Don't Paste the AI, please
Mirrored from Hacker News — AI on Front Page for archival readability. Support the source by reading on the original site.
What's happening
Someone asked you a real question. You popped it into a chatbot, copied the answer, and sent it back. It felt fast. It felt helpful. And it usually isn't.
The person on the other side has the same tools you do. If they wanted the generic answer, they would have gotten it in four seconds. They asked you because they wanted your take on it... Your context, your taste, your judgement.
The world is filled with people that don't want to read or think about things, don't be one of them.
Try this instead
- Use the AI. Really, go for it. It's a great drafting partner. Just read what it gave you, then write your own take on it, don't just be the proxy between it and the answer.
- Pull out the bit that actually answers the question. Drop the rest. Three sentences from you is plenty.
- If a piece of the model's answer is genuinely useful, quote it and say why. I checked with Claude and this part lines up:" works great.
- If you don't have anything to add, it's okay to say so. "No strong opinion here" is a real, helpful reply.
Want to send this to someone?
If someone just dropped a wall of model output in your DMs, Slack, or PR review, you can send them this link. No lecture required.
Click to copy. They'll get the hint.
Want a stronger version?
If you'd rather send someone the version with feelings attached, we've got you covered.
Take me to the angry version →
Not safe for sending to your manager. Probably.
everyone you talk to
written by a human, on purpose.
If someone sent you this link: they like you. Read it, take a breath, and write the next reply yourself.
Satire, mostly. Free to share, remix, and translate — PRs welcome on GitHub.
Discussion (0)
Sign in to join the discussion. Free account, 30 seconds — email code or GitHub.
Sign in →No comments yet. Sign in and be the first to say something.