Why some poets use Artificial Intelligence

In my previous post I explored why some people behave badly online. As a psychologist, it fascinates me, but I guess I have an insight into online behaviour from twenty years of academic research. I would argue that this makes Invisible Poets one of the safest online poetry groups in existence. This... and the fact that we also have a computer science expert on our moderator team...now, how many other poetry groups have that?

You see, one aspect of bad online behaviour, and indeed bad poetry behaviour, is the fact that some individuals resort to using artificial intelligence to write their poetry for them. As if this was not bad enough, they then have the gall to claim it is their own work. They are quickly found out and subsequently ejected from Invisible Poets. We use various software to detect AI generated poems, but we don't always need it. AI generated poetry is not that hard to detect. When we spot an AI poem we then delete the post and if necessary (especially for repeat offenders) we eject the 'poet' from the group. They are often simultaneously banned from several other affiliated online groups. 

Why is posting AI generated poetry such a crime?

Firstly it's dishonest. If you use AI to write a poem and then post it to a group with your name attached, you are deceiving the members of the group. Those who do this are firstly touting for responses, likes, comments etc. Maybe they do so because of some psychological inadequacy. More likely they do it because they are lazy or untalented. They do so because they want a short-cut to being recognised by the poetry community. Sadly, many poets are taken in by the deception. 

Secondly, it's plagiarism. If you use an AI model to write poetry, you can be assured that what it is really doing is trawling the web and finding work written by poets, which it then captures and uses in its construction. That's essentially stealing from poets some of whom may rely on their writing to earn their living. 

Thirdly, it's a terribly shallow way to produce poetry. Often the AI model doesn't construct a poem in a way that makes it emotional, or full of soul. That's because the AI model has no emotion or soul. The work tends to be shallow, unconvincing, and certainly predictable. The end rhymes suck. The meaning is often lost because then end rhymes are forced. There is often no meaning or direction in the poem. It is bland and uninspiring. 

There are numerous tell-tale signs that a poem has been written by AI. I won't bore you with details here, but when our Admin and Moderator team spot a poem that seems to be AI written, they are often correct. 

Why do people resort to AI generated poetry? My view is that they are either lazy, or lacking in any literary or creative talent. They are simply jumping on the bandwagon to see if they can gain some quick influence. Some have actually published entire books of so-called 'poetry' that has been completely written using AI. That's not just dishonest and lazy, it's also probably fraud in some legal contexts.

So if you are tempted to use AI to write a poem, don't do it. You'll be found out. You'll be ejected from the group. And you will be embarrassed when you are called out.

Steve Wheeler

Image used with a Creative Commons Licence

Behaving Badly Online

As a psychologist, I'm fascinated by how people behave, and I founded my academic career by researching how people behave when they are online.

Invisible Poets and several of the other poetry groups I run are online. This means I have a vested interest in understanding how poets conduct themselves in online spaces.

One of the key factors of online life is anonymity. There's a great cartoon showing two dogs at a computer screen. One says 'Nobody knows you're a dog on the internet!' 

People can, and sometimes do mask their identities online. Many don't share their real names or prefer to use noms-de-plume (as conventional writers have done for centuries), and this affords some kind of anonymity. Unfortunately some (a very few thankfully) see this as an opportunity to behave badly. 

They feel that because they are anonymous, they can behave as they like and there will be no consequences. It's similar to the abuse you might get from another motorist. The other driver feels once removed because they are safe in their own vehicle. They wouldn't dream of shouting abuse at you if you were together, face to face in one room. In psychology this is known as disinhibition. Individuals feel less socially inhibited because of their context, in this case hiding behind a fake digital avatar or persona. They think this gives them licence to act like idiots.

Bad online behaviour takes many forms, from abuse and trolling, through stalking and misogyny to masquerading as someone else. Commonly in poetry groups, the individual pretends to be interested in your work and then offers to promote or publish you. Often they are simply trying to appeal to your vanity so they can exploit you.

Others do their best to scam you out of money by pretending to be down on their luck, or in debt, or suffering a serious illness. There are also a few blatant plagiarists out there (more on this in my next blog post) who have no scruples about stealing your idea and pretending it's theirs. 

Any and all of these types of individuals are removed from my groups without a second chance. There is no strike two. And that, dear friends is how we try to keep our poetry groups safe. You can help, by calling out these bad behaviours and informing Admin if you spot them. 

Steve Wheeler 

Image used under Creative Commons License from Pexels