Member-only story
Did an AI Write that Medium.com Article?
How can you tell? Here’s eight clues from an author and publisher
I recently received a lovely comment from IB Above the Mark on a Medium.com story I wrote:
Your blog post beautifully blends natural beauty with historical context, creating a richer travel experience. It resonated deeply with me. I’d be honored if you could check out my latest article….
Flattering, yes. Also just a bit annoying to be asked directly to check out a reader’s article. It’s not really the done thing on Medium.com…but I did so anyway. I checked out IB Above the Mark’s most recent article, which was on sustainable living. It had about double the claps and triple the comments of my story, and I saw that IB Above the Mark has just a few more followers than me, so I approached the story with respect and an open mind.
But within a paragraph, I suspected what I was reading had been generated by an AI. I read on, each paragraph adding to my suspicion. I asked my wife to give it a read (She’s a former journalist like me, and was a script editor for years). “Reads like an AI,” she told me bluntly.
