Jul 4, 2025
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@chloe_
@UMBERTOGECKO he is such a dumbass. Saying introverts are a Reddit phenom and that they should be punished. Bruh.
Jul 4, 2025
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@umbertogecko
@CHLOE_ and he calls introverts "inherently degenerate" and "it’s societies right and duty to punish this behavior" lmaooooo so high and mighty. I feel like it has to be rage bait because I can't believe someone is so mad at people just wanting to do their own thing for whatever reason.
Jul 4, 2025
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@umbertogecko
@CHLOE_ @TATERHOLE i'm so glad to be included in this convo even if inadvertently 😂
Jul 4, 2025
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@chloe_
@UMBERTOGECKO @taterholeoh, you’re def included haha
Jul 4, 2025
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@chloe_
@UMBERTOGECKO idk What he even thinks he is doing - this whole article and comment section just parroting each other is so tiresome. chuck should just admit that he’s just not that into cornhole and beer bongs and move on With his life Lol
Jul 4, 2025
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@sweetgrrrl
whenever i see ai generated content i always leave a comment about it but…they get taken down regardless of the platform 😭 ive noticed jennifer coolidge and shakira have sold their likeness for ai generated ads but no one notices!
Jul 4, 2025
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@taterhole
@SWEETGRRRL ugh that’s so crazy!!!! 😭😭😭 I’m really surprised about the celebrity likenesses in AI-generated ads I’m going to have to watch more closely for that…
Jul 4, 2025
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@sweetgrrrl
@SWEETGRRRL https://youtu.be/X4bKIsanU_8?si=rl0vSsojBZUGsyQR look at this and tell me they didn’t deepfake her face onto that actress 😭😭😭
Jul 4, 2025
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@taterhole
@SWEETGRRRL STOP THIS IS SO WEIRD LOLLLL
Jul 4, 2025
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I avoid generative ai primarily because of how it can harm me
I don't want to read books and essays written by AI. I don't want to watch films made by AI. I don't want to look at art and photos made or modified by AI. I don't want to see messy preschooler drawings refined and interpreted by AI. etc. But I avoid it especially because I don't want to lose myself. Creating is hard: I struggle. I sweat. I weep. I doubt myself and wrestle with insecurity and hate my parents and family and friends and I'm going to die on the streets and think that I'd never get it right and gloom and I'm an imposter and a fraud and the gaping chasm of despair gnawing fear and —  and from that pit of struggle emerges a diamond, something precious and glistening that I didn't know could be found Then I see that through the pain of hammering for that diamond, I've changed and grown, and this beauty that I'm now beholding, I know what it took to get to that! I paid for that, and everything I lost was gained back. AI lets me skip all that. All of the process and pain and growth can be bypassed. Instead I can get really good at prompting. Whenever I get stuck and the muse is silent, AI will get me moving again. I never need to struggle. I never need to grow. My skills never need to evolve. It's easier, it's faster, everyone else is doing it, blah blah blah, I'll fall behind if I don't use it, accelerate! more! be more efficient. We worship the god of efficiency here! bigger! FEED THE MACHINE. faster! insane beserker growth! why? because we are thirsty for more. produce! produce! produce! No thanks. Even if it means others are producing more and louder and flashier better tighter, no thanks. I'll fall behind if I have to. Fall behind with me.
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