To be fair, don’t you now have to pose the question in a positive way. Why should AI-generated text be allowed on an online gardening forum?
There are no limits to the irony of this discussion. 
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Really though, what is the point of using AI here except to allow people without experience to make posts that make it look like they have opinions and experience? Who benefits from that?
The poster doesn’t benefit because it allows them to be less engaged and therefore learn less. The other participants don’t benefit because they are just getting a mish-mash of what’s already freely available online instead of valuable first hand experience direct from other growers.
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Arguably, AI generated text is already against the forum rules because AI is essentially pulling written data that belongs to other people and reformatting it while avoiding giving credit to the original sources.
From the forum rules:
Post Only Your Own Stuff
You may not post anything digital that belongs to someone else without permission. You may not post descriptions of, links to, or methods for stealing someone’s intellectual property (software, video, audio, images), or for breaking any other law.
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As someone who greatly dislikes the advent of AI, but needs to make use of it for my job (I work in tech), I will say that ChatGPT4 gives fairly credible answers when asking it questions about fruit growing and all its complexity. It does tend to default to over explaining things as if it was responding to a complete beginner. I have to prod it a bit to give me better info, but it can do so when asked. It’s also candid when it does not have the information I’m asking for.
I’m not here to defend AI itself, that’s a different topic, but it is here to stay and the idea of trying to ban it or police it doesn’t seem realistic.
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what would be the point of coming to a forum and asking a question for a bot to answer? People come to forums to interact with other people. What reasons would the use of a GPT become common in here?
People ask anecdotal questions, how the heck is an AI going to answer what they think the best tasting tomato for the north east coast is when they have no subjectivity or experience?
If I came here and asked a question that could easily be answered by a bot, then why did I not just ask the bot? This is a fairly niche community for AI lol.
If I came here and asked a question that should not be answered by a bot, like a question about the disease resistance of a rare heirloom apple, and a bot gave me a bogus answer, that would make me less likely to interact in the forums.
People already get the “use the search function” answer when they ask dumb questions, maybe make a bot that can skim keywords and just make that comment every time to be helpful.
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Too many replies here to expect anyone to read my opinion … but I think the term ‘artificial intelligence’ is both a misnomer & a little haughty.
First, it assumes 'everything on the internet = intelligence,
second it assumes ‘everything people put on the internet’ is, in general, done with intelligence by intelligent people - the same bunch who are obsessed with celebrity hair & spats, weird sex crimes (even on the most serious or staid news websites, if they show what gets the most reads, it’s the captive sex slave & incest sories), beheadings, and of course everything celebrity, get rich quich schemes and, yes, growing bizarre fruits far beyond climatic reason!
It also, as we’ve seen, absorbs the worst & sleaziest of humanity since of course that’s ‘the web’. Racism, sexism, advertising jargon & constant selling, self-promotion, paranoia, plagarism (especially that), anything outlandish or extreme, etc.
I think it maybe should be called ‘simulated intelligence’, or maybe even ‘intelligence parody’.
Even if these damned things eventually ‘read’ the many books & other writings that’ll never make it to the web they still have never spent a lifetime of sensing the real world around them, petting Cats, or eating and smelling fruit (or growing anything). Garbage in & out,
A joke in the cycling bunch is the wait for the future to delive the ‘smart’, efficient, perfectly operating, affordable self-riding bicycle.
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It’s hard wired into humans to share information with each other. That’s how we’ve advanced so much. Just because people don’t know an answer doesn’t mean they don’t want to still help, so a growing number of well intended, but inexperienced people may start using AI to generate answers. This allows them to get the dopamine rush brought on by “doing something good for someone else” without actually doing anything good for anyone. Because of how our brains are wired, I’m confident the AI will get abused in this way.
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It seems that you’re preaching against the web while posting on the web. That’s a little amusing.
If this conversation were happening at a small town coffee shop by a bunch of old timers that never intend to use the internet, then it might make sense.
AI is part of the internet, and growingfruit.org is part of the internet.
The only way to avoid AI at this point is to disconnect from the internet completely. If that’s even possible.
I think it’s silly to focus on a specific technology. Instead focus on the forum rules of not posting content that’s not your own. Like @JohannsGarden already mentioned.
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This topic started from an AI generated text posted by one of our more senior or experienced members.
The post did not put quotation marks around the AI generated text. Or give the prompt/command that led to the AI generated text that got posted.
[quote=]
It’s important to note that while these rootstocks can be propagated from cuttings, the success rate may not be as high as other methods like grafting onto established rootstocks.
[/quote]
is part of the AI generated text.
This is clearly wrong. Or at the very least incomplete.
AI may get it “right” way more often than a few years ago. It does however still make “mistakes”
another poster in this topic. Gave AI a prompt on how to graft figs on dogwood and spray it for HLB
The AI generated text seems very plausible. But if you have some expertise you immediately spot several things that are just plain wrong.
