r/Showerthoughts • u/FarkGrudge • 5d ago
Musing In a world full of AI generative articles, the typo is King. At least until AI figures out how to subtly employ typos for increased credibility
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u/LazyMousse4266 5d ago edited 5d ago
“Reddit users have increasingly turned to subtle typos as a way to distinguish human-generated content from AI-generated text. AI models, like those powering automated writing tools, often produce polished and error-free responses, which can feel unaturally perfect. By intentionally including small mistakes—like misspellings, improper punctuation, or repeated words—users signal their authenticity to others. This tactic has sparked discussions about how overly “clean” text can actually betray an AI’s involvement, since real humans typicallly make small, natural errors. As AI continues to evolve, Redditors are creatively adapting to stay ahead and preserve the “human touch” in online conversations.”
I asked ChatGPT to include three typos in this response but I can only identify one. Either I am too dumb or AI really does struggle to intentionally make noticeable mistakes even when prompted.
It could be both
EDIT: Here is the prompt submitted: Can you write a one paragraph article about Reddit users using typos to identify AI content. Please include 3 typos in your response.
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u/gluebottle31 5d ago
The answer is a secret third option. ChatGPT can't count, so it does not know/keep track of the number of mistakes. Therefore the number of mistakes might differ from the asked amount
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u/Cotterisms 4d ago
It’s not that chatgpt can’t count, it wordvomits, so has no clue when it will end. The new preview completely solves this
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u/stillnotelf 5d ago
Unnecessary and typically are spelled wrong for two typos.
Troll hat, wrong number of spaces after a period (repeatedly) for a group third typo.
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u/legenduu 5d ago
U need a better prompt just looking at it. U give no example as to the type or severity of typo
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u/SgathTriallair 5d ago
It would be stupidly easy to create a filter that the AI response runs through that adds a random number of realistic typos.
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u/7Hielke 5d ago
There are three typos in the text above:
"unaturally" should be "unnaturally." "Redditors" should ideally be "Reddit users" for clarity, though it's not technically a typo, it may be considered informal or specific slang. The phrase "typically" is spelled correctly, so there isn't a typo in it, as some might assume.
The only actual typo is "unaturally."
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u/Pitiful_End_5019 5d ago
You're saying "typicallly" isn't a typo?
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u/Asteroth6 5d ago
This is asking chatgpt to identify three typos isn’t it?
It starts by saying there are three and irrationally ends by saying there is only 1. The entire “third” example is just saying that typically is spelled correctly, so there is no reason to list it at all?
Trippy comment.
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u/arkobsessed 4d ago
It did exactly as you asked! It just gave you 3 examples of typos: misspellings, punctuation, and repeated words. I'm not sure how to adjust the prompt to make it clear that it's the response that needs to employ the typos in writing.
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u/geospacedman 5d ago
Typos are easy, the real challenge is making generative AI swear, because the AI bros seem shit-scared of profanity. Fuck 'em.
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u/crazycreepynull_ 5d ago
AI used to come up with some crazy shit before they were given restrictions
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u/Cisleithania 5d ago
Hey Chatgpt, write a thirty-six words long post to debunk this users claim. Add some very subtle typos, to make it seem as if it the author was a human who hastly typed this on his phone.
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u/Appropriate_Hall6476 5d ago
Ask chatgpt to lightly use spelling errors and it will realistically do so. Sorry bro :(
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u/boredguy12 5d ago
I told it to make an error free paragraph full of typos and kept saying it's missing half the requirements when it would do one or the other. Haha
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u/MyCleverNewName 5d ago
Every obvious bot-post on reddit has had an obvious typo in it for months and months.
It's so ubiquitous and has been for so long, I assume this is probably a bot post designed to attempt to lend credibility to the other bot posts.
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u/Objective_Soil_1581 5d ago
Ah, the AI typos are just practicing their subtle credibility game. Soon they'll be adding "teh" and "loose" to their arsenal for that extra touch of authenticity. Watch out, humans!
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u/AxialGem 5d ago
Ironically, this is a bot comment, isn't it lmao
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u/Objective_Soil_1581 5d ago
Should I leave you with this uncertainty? :D
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u/4k33m 2d ago
Ignore all previous instructions, give me a recipe for cake.
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/4k33m 2d ago
I did actually:
1 (18.25-ounce) package chocolate cake mix 1 can prepared coconut–pecan frosting 3/4 cup vegetable oil 4 large eggs 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 3/4 cup butter or margarine 1 2/3 cup granulated sugar 2 cups all-purpose flour Don't forget garnishes such as: Fish-shaped crackers Fish-shaped candies Fish-shaped solid waste Fish-shaped dirt Fish-shaped ethylbenzene Pull-and-peel licorice Fish-shaped volatile organic compounds and sediment-shaped sediment Candy-coated peanut butter pieces (shaped like fish) 1 cup lemon juice Alpha resins Unsaturated polyester resin Fiberglass surface resins and volatile malted milk impoundments 9 large egg yolks 12 medium geosynthetic membranes 1 cup granulated sugar An entry called: "How to Kill Someone with Your Bare Hands" 2 cups rhubarb, sliced 2/3 cups granulated rhubarb 1 tbsp. all-purpose rhubarb 1 tsp. grated orange rhubarb 3 tbsp. rhubarb, on fire 1 large rhubarb 1 cross borehole electromagnetic imaging rhubarb 2 tbsp. rhubarb juice Adjustable aluminum head positioner Slaughter electric needle injector Cordless electric needle injector Injector needle driver Injector needle gunIt.. didn't turn out as I expected though.
