A college kid created a fake, AI-generated blog. It reached #1 on Hacker News.

GPT-3 is OpenAI’s latest and largest language AI model, which the San Francisco–based research lab began drip-feeding out in mid-July. In February of last year, OpenAI made headlines with GPT-2, an earlier version of the algorithm, which it announced it would withhold for fear it would be abused. The decision immediately sparked a backlash, as researchers accused the lab of pulling a stunt. By November, the lab had reversed position and released the model, saying it had detected “no strong evidence of misuse so far.”

The lab took a different approach with GPT-3; it neither withheld it nor granted public access. Instead, it gave the algorithm to select researchers who applied for a private beta, with the goal of gathering their feedback and commercializing the technology by the end of the year.

Porr submitted an application. He filled out a form with a simple questionnaire about his intended use. But he also didn’t wait around. After reaching out to several members of the Berkeley AI community, he quickly found a PhD student who already had access. Once the graduate student agreed to collaborate, Porr wrote a small script for him to run. It gave GPT-3 the headline and introduction for a blog post and had it spit out several completed versions. Porr’s first post (the one that charted on Hacker News), and every post after, was a direct copy-and-paste from one of outputs.

“From the time that I thought of the idea and got in contact with the PhD student to me actually creating the blog and the first blog going viral—it took maybe a couple of hours,” he says.

Porr's fake blog post, written under the fake name "adolos," reaches #1 on Hacker News. SCREENSHOT / LIAM PORR

The trick to generating content without the need for editing was understanding GPT-3’s strengths and weaknesses. “It's quite good at making pretty language, and it's not very good at being logical and rational,” says Porr. So he picked a popular blog category that doesn’t require rigorous logic: productivity and self-help.

From there, he wrote his headlines following a simple formula: he’d scroll around on Medium and Hacker News to see what was performing in those categories and put together something relatively similar. “Feeling unproductive? Maybe you should stop overthinking,” he wrote for one. “Boldness and creativity trumps intelligence,” he wrote for another. On a few occasions, the headlines didn’t work out. But as long as he stayed on the right topics, the process was easy.

After two weeks of nearly daily posts, he retired the project with one final, cryptic, self-written message. Titled “What I would do with GPT-3 if I had no ethics,” it described his process as a hypothetical. The same day, he also posted a more straightforward confession on his real blog.

The few people who grew suspicious of Porr's fake blog were downvoted by other members in the community. SCREENSHOT / LIAM PORR

Porr says he wanted to prove that GPT-3 could be passed off as a human writer. Indeed, despite the algorithm’s somewhat weird writing pattern and occasional errors, only three or four of the dozens of people who commented on his top post on Hacker News raised suspicions that it might have been generated by an algorithm. All those comments were immediately downvoted by other community members.

For experts, this has long been the worry raised by such language-generating algorithms. Ever since OpenAI first announced GPT-2, people have speculated that it was vulnerable to abuse. In its own blog post, the lab focused on the AI tool’s potential to be weaponized as a mass producer of misinformation. Others have wondered whether it could be used to churn out spam posts full of relevant keywords to game Google.

Porr says his experiment also shows a more mundane but still troubling alternative: people could use the tool to generate a lot of clickbait content. “It's possible that there's gonna just be a flood of mediocre blog content because now the barrier to entry is so easy,” he says. “I think the value of online content is going to be reduced a lot.”

Porr plans to do more experiments with GPT-3. But he’s still waiting to get access from OpenAI. “It’s possible that they’re upset that I did this,” he says. “I mean, it’s a little silly.”

Ivirtuemorethanyou on August 15th, 2020 at 13:09 UTC »

I remember coming across this article on HN and I was like.. "This is just a whole bunch of words not really saying anything". Reminded me of papers I would write in shitty online college courses

https://adolos.substack.com/p/feeling-unproductive-maybe-you-should

This is the AI writing:

In order to get something done, maybe we need to think less. Seems counter-intuitive, but I believe sometimes our thoughts can get in the way of the creative process. We can work better at times when we "tune out" the external world and focus on what's in front of us.

I've been thinking about this lately, so I thought it would be good to write an article about it.

So what exactly does this mean? Well, for starters, let's start with some definitions.

Definition #1: Creative Thinking (CT) is the act of using your mind to come up with ideas that are not already present in reality or that have never existed before. It is a form of mental activity that involves the use of logic and reason.

