AI-generated content could be a Godsend for forums looking for more activity.
Users could generate discussions to be posted on forums specifically about the topics and sub-topics of the forum niche. The title and post can be generated, with engagement questions, and even some tags.
However, some people are against this sort of thing. They feel like they're not talking to the individual but almost as if they're talking to a computer. It could turn people off enough to make them not come back or not join in the first place. The people who don't like AI-generated forum content are also typically good at detecting it.
What do you all think about this controversial topic as forum owners? Where fo you stand?
I'm not a fan of AI bots on forums, I seen that once before on a forum and any time I would post a thread or a reply, I noticed there would be a reply almost immediately after I made my post/thread. It was a reply by an AI bot. I'm okay with people using AI as a tool to help translate posts and to have a little bit of fun making a few images but I wouldn't want every reply generated by AI.
I agree with @Ravenfreak. The potential for AI driven tools is monumental but AI created content is undesirable in my view.
SEO, moderation, predictive search, similar content, translation, post layout, spelling and grammar and much much more could all benefit from AI tools.
AI created content is not at all desirable even in the short term. When AI becomes more than just a tool we become no more than slaves to the machine.
I definitely agree but so was social media and I'm seeing more AI on social media these days than anywhere else.
I have a Facebook group with almost 50,000 members. It's very active. Facebook enabled an AI that posted weekly summaries and then started posting actual engagement posts. I could had also enabled it to make replies.
But it was freaking members out and I ultimately disabled it because of that.
I wouldn't be adverse to implementing an AI tool that posted hot thread summaries. Amazon use something similar to highlight salient points from customer reviews although I do wonder if it's weighted towards the positive. Regardless it would be something worth trying I think.
I don't think it's a bad idea as a conversation starter. I'm in a Facebook group that has the AI posting enabled, and it's generated some posts and discussions. None that I've actively participated in (but then again, I don't really post much in Facebook groups in general, with or without AI), but the discussions have really popped off. Some people, of course, find them annoying, but I don't see the harm in them as long as it's not overpowering the human discussion and connection. Sometimes, you just need a little boost or some ideas, and AI can help you get there.
Probably wouldn't be a terrible idea in the more "fun" sections of forums too, like games centered around using AI to generate silly images or things like that.
I think it really comes down to how you handle it. If you're upfront about it and just using AI to get conversations going that might be okay. But trying to trick people into thinking a bot wrote something human just feels wrong and it's gonna backfire hard when people figure it out.
