The “100% Human” Creation Declaration
It might be time for humans to stake a claim on creativity.
We’ve all heard them: 24 carat gold, 100% Florida orange juice, 100% all natural, 100% made in the USA. Much of what we consume—from food to data—is qualified in some way to help us gain insights into what we’re consuming. Sometimes, it’s directly related to things like ingredients and other times, it’s more about the social and political implications.
But the rise of machine learning and natural language processing has led to the development of advanced language models such as GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) and raised important questions about creativity and ownership, to name just a few. These models are amazing and are capable of generating human-like text, making it difficult to distinguish between text written by a human and text generated by a machine.
While the ability to generate human-like text has many potential benefits, such as improving language translation and chatbot interactions, it also raises important ethical and practical concerns. Perhaps the time has come to be able to identify text written 100% by a human, and not by GPT or any other language model. And there seem to be several reasons bubbling up from the rapid adoption and social discourse around this area.
Know your source. First and foremost, the ability to identify text written by a machine is important for ensuring transparency and accountability. For example, in the case of news articles or social media posts, it’s important for readers to know whether the information they are consuming is generated by a human or a machine. If readers are unaware that the text was generated by a machine, they may be misled by false or inaccurate information. Additionally, in situations where automated text generation is used to influence public opinion or political decisions, it’s important to be able to identify and attribute the source of the text.
Know the law. Another important reason to be able to identify text written by a machine is related to legal and regulatory compliance. For example, certain types of automated text generation, such as deepfake videos, may be illegal or heavily regulated in certain jurisdictions. Certainly, the law is in flux here and it’s critical to stay current. Additionally, there are laws and regulations related to the use of automated text generation in advertising and marketing, such as the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines on the use of endorsements and testimonials. Identifying text generated by machines is important for enforcing these laws and regulations. I wonder, can I quote ChatGPT or a story?
Know the person. Additionally, it is also important for academics and researchers to know the source of the text when studying it to evaluate how well the language model is performing and how it actually reflects the authors. Without being able to separate text written by a human versus text generated by a machine, it would be difficult to measure the performance of language models or to understand the biases that may be present in the generated text and in human-authored documents.
Know the future. Finally, it’s important to be able to identify text written by a machine in order to preserve the uniqueness of human writing. The ability to generate human-like text blurs the lines between human creativity and machine automation, and raises questions about the value of human writing in a world where machines can produce text that is indistinguishable from that written by a human
The ability to identify text written by a machine is important for a variety of reasons, including transparency and accountability, legal and regulatory compliance, research purposes, and preserving the uniqueness of human writing. As language models like GPT continue to improve, it will be crucial to develop methods for identifying text generated by machines so that we can effectively navigate the ethical and practical implications of these powerful technologies. From a graphic “stamp of validation” to a legal-style footnote, it might be time to challenge AI in the domain of creativity and carve out a unique distinction that we call humanity.
