ChatGPT has hijacked our real world conversations

A new study finds that humans are using words commonly found in AI chatbots more often.
Researchers found a measurable shift toward the formal language patterns commonly used by LLMs.
The words appearing more often include meticulous, delve, and underscore.

There’s a lot of concern that people are using AI to mimic human speech and writing, but a new study from Florida State University has found there’s a change in the other direction. Turns out people are using words common to AI chatbots more often in casual conversation. Terms like garner, delve, intricate, and underscore are popping up like the latest sitcom catchphrase thanks to ChatGPT and its compatriots.

The study showed that AI is shaping how we talk, if not the topics themselves. How we form sentences, choose words, and try to be formal are all affected since ChatGPT’s release in 2022. Words AI chatbots might overuse, their signature style, are becoming a staple of human conversation, at least when talking about science and technology.

The researchers analyzed over 22 million words of unscripted speech from science and tech podcasts, ones built around impromptu discussion using informal, natural language. ChatGPT’s favorite words are now prevalent in discussions, far more so than before its debut. To be fair, many of the words connote formal and technical value and are the basic vernacular in certain contexts. Nonetheless, no one was saying meticulous, strategically, surpass, or boast on these podcasts nearly as much as they have been in the last three years.

Notably, simpler synonyms aren’t coming up as much. The researchers found it much more likely that someone would say underscore, not accentuate, or delve, but not explore. People are absorbing specific stylistic tics from AI-generated text, it seems. It’s a bit like when a kid starts using a term they hear someone they admire use a lot, only in this case, it’s adults imitating a language model trained on billions of words. And it’s not the only evidence that it’s happening. A recent study found the same thing happening among academics. T

AI thesaurus

That might sound like a harmless side effect of the digital age, but there’s a worrying potential consequence because of the possibility of a feedback loop. The researchers suggest AI might be speeding up linguistic evolution, but they admit it might actually change how we speak in a way that never would have happened without the influence of AI chatbots.

This isn’t the first time language has shifted under technological pressure. Texting introduced abbreviations and emojis. Social media gave us hashtags, reaction gifs, and plenty of slang inscrutable to people not in their teens. But, this could be a bigger deal, and not in a good way. The issue is that these phrases don’t just add to how we speak, they replace more freewheeling, evocative vocabulary and make everyone sound like the same bland digital assistant.

It’s not a language apocalypse right now by any means. Saying something is cool instead of compelling won’t confuse most people. But the future of how we think will be affected by how we speak, and the way AI phrases things might affect how we frame ideas and make decisions, in ways we would not appreciate. The researchers will have to delve into more studies and see whether the garnered results underscore the initial answers.