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Why does using a GPT feel like cheating?

Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

Using a GPT model to complete tasks can feel like “cheating” in the traditional way that we understand cheating. Webster’s dictionary defines cheating as:

1: to deprive of something valuable by the use of deceit or fraud

2: to influence or lead by deceit, trick, or artifice

3: to elude or thwart by or as if by outwitting

Let’s look at that first definition up-close.

“To deprive of something valuable” describes a transaction — or the absence of one — in which some value was supposed to be delivered, and it wasn’t. When we think of the value of written documents, we often think of the effort and the time spent writing as the object of value1. But there’s another object of value going on just under the surface, one that we might not see quite as fast: the thinking behind the effort.

To recognize the thinking behind the effort, we have to step back and examine some properties of the object we’re creating. We need to identify what result it’s being used to drive towards, and what context we need that result in. We also need to know what an unacceptable result might look like so that we can prevent it. Stepping back like this makes it easier to recognize the under-the-surface thinking going…