When it comes to words, volume does not guarantee value

Canadian immigration officials say AI is being used to beef up immigration and asylum applications, making it harder and more time-consuming for officials to verify them. On occasion, applications include references to non-existent case law or refer to non-germane legal precedents.

Here’s the comment, from the Immigration and Refugee Board, that stuck with me:

“Recently, we have observed that memoranda of appeal are becoming lengthier, yet this increase in volume does not necessarily translate to stronger arguments.”

Anyone who’s had to review, edit or rewrite AI-generated texts knows this to be true.

AI adds words but not always meaning. Clarity is lost as readers of AI-generated text struggle to understand what’s important or, worse, what’s real.

I once had to edit a list of questions that were going to be used to develop interview-style videos. The interview subjects were experts in their field, and the content was complex. I was sent a list of 50 questions, 10 questions for each of the five videos.

Each question had the same structure: an establishing statement, then a question and two follow-up questions. So, really, I had a list of 150 questions. Very few were written in a way that seemed human. More important, no good interview follows a formula. Interviewers have questions, of course, but a good interviewer also knows that the best conversations have an element of spontaneity, of reacting to a response, of pulling on an unexpected thread.

I started editing them, trying to tread carefully so as not to insult the work that I assumed a human had put into them. When I finally griped to a colleague about how poorly phrased the questions were, she said, “Oh, that’s obviously AI. It always gives you three of everything.”

Gah. From that point forward, my editing was merciless. No more questions in the comments. Strikethroughs everywhere.

Choosing one’s words carefully shows respect for the audience who must hear or read them. It tells them that you have thought about what they must understand or learn in order to make decisions or take action.

This is the work I do. I take what others have written and I simplify it, clarify it, and translate it into more relatable language. I scrape away the complicated bits to get to the heart of its meaning and intent.

Volume does not equal value. More words do not equate to more worth.