In thinking about the impact of LLMs on creative fields, one needs to appreciate how tolerance for mediocrity will help to drive adoption: LLMs are great at producing B+ stuff — and the (sad?) truth is that, for many purposes, you just don't need A+ stuff. https://t.co/VBgNHeQ76Q

— Nils Gilman (@nils_gilman) May 12, 2023

Agreed. I’m a much better writer than any version of ChatGPT will ever be — but it doesn’t matter. Only other good writers can tell the difference. The average person has not the first clue.

To back that up, I see ChatGPT stuff all the time where someone asks it to “write like Steinbeck” or “write like Hemingway.” To me, the results never sound very Steinbeckian nor Heminway-esque. The fact, though, that it amazes others means that for them ChatGPT very much does get close enough. I can tell it’s not really Steinbeck or Hemingway in just a few words, though. It always sounds like a drunk sophomore in college trying to come up with a Steinbeck para on the fly, or if Hemingway had hired an inferior ghost writer while on yet another bender.

So, indeed, B+ stuff is good enough for most people. It fools them or pleases them and if getting fooled and/or pleased is the goal, that’s all that matters.