And great prompts btw!! I’m impressed. This could be of real help for those who have difficulty on finding a subject to write about. Thanks for posting here
What should be great about talking to a machine?
They may be rare, but plant profiles exist I once received a card from a little tree and its human parents.
I agree! I always find something to write but it might not always be the most interesting text. I think the examples from @alter3ch0 are really good and not too different from the monthly writing prompts.
But I am not sure about a whole text generated by AI. It should definitely be made clear that it was not written by a human. If it is a whole profile that only sends AI messages (and has an AI generated profile text? I wonder what it would say) I think it would be fitting and interesting. Isn’t it fascinating how good such artificially made texts can be?
Good question. I didn’t ask it that way so it didn’t originate a readily written message. Since you asked, I reformulated and this is what it came up:
Not sure if I should be scared or fascinated.
I’m both
I’m open to a experiences in life and if I have the opportunity to talk to a machine I’ll grab it with both hands, to receive a postcard from one? Hell yes!! As I said before, it’s not something to do generally, but for chosen persons I think it’s a great conversation starter, just like we are discussing here at this topic, ethics, fear, fascination, doubts, etc…
But therefore you could also go to the ai website yourself and ask the mschine what it would write to you, right?
Also, but if I receive a postcard it’s the receiver that will have given the prompt to the AI, infinite possibilities of course I wouldn’t want all my postcards written like that but one, why not?
This is a kind of way I could imagine using AI in postcrossing - to hint what write about if in loss for words. Some users have so little in their profiles to start with, so it can feel tricky to write them. And I find it a bit boring just write general messages like “hey from x, I am Regndroppar and I am y years young”. Sure, postcrossing has monthly writing prompts, but not every topic interest me.
My responses to the question - is it ethical to use AI to generate a response to write on your card. Basically I think not, but I think everyone who has joined Postcrossing assumes it is written by a human, without it being written out in the rules and guidelines. The guidelines, FAQs and rules were written when Postcrossing was created, and I don’t think it was an option to have AI write cards for you back then.
I think for honesty and full transparency, it is best to explain that your responses are AI created.
I agree with other comments that it might even be interesting and unique experience if someone wanted to create an AI only profile that explained clearly it is just an AI, just like other people have done for dogs, cats, babies, trees, etc. even though users are supposed to have only one profile, so many people have more now, that rule does not appear to be enforced.
I asked my partner what he thought. His first response is sure, why not. But then he said why are they even in Postcrossing if it’s so much work for them to write anything, or they don’t want to write anything. I explained that members participate for many different reasons in addition to their love of postcards. For example, I have even seen a couple profiles where the person says they only joined PostCrossing to collect stamps, which is a little sad to me.
Anyway, this is a really interesting topic and discussion. I appreciate it being brought up, and having ideas shared and explored. Thank you for reading my long response
Is it unethical? Mwa, I don’t think so. Because the connection made is… small? Not sure how to say it.
I have received cards with nothing more than; greetings from XX or something. Is there a reall connection in that?
Or where the message is printed and maybe used on every card?? Is there some genuine interest?
For some, using AI can give them even a more personal story if it is based on keywords from the profile. And think of it, say the sender has no idea what to write, but really wants to write more than just Greetings from X. It is quite thoughtful of them to try to write more than that.
There’s a list of prompts and inspiration here on the Postcrossing site, under FAQs and Help. Lots of interesting suggestions and inspiration. More so than what the AI suggested, in my humble opinion.
There’s nothing personal in this at all. It’s very bland, generic and conservative to me.
How about this?
I first got turned on to jazz when I travelled to Paris in 1993. My friend and I went to an after hours club called Snoopy’s at 4am. It expanded my music interest in a new direction. I still have the tapes I made after I got home that summer.
Or this?
Last week I played some vinyl when my friends came over. We had dinner and each of us took turns playing a favorite musician.
What’s your favorite music genre? Do you listen to jazz?
Milja, what you write in your profile is so much more interesting to me! The AI version feels like a tourist brochure
I agree with your take on this. Is it okay to find an AI-generated message boring, or low-effort, or undesirable? Yes, totally. But ‘unethical’ is a stretch, I think.
It’s higher effort than, as you say, a generic printed message or just ‘happy postcrossing.’
Unethical is a strong word for something like this.
- @dianaf I think where the “unethical” part could come in is when the recipient thinks a real person wrote it, when actually it was simply generated by AI
This is how I think too. (Not thinking how strong the word is, but why it feels off.)
But when you think/expect you get something from a person, be it generic, boring, or same sent to everyone (which shouldn’t matter since you get it only once), it’s from another person.
Getting a card from sending service feels little like this too, like against Postcrossing ethics. It lacks part of the “human connection” even when the person wrote the message themselves, they never had it in their hands. In the AI generated message case, the person had it in their hands but didn’t use their mind (?).
Fun thing with AI made message is, if they don’t tell, I wouldn’t know since:
I have received almost exactly same message as @alter3ch0 had made for me, so maybe I already got an AI written message !
You are right, but this might work if you need ideas or your English is not good.