LOL Right?  I think it's a prude!  Cleavage... how scandalous!

Google Docs is a decent Word substitute.  I like that it saves automatically and is accessible from anywhere, so I no longer have to worry about saving docs to flash drives to move between my desktop and laptop.  The biggest downside I've encountered is that it has a word count limit.  My super long stories literally won't fit in one document on Google LOL.  But I don't even have Word anymore, so it's either that or Open Office.

Thankfully, my 4th graders are too young try using AI.  The most they do is plagiarize by copy/pasting directly from the internet, which is painfully obvious.  But I feel for teachers of older students.  I think it would be hard to detect and even harder to prove, since you can input the same prompt and get a different result each time.

The toolbar keeps popping up each time I open my story, so this time, I let it come up with a list of suggestions.  One of the suggestions was: "The sentence beginning with "The tiny bra top showed plenty of cleavage..." could be rephrased to be less sexually suggestive."  Considering that sentence was in a sex scene, I'd say being sexually suggestive was the point LOL.  It also finds my use of medical terminology in a hospital scene  "vulgar" and thinks some of my sentences are too wordy.  The last part is probably true, but otherwise, I'll take its advice with a grain of salt.

Your toolbar seems like a snob! LOL

Well, not directly.  But then she came out with all that "behind the scenes" stuff after the fact, like that Dumbledore was gay all along.  I'd like to think that, if that series had been written a decade or two later, she would have included a gay relationship or two along with the straight ones, but that would have been pretty controversial for a children's book series in the 90s and early 2000s.

LOL Thankfully, my family and close friends are all pretty liberal, but I do have to separate the two when it comes to coworkers.  I unfollowed so many coworkers and acquaintances on Facebook during Trump's presidency so I could still maintain some shred of respect for them.

I have a fair number of friends and distant family who are republicans, but thankfully most of them are quiet about it. The ones who are the most vocal I keep snoozing, so they can see my posts, but I can't see theirs lol

I've never really used Google docs. We used it at school. Everyone's iPads were linked to it and I used it that way, but never just for me. I stick with Word because that's what I've always used. I have never used AI for anything. I did notice that when I post onto AO3, occasionally if I stay on a button too long or hit the wrong one with my sausage fingers, sometimes a prompt will come up saying let chatGPT fix this for you. No thanks! One day Mersey and I were playing around with the chat feature. More her then me. We were talking about how some of the writing on sites like reddit seem like the stories are all generically written so I was giving her prompts, and she was putting them into the AI and then short stories were coming up. LOL Like you said, it was accurate when it came to summarizing but it was also flat and definitely made by computer. I'm just glad that as a teacher, I don't have to deal with that. Do you have kids trying to use AI to pass off as their own? I would think 4th grade is still young to try that crap, but you never know.

Google Docs is a decent Word substitute.  I like that it saves automatically and is accessible from anywhere, so I no longer have to worry about saving docs to flash drives to move between my desktop and laptop.  The biggest downside I've encountered is that it has a word count limit.  My super long stories literally won't fit in one document on Google LOL.  But I don't even have Word anymore, so it's either that or Open Office.

Thankfully, my 4th graders are too young try using AI.  The most they do is plagiarize by copy/pasting directly from the internet, which is painfully obvious.  But I feel for teachers of older students.  I think it would be hard to detect and even harder to prove, since you can input the same prompt and get a different result each time.

The toolbar keeps popping up each time I open my story, so this time, I let it come up with a list of suggestions.  One of the suggestions was: "The sentence beginning with "The tiny bra top showed plenty of cleavage..." could be rephrased to be less sexually suggestive."  Considering that sentence was in a sex scene, I'd say being sexually suggestive was the point LOL.  It also finds my use of medical terminology in a hospital scene  "vulgar" and thinks some of my sentences are too wordy.  The last part is probably true, but otherwise, I'll take its advice with a grain of salt.

I guess one thing those books were missing were the inclusion of any LBGTQ people though.

Well, not directly.  But then she came out with all that "behind the scenes" stuff after the fact, like that Dumbledore was gay all along.  I'd like to think that, if that series had been written a decade or two later, she would have included a gay relationship or two along with the straight ones, but that would have been pretty controversial for a children's book series in the 90s and early 2000s.

I also tend to separate the people from their politics or beliefs as well. If I didn't, I don't think I'd have any friends lol

LOL Thankfully, my family and close friends are all pretty liberal, but I do have to separate the two when it comes to coworkers.  I unfollowed so many coworkers and acquaintances on Facebook during Trump's presidency so I could still maintain some shred of respect for them.

Does anyone else do their writing on Google Docs?  They've had this AI feature that I got the option to beta test about a year ago.  I had fun playing with it a bit, giving it writing prompts to see what it would come up with, but I've never used it for my real writing.  The little stories it wrote reminded me of how I wrote as a kid - a lot of telling, not showing.  Plus, the writing, while technically proficient, comes across as very generic and soulless - just what you'd expect from something written by a computer and not a real human being.

