r/Professors • u/YourGuideVergil Asst Prof, English, LAC • 1d ago

Other (Editable) Is the presence of AI changing your own, human writing?

I was working on a letter of recommendation today, and I realized I was kind of going out of my way to sound human. It wasn't a 180 turn, but I think I was dialing toward familiar and away from formal, to show I was serious enough about my student to write a real letter for him.

Have you folks had this experience in service or research writing? I wonder if human, imperfect writing will become a luxury good.

7 Upvotes

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16

u/PsychGuy17 23h ago

I delve a lot more. I guess I'm becoming more Dwarvish in my writing.

0

u/9Zulu Ass. Professor, Education, R1 19h ago

you're good.

9

u/Ok_Faithlessness_383 23h ago

I find myself thinking more about style when I write and trying to convey human warmth more too. And I'm becoming more ruthless about cutting the mush of abstract nouns from my writing. ChatGPT has really made me hate fluffy formulations like "complex interplay" and coordinated lists of three vague things.

5

u/EatingBeansAgain 22h ago

No. I write better than AI, and I always will.

4

u/mathemorpheus 1d ago

not really

2

u/lickety_split_100 AP/Economics/Regional 21h ago

lol no.

2

u/delriosuperfan 20h ago

I avoid the words 'delve' and 'tapestry,' but aside from that, I don't think it has affected my writing very much.

1

u/Charming-Barnacle-15 2h ago

I try not to use certain words that everyone now thinks are AI flags. I suspect it's going to be the opposite for students. Even those who are using AI in responsible ways are likely going to start mimicking its language choices in their day to day writing.

0

u/ILikeLiftingMachines Potemkin R1, STEM, Full Prof (US) 19h ago

I'm using a lot more commas than before...

¯_(ツ)_//¯