What Are The Differences Between AI and Human Writing: A Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Enthusiasts

It's kind of incredible to realize how much has changed in the tech world in just a few years. I mean, you could even ask ChatGPT to generate an introduction to an article like this...

Not perfect, but if I wanted to tweak that I totally could. And the best (or worst, depending on who you ask) thing is that this technology is only going to keep getting better from here on out — something that we already see in GPT-4o, Claude, and other new models.

Now think of this on a bigger scale. Everyone around the world already has an idea on how to master the potential of these tools. Whether it's in education, business, or just productivity, ChatGPT (and others like it) have now become a household name..

But it’s easy to be blinded by the good it can bring that we sometimes forget that technology has a price. AI has been plaguing the academic world with AI-generated essays & text scrambling softwares. It's only a matter of time until teachers are going to have to start offering exams on paper again, right?

As educators, parents, or really anyone trying to wrap their head around what just happened & what the future looks like, understanding the difference between AI-generated and human-written content is important for fostering a responsible consumption of information.

While I don't think there's a definitive way to check for AI writing, there's a few things you can do until these generative models get so good there's absolutely no way of identifying any discernible differences.

What Even Is AI Writing?

AI writing refers to the production of text by algorithms that have been trained on large datasets of human-written content. These algorithms, often referred to as language models, use statistical methods to generate text that is grammatically correct and contextually relevant. 

Some of the biggest commercial tools in the market right now (besides ChatGPT) are Jasper and WriteSonic. Even Grammarly and QuillBot also use AI to paraphrase your inputs. These apps let you input a prompt, give a line or two of instructions, then produce complete essays and articles for you.

While some of these have been popular for years, it’s not until ChatGPT that we realized just how far they can go. It’s nuanced, creative, and fairly accurate to a degree — everything that we’ve ever wanted from an AI. Sure, there are still AI hallucinations here and there, but who’s counting?

If we take it a step back and add another level of abstraction, AI writing tools like WriteHuman and Undetectable AI are able to scramble words around to hide from AI detection. They try to make writing look more human by mixing up the predictability of your input.

Beyond these writing tools and scramblers, there's a lot of syntactical differences between AI and human writing. This includes things like:

• AI writing tends to be more repetitive.
• Some words (like delve, utilize, etc.) are far likelier to appear in AI writing than in actual human-written text. 
• LLMs tend to favor lists over paragraphs.

Remember, these things don't have emotions yet, as for now they just pretend they do.

If I'm writing something with ChatGPT, I can tell almost instantly. It's pretty great writing but has a robotic undertone to it. Here are a few differences I believe stand between AI & human writing:

Key Differences Between AI and Human Writing

1. Creativity and Originality

• Human Writing. When humans write, they often infuse their content with creativity, emotions, and personal experiences. The thought process of a writer is inherently creative, drawing on a lifetime of experiences, emotions, and imagination. You can't really predict what a great writer will say throughout their story. The story paints a vivid picture in your mind.
• AI Writing. In contrast, AI lacks consciousness and personal experiences. It generates text based on patterns it has learned from its training data. Although it can mimic creativity to an extent, it doesn’t ‘create’ in the truest sense of the word. How would AI review a new television? It wouldn't know how to. It will just repeat things that it thinks you want to hear.

2. Context and Nuance

• Human Writing. Humans have the innate ability to understand deep contextual nuances and cultural references. We can also comprehend the sentiments and implied meanings behind words. This is also why the best writing just seems to be so "magical." A well-informed writer brings in context from things that their readers wouldn't just bring up themselves.
• AI Writing. AI can struggle with context, especially when nuances or cultural references are involved. It might generate grammatically correct sentences but fail to capture the deeper context or sentiment. Think of LLMs as autofill on your smartphone — that’s an oversimplification, but at the same time, it’s what AI is right now.

3. Ethical and Moral Considerations

• Human Writing. Authors often weigh the societal impact and moral implications of what they write. While this isn't always seen with journalists today, most humans definitely have the ability to dictate their morals with what they write.
• AI Writing. AI does not possess morals or ethics. It is incapable of making value judgments. The content it generates might be insensitive or inappropriate without the algorithm being aware of it. Algorithmic bias is huge and is going to take decades to unwrap the problem.

4. Evolution and Learning

• Human Writing. Human writers grow and evolve over time. They can learn from feedback, adapt their style, and develop a unique voice. This is why we like writers, brands, influencers, etc. We cling onto who they are, their thoughts, their real opinions.
• AI Writing. AI models can be updated and trained on new data, but they do not evolve in the same sense as humans. Their learning is constrained by the data they are fed, and they lack personal growth at their current stage of tech. We’re still a long way from Skynet, people.

5. Error Handling

• Human Writing. Humans might make errors due to oversight or lack of knowledge. However, they can understand and correct them based on context. You can't always tell when a human is spreading false information, but lack of confidence and credibility within writing is a huge red flag.
• AI Writing. AI might generate errors that seem plausible. Since it lacks understanding, it can confidently produce incorrect or nonsensical information. Go ahead and ask ChatGPT a question you know it won't have the answer to. It just hallucinates and says things it thinks you want to hear.

Implications for Education and Parenting

Understanding these differences is essential for raising the next generation of students and journalists.

While AI content isn't inherently a bad thing, lack of ethical guidelines and guidance can result in some really bad things. When students start using AI to do their college assignments, what's really going to happen to the next generation of our society?

Some things to keep in mind:

1. Critical Thinking. Teach students and children to critically evaluate content. Is the information reliable? Does it take ethical considerations into account?
2. Digital Literacy. Develop skills to discern between AI-generated and human-written content. For instance, detecting incongruities in context or understanding can be a clue that content was AI-generated.
3. Encouraging Creativity. Emphasize the importance of creativity, ethics, and personal voice in writing. These are inherently human traits that set us apart from machines.

The Road Ahead

There’s no way around it — LLMs will keep on getting better. Along with it is the fact that the line between AI and human writing will become increasingly blurred. We'll get to a point where we can't figure things out anymore. This isn't going to be as easy as plagiarism where you can find the source of things.

We have to change how we approach these differences. Think of it this way: have you ever seen something online that sounds like AI, but you just can’t prove it? That’s the struggle scientists have now: finding a way to algorithmically determine which is human and which isn’t. 

By cultivating critical thinking, digital literacy, and creativity, we can prepare future generations to navigate this evolving landscape with discernment and integrity.

Remember, AI writing is a tool — powerful and useful, but without the depth that humanity brings. Let's add some ethics in the mix to stay on pace to a morally grounded society.