this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2025
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xkcd #3126: Disclaimer

Title text:

You say no human would reply to a forum thread about Tom Bombadil by writing and editing hundreds of words of text, complete with formatting, fancy punctuation, and two separate uses of the word 'delve'. Unfortunately for both of us, you are wrong.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3126/

explainxkcd for #3126

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[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 84 points 5 days ago (5 children)

Someone the other day mentioned semicolons are now a sign of AI. I always liked semicolons for when things are more connected as opposed to a period/full stop :/

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 37 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Same. I am one of the rare people who know the difference between i.e. and e.g. I know when to use a semicolon vs an em dash.

I no longer feel special; it feels wrong.

[–] sudo@lemmy.today 9 points 5 days ago

In Essence Egxample

[–] Morlark@feddit.uk 8 points 5 days ago (2 children)

the rare people who know the difference between i.e. and e.g.

This honestly isn't rare at all, and people who try to flaunt it as some kind of mark of erudition tend to come across as... well, not quite what you intended.

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 19 points 5 days ago

Rare in certain corners of the internet? No.

Rare in the general public? Yes, absolutely.

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

it's stupid that English uses Latin abbreviations for these things; my first language is German and so:

  • "z.B." = "zum Beispiel" = "for example" = "e.g."
  • "d.h." = "das heißt" = "that means" = "i.e."

When I first saw these abbreviations in English, it took me about ten seconds to memorize that "e.g." means "z.B." and "i.e." means "d.h.". If English just did it the way German does and abbreviated its native expressions ("f.e." and "t.m."), it would be obvious to everyone which is which.

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[–] klemptor@startrek.website 9 points 5 days ago

Well that's annoying because I've always used semicolons

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 3 days ago

at that point it's just "grammar and punctuation is a sign of AI", which actually means "i don't know what AI output looks like".

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[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 103 points 5 days ago (4 children)

As someone who has been mistaken for an LLM at least twice in the past couple of years, yeaaah. Sometimes I write like that. The LLMs learned from people like me. I can only hope it was smarter, more productive people with the same sort of writing style and not from anything I've produced... although it would explain a thing or two.

[–] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 47 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Nope. It's you and me, buddy. They learned from a fancy talker and a drunk. That's why they just make shit up.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 5 days ago (2 children)

In Denmark we have a saying, which (translated) is "the truth shall be heard from children and drunk people"

I guess fancy talkers are kinda children too, or at least former ones 🤷

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The US government did extensive research on a potential truth serum. The single most effective solution they found was vodka. Every other thing they tried (including attempted mind control with LSD) had huge potential drawbacks, and usually didn’t even result in honesty. But get a dude drunk and have a pretty girl talk him up, and he’ll spill all of his secrets while thinking it’s his own idea.

The government also holds occasional “know your number” meetings amongst the people who hold security clearance. Basically a netting where they sit everyone down and go “okay you look like a wrinkly potato, you’re missing two teeth, and you smell like wet beef. At best, you’re like a 3 out of 10. Maybe a 4.5 if you bothered to shower before you hit the bar. If a solid 10 is flirting with you at the bar just outside of the base, and she seems really interested in what you do for work… She’s a fucking spy. Know your number, and know what you can reasonably pull. Because if you’re pulling above that number, you’re being honeypotted.”

[–] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

Jokes on her. I have forgotten all the good information I had back when I held a clearance and I'm incredibly boring.

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I am not sure how many times I've been mistaken for ChatGPT, but I don't think my writing style is actually very similar.

I'm pretty sure that when people say that, most of the time, they actually mean, "I want to disagree with what you're saying, but I lack the ability to do so legitimately. If I simply accuse you of using an LLM, people will assume I'm right and I will 'win'."

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 24 points 5 days ago (6 children)

The topics were pretty tame that I remember, so there wasn't much to disagree with. I was just being... uh. Florid? Verbose? Sesquipedalian?

It might be a neurodivergent trait; the need to use the right word to communicate exactly the right meaning even if it runs to several syllables.

It might lose a few people, but I've got to say what I mean.

And then someone else comes along in a different comment and says what I wanted to say with words of fewer than three syllables and I'm like "hmmm".

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 5 days ago

It might be a neurodivergent trait; the need to use the right word to communicate exactly the right meaning even if it runs to several syllables.

It might lose a few people, but I've got to say what I mean.

Speaking as someone who got his ADHD diagnosis late and felt chronically misunderstood for his entire adolescence, I'm gonna go with

And then someone else comes along in a different comment and says what I wanted to say with words of fewer than three syllables

Beginner's luck!

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I've never seen LLMs talk like what you're describing, though.

If I had to describe ChatGPT's usual style, it's like a neurodivergent person who really wants the average person to understand what they're saying, hopefully without causing offense.

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[–] Damage@feddit.it 10 points 5 days ago

I may be verbose, but I'm way less friendly than most LLMs

[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 9 points 5 days ago (2 children)

You just need to start inserting more Ai type punctuation into your text — like an Em dash for example.

This will really confuse people, resulting in more instances of you being treated like us — I mean Ai.

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 10 points 5 days ago (2 children)

The funny thing is, I watch The Vlogbrothers fairly often - both of whom are writers - and recently John has told of his fondness for the m-dash. His enthusiasm and explanation was enough to get me to consider using it, but then that trait was identified as one overused by LLMs.