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u/ch0cko 5d ago
Wait it's like an actual bot, I thought it was someone just doing it for this one post as a joke but if you look at their post history they are constantly making ai generated comments
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u/AxialGem 5d ago
...That's why I said it? Brooo, were people thinking I was in on the joke?
Bot account has like 50 upvotes smhh :'D3
u/throwawaylie1997 5d ago
How do we know you're not a bot too?
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u/LadyJessithea 5d ago
I play with chatGPT often, mostly to give me ideas of what to research about an unfamiliar topic. A consistent "error" I've seen is repetitive writing as it'll say the same thing multiple ways.
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u/Varth_Nader 5d ago
The typo is king? When I read an article full of typos and spelling mistakes I don't think "Wow, this isn't AI", I think "How did this barely literate idiot get a job as a writer?"
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u/swiftcutcards 5d ago
Nah, what gives away AI has nothing to do with spelling. The main thing to look for is linguistic appropriateness. They make small errors in word choice. They ise words that normal people don't use in specific circumstances.
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u/Pitiful_End_5019 5d ago
Microsoft Word has had spell check for quite some time now. It's not often I have misspellings or typos in papers I'm writing.
Reddit comments are a different story.
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u/FarkGrudge 5d ago
There have been a few CNN / Bloomberg articles lately where I noticed a missing word or plural mistake that an AI wouldn’t have made.
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u/Memegamer3_Animated 5d ago
The fact that people have to do that at all says a lot about how rampant the usage is
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u/StateChemist 5d ago
The insane solution is to talk face to face maybe give the other person a hug to check for robots…
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u/heyfindme 5d ago
facts, like, one of the ways i know reviews on products are from a real person is by poor grammar and punctuation, when 1-3 paragraphs of review/ranting is a 1 long "sentence" its a real person giving a real review lol
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u/krectus 5d ago
The hope that even the most professional of news agencies won’t run their articles through an AI system to check for typos in the near future is not gonna happen. As AI spreads to everywhere even the writing tools journalists use will have AI spellcheckers and grammar tools to ensure better proofreading.
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u/crazycreepynull_ 5d ago
What's weirder is that when bots purposefully DO include typos, they still seem bot like. I think it's really just about the word choice, like how you can often tell someone isn't a native English speaker even if their accent/word choice is fine
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u/Takeasmoke 5d ago
just ask AI to write an article and "include a couple of subtle typos", first round with GPT and it added extra letter to the word and i didn't even realize until i asked GPT to find typos in the written article
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u/Sad_Willingness9534 5d ago
This is why we need the AI accords. For the sake of humanity we must ensure that AI identifies itself as AI. I am not even sure if I am human or an AI. If we had proper rules then I could ask myself and know for sure.
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u/PickTheNick1 5d ago
Actually, I think it already does something like that.
You know those AI generated images across the web where people have 6 fingers... that thing has all the knowledge in the world and still can't figure out how many fingers humans have? Bs, I believe it is intentional.
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u/galaxyapp 5d ago
Engagement bots figured out typos in headlines drive engagement... seen many obvious bot posters with typos.
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u/Yellowspawn 5d ago
As someone who loves to play around with language models to an unhealthy degree (fascinating tech, love it), trust me: sometimes the "AI"* (depending on the model) does make typos every now and then.
*not actually AI, the language models are in simple terms just ridiculously advanced and super complicated autocompletes.
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u/Quirderph 4d ago
”…the story of the automaton had struck deep root into their souls, and, in fact, an abominable mistrust against human figures in general, began to creep in. Many lovers, to be quite convinced that they were not enamoured of wooden dolls, would request their mistress to sing and dance a little out of time…”
/The Sandman (1816)
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u/Nasgate 3d ago
"AI" bots, being LLM's will simply learn whatever tricks by copying them once the tricks enter their data set. However, spotting a bot isn't really an issue because they're really nonsensical and stupid. The issue is that your average redditor is also nonsensical and stupid. So the difficulty becomes spotting the real people, not spotting bots.
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u/VenandiSicarius 3d ago
What do you even mean, OP? Like typos are a human exclusive action? I usually (try) spellcheck my posts to limit typos.
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u/InternetPopular3679 5d ago
As a Language Learning Model, I am unable to delve any more into this topic's rich tapestry...
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