Apr 28, 2025 03:57 PM
(This post was last modified: Apr 28, 2025 04:55 PM by C C.)
AI suggestions make writing more generic, Western
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1081876
INTRO: A new study from Cornell University finds AI-based writing assistants have the potential to function poorly for billions of users in the Global South by generating generic language that makes them sound more like Americans.
The study showed that when Indians and Americans used an AI writing assistant, their writing became more similar, mainly at the expense of Indian writing styles. While the assistant helped both groups write faster, Indians got a smaller productivity boost, because they frequently had to correct the AI’s suggestions.
“This is one of the first studies, if not the first, to show that the use of AI in writing could lead to cultural stereotyping and language homogenization,” said senior author Aditya Vashistha, assistant professor of information science. “People start writing similarly to others, and that’s not what we want. One of the beautiful things about the world is the diversity that we have.”
The study, “AI Suggestions Homogenize Writing Toward Western Styles and Diminish Cultural Nuances,” will be presented by first author Dhruv Agarwal, a doctoral student in the field of information science, at the Association of Computing Machinery’s conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
ChatGPT and other popular AI tools powered by large language models, are primarily developed by U.S. tech companies, but are increasingly used worldwide, including by the 85% of the world’s population that live in the Global South.
To investigate how these tools may be impacting people in nonWestern cultures, the research team recruited 118 people, about half from the U.S. and half from India, and asked them to write about cultural topics... (MORE - details, no ads)
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1081876
INTRO: A new study from Cornell University finds AI-based writing assistants have the potential to function poorly for billions of users in the Global South by generating generic language that makes them sound more like Americans.
The study showed that when Indians and Americans used an AI writing assistant, their writing became more similar, mainly at the expense of Indian writing styles. While the assistant helped both groups write faster, Indians got a smaller productivity boost, because they frequently had to correct the AI’s suggestions.
“This is one of the first studies, if not the first, to show that the use of AI in writing could lead to cultural stereotyping and language homogenization,” said senior author Aditya Vashistha, assistant professor of information science. “People start writing similarly to others, and that’s not what we want. One of the beautiful things about the world is the diversity that we have.”
The study, “AI Suggestions Homogenize Writing Toward Western Styles and Diminish Cultural Nuances,” will be presented by first author Dhruv Agarwal, a doctoral student in the field of information science, at the Association of Computing Machinery’s conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
ChatGPT and other popular AI tools powered by large language models, are primarily developed by U.S. tech companies, but are increasingly used worldwide, including by the 85% of the world’s population that live in the Global South.
To investigate how these tools may be impacting people in nonWestern cultures, the research team recruited 118 people, about half from the U.S. and half from India, and asked them to write about cultural topics... (MORE - details, no ads)