Why You Do Dat?

So.

In recent days (yesterday, I think... or was it September 12th?), an AI-generated story was placed in the Top Story section. Believe it or not, the crowd flocked to this story, probably fascinated by the title. But what they received was a story that was created by something without a brain and heart and soul, and they mauled it. And I mean they mauled!

I was one of the few, or the many, who didn't comment on it. Because I knew that it was created by a robot. I know these things. Stories that start with "in" and have a colon in the title are most incredulously and most often made by AI content.

Why do I know this?

I scroll through the Latest Stories section a lot. I see a whole bunch of stories from famous Creators on Vocal. And then I see this unlabeled AI-generated crap.

And as soon as it ended up in the Top Story, section, I second-guessed myself. "Is this really here? Or am I in the Latest Stories section?"

Nope. It was amongst the fabled Top Stories. Almost amongst my own, I might add!

Since then, I've been wondering why Vocal did that. Supposedly, Top Stories are handpicked by their team and then sent through up to that shining spotlight. But why would they deliberately pick something so obviously created by AI, I thought to myself? Why would they expose us all to storytelling that has no heart and soul and pain?

Oh.

Why u do dat, Vocal? What's ur prob?

Well, now I know. Or at least, I've made up my theory. I'm not sure about others, but it's what I have.

The Vocal Team is trying to show us what AI content looks like.

Now, most of us who scroll through the Latest Stories section on a daily basis just for fun have probably already deduced what something made by a mindless, lifeless computer looks like. But some people don't know how to distinguish it. I'll give a few examples of what AI-generated content looks like in my eyes:

1. It always begins with "in." If it's a fictional story, it will start with something like "In the heart of a town..." or "In the depths of the ocean..." or "In the soul of a bustling city..."

2. It is a synopsis of events. Artificial intelligence does not create a long-range story of interest. It will not provide clear dialogue. It will not describe events in detail. Instead, it will list them out in as obscure detail as possible.

3. There is no repetition. As a writer, I frequently use repetition in my words, and even absurdity, for that matter, as I have enjoyed being an intrusive narrator in the past. Poetic writing is something I've grown relatively used to after the past year or so. I repeat a pronoun at the beginning of a sentence to emphasize the character's movements, exactly how they are in my head. I use the same word multiple times in a row to convey a certain noise. I use the words that I know, and though I know the definitions of many words, I do not know many words. AI uses a different synonym after it has already used a basic word that relates to "good" or "bad"; in contrast, I would use "good" and "bad" over and over to help the reader understand the intensity of the situation.

Those are just some things that I have noticed on my own. Of course, there are other forms of AI-generated content, like informative and educational things pumped out every 2 minutes or so by a Creator with no profile picture, but I mostly see fiction stories. And the truth is that half of these fiction stories aren't even a sliver of interesting.

So, all this to return to my original point: The Vocal Team gave an AI a Top Story because they wanted to warn us about what AI content looks like.

That's my theory. Why else would dey do dat? (Excuse my language, but I'm a ninth grader after a long day.) Was it a mistake? Maybe. Could it have been a flaw in the system? Perhaps. Were they trying to raise discussion amongst Creators? Possibly.

But this is just what I think. What about you? Do you have a guess as to why this AI got Top Story? And also as to why everyone absolutely mauled it like it was a story written by someone who actually cares about their lives? (Yes, I'm roasting an AI.)

Why do you think dey did dat?