What happened to nuance?
AI and the death of the long sentence
I just wrote a blog on my Wordpress website and out of curiosity I clicked on the AI suggestion button.
Almost the entire piece was underlined in purple suggesting that my sentences are too long. Human beings mastered the art of understanding a long sentence a long time ago, and I worry that if we rely too much on AI suggestions we will lose that skill. Does it matter? Yes, I think it does. We live in a really complex and polarised world right now and it is binary thinking, without pause to understand the nuance, that is contributing to the nasty direction we are heading in. I don’t think you can do nuance in short sentences.
Interesting also that it deemed the word “reflect” to be a complex word. That rather sums up the point I am trying to make.
For your reflection, I have screenshotted my blog with its AI suggestions underlined:
I note that, according to the AI, there is no lack of confidence in my words.
There’s a (simplistic and mistaken) belief that a long sentence is inherently difficult to understand or lacking in clarity. It needn’t be so. Also, to be brutal, some stuff is hard. Not everything can or should be reduced to the linguistic equivalent of chicken nuggets.
I love your writing in its long , nuanced way with commatas and explanations along the way. And I share your worries that in the techy world that we are balancing along we can loose a vital relationship to words and expressions. Well said Liz.