Why I Just Blocked You
And One Genius Tip for Spotting the AI Bots on Medium
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We all know they are here. We know Medium is getting inundated with AI-generated content.
How good are you at spotting it? I’m going to give you one tip that will help. Soon. Very soon. But first . . .
Did you know that Medium is not against AI content? I think it quite likes it, to be honest. The more articles, the more to read, the more money and all that. But the rules are clear: “We require that any story incorporating AI assistance be clearly labelled as such.”
I have reached out to the Medium helpdesk and asked if they could let us have a new button to report AI-generated content. I know I COULD hit the “Rules violation” button, but I want them to be sure exactly which violation I am reporting. The response was less than I had hoped for:
we don’t take any automatic actions against detected or suspected AI content, because there is no reliable system that is free of false positives.
So far, I haven’t found a single AI-generated article that has played by the rules and labelled the content correctly. So it is up to us.
The Genius Tip
The easiest, least time-consuming way to spot a Bot is in your comments section. The Bot will sound human but will precis your article.
Let me give you an example. I published a story yesterday entitled: “What to Do When Your Granny Says She Doesn’t Want Anything for Christmas”.
Here is a Bot response:
Annie, your insight into gift-giving for older loved ones is heartwarming and practical. Focusing on cherished memories rather than material possessions is a beautiful idea. Your son’s thoughtful gesture of sharing happy childhood memories is a reminder that the best gifts often come from the heart. Thanks for sharing this meaningful perspective!
You won’t be able to find it in my response column now, because I have blocked the Bot.
The advantage of spotting and blocking them in the comments section is that you don’t have to gift them a single cent by reading their work to check.
But, for the purposes of this article, I did double-check. I just did it really quickly so the read time wouldn’t register.
I looked at the stories the Bot has published. What a surprise. Lots of listicles. Lots of “10 Clear Guidelines. . .” “10 Essential Tips . . .” “10 Key Strategies . .” That sort of thing.
I triple-checked and ran 3 paragraphs from one published story through an AI Checker.
90% probability was good enough for me.
My apologies to the human behind the Bot. I know you are there, and I don’t like to block people, but you are not playing by the rules. And you are lazy.
More tips
The writing will be bland and without personality. There will be lots of “we”s and very few, if any, “I”s. Look out for these phrases:
- “In the grand tapestry of life . ..”
- “In a world that is constantly evolving . . .”
- “In today’s digital age . . ..”
- “In the journey of our life . . .”
Join me. Fight back against the sheer gall of these lazy “writers”. Just hit the block button. Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt to add your voice and email the helpdesk to request an AI-generated button. Please.
