Interpretive Writing Cage Match: You vs Chat GPT 4o.

Recently I wrote that I have been using AI for a lot of my work functions: summarizing data, cleaning up text, and other dreary tasks. And the more I work with it, the more I have come to depend on it.

But I feel that there are some of my core services that are soon to go the way of the dodo. Sadly, I think interpretive writing might be one of them. Let me show you what I mean.

In my interpretive signs course, I do an activity with my group. I want to challenge you with the same activity, and see how you do. Then I want to show you what my little AI chat buddy did in exactly four seconds. Are you ready?

Interpretive sign writing assignment

I would like you to write me an interpretive sign. It’s a wayside sign for family audiences about Calypso orchids. I want it to be readable, interesting, and clever. I would like it to have a title that catches the attention, no more than five words. I want it to have a subtitle that is a complete sentence and states the main message of the sign. I want it to have a body section of about 80-100 words. I want you to take this scientific abstract and turn it into that sign.

Calybso bulbosa var. occidentalis is a western North American terrestrial orchid. In the northern California populations studied, these plants are pollinated by Bombus queens and Psithyrus females. Bee visitation, however, is infrequent. Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis is a generalized food-flower mimic and must rely on exploratory visits of naive bees for pollination. Abrupt rises in the number of flowers pollinated corresponds with sudden increases in available pollinators. Fruit is set low (11-34 percent), and is comparable to that mentioned in reports of other temperate food-deceptive orchids.

A large number of orchids provide no reward to their pollinators. Their visual, olfactory, and sometimes tactile cues are deceitful. Perhaps the most striking examples are the pseudocopulatory orchids,Ophrys, Trichoceros, and a variety of Australian species (Kullenberg and Bergstrom, 1976; Pijl and Dodson, 1966; Stoutamire, 1975). The majority of non-rewarding orchids, however, are pollinated by visitors apparently searching for food. Very few such systems have been studied in detail. Recently, much attention has been focused on Calypso bulbosa (L.) Oakes, a strikingly beautiful circumboreal orchid. Mosquin (1970) and Stoutamire (1971) found that C. bulbosa var. americana is nectarless and hypothesized that pollinators are attracted to the flower because of its conspicuous coloration. Furthermore, the flowers appear to rely on newly emerged naive bumblebees to effect pollination.

Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41424311

Are you up for the challenge? Start your timer and get to work.

Post your development time and your sign text in the comments below if you like.

All done? Excellent.

Here’s what Chat GPT did in exactly four seconds. Here’s my prompt – the same prompt as above.

Here’s the AI output, below.

Title:
The orchid with a clever trick

Subtitle:
Calypso orchids deceive bees with beauty, not nectar.

Body:
The stunning Calypso orchid may look like a tasty treat to bees, but here’s the secret—there’s no nectar! Instead, this clever flower tricks young bees into visiting with its bright colours and sweet scent, only to leave them empty-handed. But the bees still help! On their first visit, they unknowingly pick up pollen and carry it to the next orchid, ensuring pollination. Though bees don’t stop by often, when they do, Calypso orchids make the most of it, continuing the cycle of nature’s trickiest beauty.

Four seconds. It took four seconds.

Is it as good as something you could write? Because I have done this exact activity with about five different classes of professional interpreters, and it’s better than about 60% of their first drafts.

Am I bothered?

Yes, a little. The writing is on the AI wall, so to speak; I think there’s a risk that our managers and clients will be turning to AI for their writing needs. On the other hand, I do think I could write a better sign than the above—and I can also work with the client to help them think about whether this is the right message on the right sign in the right place for the right audience. I think that’s still worth a lot.

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