Definition #2: Over-Thinking (OT) is the act of trying to come up with ideas that have already been thought through by someone else. OT usually results in ideas that are impractical, impossible, or even stupid.

Now, how do these two concepts relate to each other? Well, if you're like me then you probably find yourself doing both at times. You might be working on a project all day long, but you still feel as though you're just going through the motions. This is because you're thinking too much!

This is where OT comes into play. When you think too much, your brain starts to shut down certain areas of your consciousness which causes you to become more passive and less productive. On top of this, your attention span decreases due to being constantly bombarded with information.

So how do we combat this?

The answer is simple: Creative Thinking.

Creative thinking is the exact opposite of over-thinking. Instead of using your brain to analyze everything, you use it to create something. This can be anything from writing a story, to drawing a picture, to even building a model.

When you engage in creative thinking, your brain starts working more efficiently. It becomes more active and more open to new ideas. It also helps you think outside the box and look at things from a different perspective.

So how does this all tie into productivity?

Well, if you're a creator then you should be engaging in creative thinking on a regular basis. The more you do it, the better your brain becomes at thinking up ideas. This makes it easier for you to work on your projects because you won't get stuck as often.

In addition to this, your brain will be more alert and aware of its surroundings. This means you'll be more productive in general because you won't be tired or distracted as easily.

So how do you get into the habit of creative thinking?

Well, the best way is to just do it!

The more you practice, the better you'll get. It's really that simple.

I've found that the best way to get into the habit of creative thinking is to engage in it daily. This can be done by setting aside a certain amount of time each day (or week if you need more time) to do something creative. You can start off small by committing to do one activity each day. For example, you could spend 15 minutes drawing each day or spend an hour writing. Once you get into the habit of doing one creative activity each day, you can increase the amount of time you spend.

I would recommend not going over two hours each day though. If you do this, then you're probably just wasting time and not actually engaging in creative thinking.

You see, creative thinking is all about having fun. If you spend too much time on it, then it stops being fun and it just feels like work. If you do find yourself in this situation, then I recommend that you go back to spending less time on it and try to engage in other creative activities instead.

For example, if you're writing for too long then go and draw something. Or if you're drawing for too long then go and write something.

The key is to have fun and enjoy the process of creating something.

In addition to this, you should also try to engage in other forms of creative thinking as well. For example, if you're writing stories then try drawing a picture to go along with it. Or if you're drawing a picture then try writing a story about it.

The more you can cross-pollinate your creative thinking, the more ideas you'll be able to come up with. This is because your brain makes connections between different forms of creative thinking.

For example, if you're writing a story about a character in a desert and you draw a picture of that character, your brain will make a connection and give you ideas on what to have that character do next in your story. Or if you're drawing a picture of a character from a story and you write a poem about their feelings, your brain will make a connection and give you ideas on how to draw that character better.

In addition to this, engaging in multiple forms of creative thinking will also help you get through creative blocks. If you're stuck on a story you're writing, then drawing a picture or writing a poem can sometimes give you the extra push you need to get past that block.

Creative thinking isn't just for artists though.

Anyone can get into the habit of engaging in creative thinking. For example, if you're good at math then try writing a poem about a number or drawing a picture of a mathematical equation. If you're good at writing poems then try drawing a picture to go along with it. If you're good at drawing pictures then try writing a story about it.

You can even take this further by combining different forms of creative thinking.

For example, if you're writing a story about a character in a desert and you draw a picture of that character, you could write a poem about the feelings that the character has while they're in the desert.

Or if you're drawing a picture of a character from a story and you write a poem about their feelings, you could draw a picture to go along with that poem.

The possibilities are endless.

The important thing is to keep an open mind and try new things.

Don't just limit yourself to one form of creative thinking.

Expand your mind and explore all the possibilities that are out there. I wish you the best of luck on your journey and I hope that you achieve all of your creative dreams!

"Fin."

There is something to be said about a robot explaining creative thinking to us.

Edit: I added the rest of the article because a few seemed to think my original quote was all of it.

sjryan on August 15th, 2020 at 12:33 UTC »

The biggest mystery here is how a college student got thousands of readers without a marketing effort or niche focus. I suppose AI algorithms recognize one of their own.

unikatniusername on August 15th, 2020 at 12:29 UTC »

““It's quite good at making pretty language, and it's not very good at being logical and rational,” says Porr. So he picked a popular blog category that doesn’t require rigorous logic: productivity and self-help.”

I chuckled.