Don't just paste the AI at me

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Reactions to the site and its tone

  • Many like the core message but find the wording hostile, misanthropic, or unusable in professional settings.
  • Others argue some crudeness is warranted because pasting AI output is itself inconsiderate.
  • Several warn that sending such a link could damage relationships or careers.

Is pasting AI output inherently rude?

  • One camp: pasting AI walls of text is lazy, dehumanizing, and treats the sender as a “reverse proxy” rather than a participant. Everyone has access to the same tools; the value of a human is their own synthesis.
  • Another camp: it’s like quoting Wikipedia or an expert source; it can be helpful, especially if you craft a good prompt, choose a model, and vet the answer.

Asking questions vs self-service with AI

  • Some see questions easily answerable by AI or search as inconsiderate, akin to old “lmgtfy” complaints.
  • Others insist questions shouldn’t be policed that way; asking is part of learning and can spark richer conversation.
  • A middle view: match the effort of your answer to the effort put into the question.

Social and generational dimensions

  • Younger users may see asking questions online as a way to seek interaction and community, not just information.
  • Corporate social media and weak FAQ/search culture are blamed for eroding “look it up first” norms.
  • There’s concern that some people don’t perceive the “AI voice,” much like people who write tone-deaf emails.

Impact on communities and relationships

  • Several anecdotes describe once-knowledgeable community members now responding only with AI answers, hollowing out their contributions and social capital.
  • Others note family or colleagues use questions to maintain human connection, which pure AI redirection would undermine.

Context where AI pastes are acceptable

  • Generally accepted: AI output pasted as a shared artifact for joint debugging, summarizing long docs, or when clearly labeled (“here’s what the model said; I think it’s right”).
  • Generally rejected: AI text as the entire response, especially to personal messages or nuanced discussions, without synthesis or disclosure.

Disclosure, trust, and detection

  • Some strongly prefer explicit disclosure of AI use; others note disclosure is socially punished (downvotes, distrust), which discourages honesty.
  • AI-generated content in articles, comments, and narration is seen by some as a bigger, more insidious problem than overt pastes.
  • The thread itself is highly polarized, with many reasonable positions on both sides being downvoted.