AI may be making us think and write more alike
dornsife.usc.edu
Large language models may be standardizing human expression and subtly influencing how we think, says study led by USC Dornsife researcher

Research Opinion Article.

LLM-mediated homogenization of expression and thought: Individuals differ in how they write, reason, and view the world. When these differences are mediated by the same LLM, their distinct linguistic, perspectival, and reasoning signals become homogenized, producing standardized expressions and thoughts across users. LLM: large language model.

Within groups and societies, cognitive diversity bolsters creativity and problem-solving, say the researchers. However, cognitive diversity is shrinking worldwide as billions of people are using the same handful of AI chatbots for an increasing number of tasks, they add. When people use chatbots to help them polish their writing, for example, the writing ends up losing its stylistic individuality, and people feel less creative ownership over what they produce.

  • vacuumflowerEnglish
    51·
    11 hours ago

    Good and bad. Just like having language standards.

    Bad - it’s already been said why.

    Good - because uniformity does help understanding each other, and because conversational interfaces are more efficient and less error-prone with less diversity.

    • Iconoclast@feddit.ukEnglish
      62·
      11 hours ago

      So much confusion could be avoided if people didn’t use the same words to mean different things.

      • vacuumflowerEnglish
        1·
        11 hours ago

        Well, say, in VAEs confusion is one of the reasons it even works. I mean, it’s the mathematical confusion and not what we mean in language, but there might be a parallel.