As AI gets smarter, study says humans are starting to sound and talk more like ChatGPT

India Today

4 days ago

When SMS first came, it changed the way we talk. Unlike writing paragraph length responses, we started talking in just a few words due to the character limit. This led many of us to develop a habit of speaking with fewer words, and it continued from there. Now, according to researchers, a similar shift is occurring, this time due to AI chatbots. According to a recent study, while humans are feeding AI models, it turns out that we are not just teaching robots, we are also copying from them. advertisementA study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany reveals that there has been a measurable shift in the way humans speak. They found that people are beginning to adapt to how AI chatbots like ChatGPT speak and write and communicate. The study analysed over 360,000 YouTube videos and 770,000 podcast episodes released before and after the launch of ChatGPT. In the analysis, the study discovered a sharp rise in the habit of humans using words typically generated by AI. These include words like meticulous, boast, and realm, as noted by a report in the Verge. The researchers call these "GPT words" and suggest that humans are memorising them and using them in everyday speech more than ever before.
'We detect a measurable and abrupt increase in the use of words preferentially generated by ChatGPT,' the study noted. The study also points to a kind of linguistic feedback loop, where machines trained on human speech are now subtly reshaping it in return. 'This marks the beginning of a closed cultural feedback loop,' the authors in the study published in the preprint server arXiv. One word in particular that stood out in the study is delve. Study co-author Hiromu Yakura referred to it as a linguistic watermark, stating that it signals AI's growing influence on human language. ''Delve' is only the tip of the iceberg,' Yakura explained, suggesting that this marks just the beginning of a broader transformation in human communication.Interestingly, this isn't the first time researchers have observed the influence of AI on human expression. Earlier studies have focused on impact on written language. But this new study in particular focuses on the significant shift humans are experiencing in spoken communication. According to Levin Brinkmann, another co-author, 'It's natural for humans to imitate one another but we're now imitating machines.'The study highlights that the influence of AI is not just on the vocabulary. The researchers believe the tone and structure of language are also starting to change. Humans are now using longer, more formal sentences, with less emotion and a more polished delivery. 'We internalise this virtual vocabulary into daily communication,' said Yakura, who sees this trend across lectures, podcasts, and online conversations.Researchers also raise concerns of the wider implication of the change in human communication style based on AI. They highlight that the AI is not just changing the word choices. According to scholars like Mor Naaman of Cornell Tech, the change is not just making us lose the linguistic diversity, but a deeper human touch, vulnerability, spontaneity, and personality. 'Instead of articulating our own thoughts,' Naaman warns, 'we articulate whatever AI helps us to articulate we become more persuaded.'Researchers acknowledge that while AI is helping humans to improve efficiency and even encourage more positive social exchanges, like autocorrect or smart replies, it is also making people more dependent on it. Now rather than trusting their own words and feelings, humans are depending more on AI in all sorts of conversations. - Ends