Anyway, today when I opened my doc to write, I noticed a new sidebar on the right side of the screen called Gemini, which I guess is the new name for Google's AI tool.  It had a summary of the content of the first few chapters in the doc that was surprisingly correct and coherent.  I've been playing around with opening other stories and asking Gemini to summarize them, and it's crazy how quickly and accurately it can do it.  It does have its limitations - it can't seem to read poetry and only summarizes part of longer documents.  Still a cool tool, but also a little scary... 😳

Has anyone else played around with AI for writing or anything else?  Thoughts?

I've never really used Google docs. We used it at school. Everyone's iPads were linked to it and I used it that way, but never just for me. I stick with Word because that's what I've always used. I have never used AI for anything. I did notice that when I post onto AO3, occasionally if I stay on a button too long or hit the wrong one with my sausage fingers, sometimes a prompt will come up saying let chatGPT fix this for you. No thanks! One day Mersey and I were playing around with the chat feature. More her then me. We were talking about how some of the writing on sites like reddit seem like the stories are all generically written so I was giving her prompts, and she was putting them into the AI and then short stories were coming up. LOL Like you said, it was accurate when it came to summarizing but it was also flat and definitely made by computer. I'm just glad that as a teacher, I don't have to deal with that. Do you have kids trying to use AI to pass off as their own? I would think 4th grade is still young to try that crap, but you never know.

Ugh, JKR.  I am disappointed in her, too.  She's entitled to her opinions, but I wish she would read the room, realize how much her words have hurt people, and apologize instead of continuing to act like a troll online.  I muted her on Twitter years ago so I wouldn't have to see her posts, but I still get wind of them whenever she's trending for tweeting something offensive.  I will always love Harry Potter, but she has completely tarnished her legacy with this anti-trans tirade, which seems so out-of-character for her, considering love and acceptance are such major themes of the series.  I don't understand it.  But I can separate the art from the artist.

I'm glad you're feeling better!  I hate those drastic weather changes, too.  It's like a roller coaster.  I'm always late to switch out my clothes for the next season because you never know when it's going to get cold or hot again.

Same here about the beginning vs. the end.  It's almost always harder for me to start a story than it is to finish it.  Sometimes I have slumps in the middle, but once I get to a certain point in a story, I know I'm still going to finish it eventually, even if it takes me a long time.

I hated reading all those things JKR was saying and you're right, reading her work and then seeing her actual beliefs made no sense to me. I felt like an entire underlying theme of those books was acceptance. I guess one thing those books were missing were the inclusion of any LBGTQ people though. So disappointing. I also tend to separate the people from their politics or beliefs as well. If I didn't, I don't think I'd have any friends lol

Does anyone else do their writing on Google Docs?  They've had this AI feature that I got the option to beta test about a year ago.  I had fun playing with it a bit, giving it writing prompts to see what it would come up with, but I've never used it for my real writing.  The little stories it wrote reminded me of how I wrote as a kid - a lot of telling, not showing.  Plus, the writing, while technically proficient, comes across as very generic and soulless - just what you'd expect from something written by a computer and not a real human being.

Anyway, today when I opened my doc to write, I noticed a new sidebar on the right side of the screen called Gemini, which I guess is the new name for Google's AI tool.  It had a summary of the content of the first few chapters in the doc that was surprisingly correct and coherent.  I've been playing around with opening other stories and asking Gemini to summarize them, and it's crazy how quickly and accurately it can do it.  It does have its limitations - it can't seem to read poetry and only summarizes part of longer documents.  Still a cool tool, but also a little scary... 😳

Has anyone else played around with AI for writing or anything else?  Thoughts?

Ugh, JKR.  I am disappointed in her, too.  She's entitled to her opinions, but I wish she would read the room, realize how much her words have hurt people, and apologize instead of continuing to act like a troll online.  I muted her on Twitter years ago so I wouldn't have to see her posts, but I still get wind of them whenever she's trending for tweeting something offensive.  I will always love Harry Potter, but she has completely tarnished her legacy with this anti-trans tirade, which seems so out-of-character for her, considering love and acceptance are such major themes of the series.  I don't understand it.  But I can separate the art from the artist.

I'm glad you're feeling better!  I hate those drastic weather changes, too.  It's like a roller coaster.  I'm always late to switch out my clothes for the next season because you never know when it's going to get cold or hot again.

Same here about the beginning vs. the end.  It's almost always harder for me to start a story than it is to finish it.  Sometimes I have slumps in the middle, but once I get to a certain point in a story, I know I'm still going to finish it eventually, even if it takes me a long time.

Succession is known for its writing. They give us fanfic writers a lot to work with.

I know what you mean about JKR. I've been so disappointed to hear her thoughts on things. I hate when people you admire turn out to be giant douche bags!

I am feeling a bit better. The weather has been so drastic, it's in the upper 80's today and then it'll drop to the 40's and then back up again. Stupid climate change.

For me, the first few chapters are always more of a struggle then the end. It's getting into the rhythm I have trouble with sometimes. Once I get that, then the rest usually flows.