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Comment by pjjpo | Hacker News Reader

I don't know about the commenter specifically but in general, using LLMs to format text is a game changer in the ability for English-as-Second-Language folks to contribute to tech conversations. While I get where some of the bias against anything LLM generated comes from, I would keep it for editorial content and not community comments to be fair to a global audience.

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I’m worried that LLMs could facilitate cheap, scaled astroturfing.

I understand that people encounter discrimination based on English skill, and it makes sense that people will use LLMs to help with that, especially in a professional context. On the other hand, I’d instinctively be more trusting of the authenticity of a comment with some language errors than one that reads like it was generated by ChatGPT.

I’m not sure if that’s a realistic ask. There is ample abuse of LLM generated content, and there are plenty of ESL publishers.

Personally I would recommend including a note that English is not your native language and you had an LLM clean things up. I think people are willing to give quite a bit of grace, if it’s disclosed.

Personally, I’d rather see a response in your native language with a translation, but I’m fairly certain I’m the odd one out in that situation XD

You're not alone.

I tried that, but you end up sounding so bland and generic. It feels like the textual equivalent of the Corporate Memphis art style. I'm comfortable doing this at work because I exist outside of slack/emails, but in here I am what I write. If I delegate this to a LLM, then I do not exist anymore.

What I found useful is to use LLMs as a fuzzy near-synonym search engine. "Sad, but with a note of nostalgia", for example. It's a slower process, which in itself isn't bad.

It just makes everything sound bland and soulless. You don't know which part of the message actually comes from the user's brain and which part has been added/suggested by the LLM. The latter is not an original thought and it would be disingenuous to include it, but people do because it makes them look smarter. Meanwhile, on the other side, you might as well be talking to a LLM...

This commenter is making everything up and a 3 second look at their profile puts this beyond any doubt. Regardless, the benefit of the doubt should no longer be given. Too bad for my fellow ESLers, I'm one myself, but we better get just writing in English. It's already a daily occurrence now to see these bots on HN.

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