That a less experienced forum user could blindly follow.
Just like we don’t have a “ban” on lying or giving knowingly incorrect answers/reply’s. It is discouraged. So should posting AI text be in my opinion.
Or if posting AI text.
-Start the first sentence with a notice that it is AI generated.
-Put the AI generated text in quotation marks.
-And most importantly tell us the prompt/command you gave the AI.
I’m not saying we need a complete ban or policing system of AI.
But i do think it would be a good idea to have a forum policy discouraging the use of AI generated text. Or some guidelines of how to disclaim it if you do. (like giving the prompt)
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Don’t fall into this logic trap!
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Lol. Ah the Mr. Gotcha meme. Is this the part where the thread devolves into sending clever memes back and forth? This will end up as the never ending thread for sure.
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Cartoons are pointless, but they are good and sweeping aside debate. And they’re funny
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So did this reply.
anyway, could we get back on topic, to AI generated text being used on the forum. (and yes i see the irony of me asking others to get back on topic 
)
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I detect bias in your post
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You’re one of my favorite posters for a reason! I enjoy the way your brain works.
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I largely agree with your sentiment that it makes little sense for an fruit/plant enthusiast to generate artificial content through AI, maybe apart from helping non-native speakers express themselves more appropriately (e.g. getting terminology right - used more like a sophisticated spelling and grammar tool)
However, it is a sad fact that the internet is full of spammers and scammers.
Several years ago I once met someone who was doing what they generously referred to as “unconventional marketing”. In effect they were a sub-contractor being paid to “influence” product sentiments on public message boards and forums by actually joining them, interacting on a basic level with the community, identifying key influencers of the community and then attempting to place subversive advertisements or influence the sentiment for some particular product or company. I guess by now this has normalized and that is how a lot of content is created on the web. But it nevertheless fascinated and worried me since I didn’t quite expect that such targeted campaigns would also extend to more niche online forums.
I really enjoy some of the threads in this forum on useful gardening tools and implements, or great fruit varieties. I’ve found my dream Homestead/Farm last year and am hopefully at the start of an amazing journey. Forums like this one here can be a treasure trove for good advice and I really appreciate the time and dedication that is being put in by all of the community. But even then, once you know that companies exist which try to rather covertly influence the sentiment for their products you sometimes start to second guess if someone’s post about that particular “great tool” is really their true opinion.
In the past, I found one way to spot potentially questionable posts was to check the individuals message history and their engagement with the community. Before the advent of LLMs creating a convincing persona would take time and effort so these accounts would seldomly have more than a hand full of short posts. I wonder if AI will change that playing field.
Ironically by my own writing I suppose I’d be suspicious. I did actually hold back on commenting in the electric chainsaw section precisely because I didn’t want to look like someone who’s joined this forum only to post some recommendation for a tool.
TLDR; I think spam will become much more sophisticated with AI and hence it will become much more difficult for online communities to effectively guard against it - leading to my worries about more closed communities as a result of AI
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glad to hear that. I was a bit worried how my post would be interpreted. Luckily you read it in jest like it was meant to 
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You’re a good debater and you don’t give up on the original topic no matter how many detours we try to make. Love it
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Me:
<< Why should AI-generated text be allowed on an online gardening forum? >>
ChatGPT
<< Allowing AI-generated text on an online gardening forum can offer several benefits:
- Efficiency and Accessibility: AI can provide quick answers to common gardening questions, making information more accessible to users, especially beginners who need straightforward advice. This can be particularly useful during peak times when human moderators or experts are not readily available.
- Enhanced Content Quality: AI can assist in generating well-structured, informative content, such as articles or guides on specific gardening topics. This can enhance the overall quality of information available on the forum.
- Support for Moderation: AI can be used to help moderate discussions, filter out spam, and enforce forum rules. This can reduce the workload on human moderators and maintain a pleasant and productive environment for all users.
- Language Translation and Inclusion: AI can help translate content and conversations, making the forum more accessible to non-native speakers. This inclusiveness can broaden the user base and enrich the community with diverse perspectives on gardening from around the world.
- Data Analysis and Personalization: AI can analyze user interactions and preferences to provide personalized content and recommendations. For example, it could suggest specific threads or resources based on the user’s past activity or expressed interests in certain plants or gardening techniques.
- Innovative Features: Integration of AI can lead to new and innovative features, such as virtual garden planning tools or predictive analytics about plant health, which can enhance user experience and engagement on the forum.
By embracing AI-generated text, an online gardening forum can leverage technology to improve user experience, expand its offerings, and foster a more inclusive and efficient community. However, it’s important to balance these benefits with measures to ensure accuracy and maintain the human touch that is crucial to community building. >>
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