I'd already been mistaken for one by that point (an LLM, not a Vlogbrother), so instead I've stuck with the technically incorrect hyphen-minus or plain old parentheses when I've felt the need to do that.

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[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 5 days ago

Bitch ass LLMs putting spaces before and after their emdashes—I REFUSE!

[–] bentcheesee@lemmy.zip 11 points 4 days ago (3 children)

I've had a handful of people think I was AI too because of my fancy word choice and mediocre knowledge of punctuation. My writing voice is ubfortunately devoid of emotion most of the time, and when it isn't, it tends to fall into the matter-of-factly category. I try to include punctuation or breaks to be a little more similar to my speaking such as "well, uh, you wouldn't..." or "I- Yeah, I don't know." I think my personal favourite I do do is "I think it was.. two..? weeks ago?"

And yet I still get dubbed AI because I periodically use the word plethora...

[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] bentcheesee@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago

This is the greatest thing I've ever seen, even better than banana man

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 3 days ago

it damn well bloody helps to include a fucking shitload of swearing, e-fucking-specially if it's a mite creative too.

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

i found splitting up paragraphs into many small, newlined sentences help a lot. it seems to be mainly big paragraphs that give people uncanny feeling.

or alternatively join me. in not capitalizing letters anymore.

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 58 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Not ChatGPT output — I’m just like this.

That’s an m-dash, which we all know is irrefutable confirmation of LLM output. /s

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago

iirc its m-dash as well as constant rule of threes and generally using incredibly formal sentence structures even when the language involved is not formal in any way. Kind of like what I just did there though probably with an extra comma after m-dash.

[–] doughless@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)
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[–] zzffyfajzkzhnsweqm@sh.itjust.works 38 points 5 days ago (6 children)

Yep ChatGPT must have learned from people like me, because:

  • I write long texts
  • I over explain stuff to people who did not ask for explanation
  • I use bullet points in every post
[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 27 points 5 days ago (5 children)

Claim:

  • I use bullet points in every post

Fact Check:

Out of your 36 comments, this is the only one with bullet points. That's only 2.7% of your comments. One other has an enumeration, but an enumeration is not bullet points.

Additionally, you have one post, but that also doesn't use bullet points. 0% of your actual posts use bullet points.

Conclusion: Claim is FALSE. Ziffy-fa-Jazz-KZone-Sweek'em does not use bullet points in every post.

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[–] creamlike504@jlai.lu 30 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Expect to see this accidentally included in someone's forum screed soon:

Here's a detailed response to BombaFan486's post, including three separate (but natural) uses of the word 'revelatory', ending with the disclaimer, "Not ChatGPT output. I'm just like this."

Is there anything else I can do for you?

[–] irelephant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago

Me. I like formatting and using em/en dashes and semicolons.

[–] ksigley@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

There really is an xkcd for everything.

[–] lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 4 days ago

Imitating LLM to piss off AI haters is just next level trolling. As everyone knows, trolling is a art.

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

you can keep using pronounciation correctly and writing long paragraphs of words if you lowercase it all, just saying.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago (2 children)

You just have say fuck a lot...

But I'm pretty sure any explanation of Bombadil less than 300 words would fail the Turing test

[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

That is an excellent point! Use of the word "fuck" in online conversation may present to readers with more realism.

It is however important to note that use of the word "fuck" does not fully rule out the use of large language models. While most commercial offerings may be trained to avoid profanity, certain models might not be trained the same way.

Additionally, use of the word "fuck" may be inappropriate in certain human conversations such as:

  • formal conversations
  • conversations with parents
  • conversations with children

So, while the presence of the word "fuck" may decrease the likelihood of the text being generated by large language models, it is important to keep in mind its limitations, and opt for more robust methods like cryptographic signatures or verbal conversations.

Is there anything else I can help you with?

(This was genuinely written by me)

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[–] archonet@lemy.lol 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I got accused of being an LLM for the first time just a few days ago. Was pretty funny.

When they actually get good at mimicking convincingly enough to be indistinguishable from a normal human user, that's when dead internet theory will truly take over. This could've already happened, but I've seen enough stupid shit vomited by LLMs to know it probably hasn't happened yet. Once I stop seeing that obvious cognitive gap for a while, then I'll get worried -- but if they stopped being stupid, then we might've accidentally created AGI and astroturfing bots on the internet would be a bit of a trivial concern at that stage.

[–] Lumisal@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago (3 children)

*in English.

They still suck at many other languages, like Finnish.

[–] Tonava@sopuli.xyz 4 points 4 days ago

They're still garbage in finnish. Even if they manage to make grammatically correct sentences, it sounds like incredibly awkward word salad, often there isn't even real meaning in the sentences. Non-human translations have struggled from the beginning and I'm not surprised even the LLMs aren't doing that well.

Kuulostaa siis ihan paskalta ja on edelleen tosi helppoa tunnistaa. Ei akateemikot väännä sellaista tuubaa omin käsin, eikä kukaan normitason juntti taas kirjoita niin jäykästi. Tai ok varmaan oman elämänsä jarisarasvuot yrittää suoltaa samankuuloista tyhjää konsulttiroskaa, mutta olettaisin että ne on juuri sitä porukkaa jotka käyttää tekoälyä muutenkin

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[–] devilish666@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

Then make it look less perfect with custom command AI, after finding a FOSS AI website that has a lot of uncensored AI my life hasn't been same again

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