Tall's Tales

A Blog by Emily Tallman

[thatdisasterauthor]

I think the thing that annoys me most about AI on a personal, day to day, level is what it has done to grammar checkers. If you've never done a lot of editing, or used to 5+ years ago but haven't really in the last couple years, I can't even begin to describe how fucking BAD this shit has gotten. And as an author it is EXHAUSTING.

I just want to catch spelling errors and accidental double spaces and repeated phrases and whenever I use the wrong too/to or affect/effect and shit. But no. They've shoved AI up the ass of every grammar checking software out there and now they all fucking suck and make the most random, obnoxious, nonsensical suggestions.

And yeah, I can ignore all the times it's trying to get me to cut out any semblance of my own voice, or shove things into the wrong tense, or make the most random suggestions on comma usage. But if it's getting all that WRONG, what is it just straight up missing that I SHOULD be correcting? What real spelling and grammar errors are still lurking in there?

[scenerwiththegreenery]

Okay, so I don't spend a ton of time using these features, but more than a lot of people, because I'm in school and so I have to write papers, emails, etc. I thought I was going crazy because the suggestions just.. do not make any fucking sense. Increasingly over the past few years (started back to college in 2023), Word and Outlook are both making terrible suggestions, and I don't get it because I've been using Word since the late '90s and it has never been as bad as it is now...

Did they add AI to Micro$oft's products? I already turn off Copilot, but is there anywhere else to turn off AI?

[thatdisasterauthor]

Disabling copilot will turn off the generative AI features, mostly, but the problem isn't coming directly from generative AI. It is coming from where these grammar checkers are pulling their data from, because they are essentially crowdsourcing their data now, rather than relying on real, determined rules.

You CAN make it somewhat better in Word at least by going to File>Options>Proofing>Writing Style>Settings, which will open up this big long list:

Unchecking everything from the "clarity" and "conciseness" sections will get rid of A LOT of the suggestions that try to really change your voice. It won't fix a lot of the stupid ass suggestions it makes for other stuff, but it at least gets rid of a bunch of the distracting junk.

However, the settings never seem to stick for me so I have to go back in and check this list pretty often, sometimes even in one editing session where I haven't closed and reopened the document at all.

[birdofork]

Yes, the spelling/grammar check has grown increasingly horrible, but Microsoft DID add AI a couple years ago and didn't tell its customers!

I have a shit computer and was wondering why Microsoft Word was basically unusable and it's because the AI takes up so much more processing power than normal, it was basically crashing my system.

BUT!

You can delete the AI without affecting the rest of the program.

Instructions under the cut cause they got long.

How to delete the AI assistant (in Windows):

Open your C: drive which can be found in "This PC" as OS (C:)

Then open the following folders:

Program Files Microsoft Office root vfs ProgramFilesCommonX64 Microsoft Shared OFFICE16 AI

In the AI folder, there will be two application files called ai and aimgr. Delete both of those.

Unfortunately, every time Microsoft updates, these files will come back and need to be redeleted. I've saved myself time by adding the "AI" folder to my Quick access in the file explorer folder (on the left of the image below) so I can just click on it and delete the ai/aimgr every time I need to (which is pretty much every time I use Word).

This forum also has the instructions about how to delete the files if you scroll down https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/4649157/outlook-how-to-disable-artificial-intelligence-(ai

On a related note, Microsoft 365 also started charging users more for a subscription

because they added the AI (that we didn't want). The only way to get the normal pricing back when you're up for renewal is to go into your online Microsoft account and basically go through the motions of cancelling your subscription and they'll offer you the old option.

Absolutely insane that we have to do this for a basic word processor...

[thatdisasterauthor]

Thanks for the tip!

[writingdose]

I am once again begging people to realize that AI checker doesn’t work. it’s never worked. it’s notoriously known to have flagged human-made works as AI and AI-generated works as human-made. and by feeding it people’s works, you are feeding more works to AI, because apparently the machine itself is AI.

the only thing AI checker does is harm genuine artists and people in general too.

[arahir]

i just can't convey the frustration and sorrow that it's been to grow up at first without the internet and then watching it bloom into this useful, fun, connecting force you sometimes spent time on, only for it to degrade into this constant oppressive waste of time and energy where people are constantly pumping out algorithmically designed content for max algorithmic appeal and even the most simple search generates either no results or an infinite abyss of ai generated slop none of which is usable or correct. we briefly had a library of alexandria and then fed it into a paper shredder so advertisers could sell a random mash of pulp back to us at a premium.

[vancruejovi]

[write-on-world]

[jupitersmusings]

good things will happen 🧿

things that are meant to be will fall into place 🧿

[overlord-fire-bubble]

THIS ONE FUCKING WORKS. REBLOG IT.

[tiny-kt]

this for real fucking works

[scroll-of-thought]

Apparently this one fuckin works, and who am I to argue with the collective agreement of tumblr. Will report back if good things happen.

[unashamedly-enthusiastic]

Devastating to have more evidence that done IS better than perfect

[unashamedly-enthusiastic]

Additionally, findings indicate that the act of doing shows you that you were not seeking perfection, you were fearing inadequacy

[unashamedly-enthusiastic]

@grey-and-lavender

#oh that last line gutted me #is there a place between perfect and failure?

Good news! There is!

Bad news! It is called 'done'

[grey-and-lavender]

✨ fuck ✨

[remanence-of-love]

[remanence-of-love]

[free-my-mindd]

Forgive yourself

[oldgayjew]

Very wise words ...

[my-dailydreams]

[haarute]

me: i can't do anything... i don't know what my life is anymore...

the jacob wysocki tulpa manifesting inside my brain:

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Started using this every time I go to enter a shop I haven't bought from before.

[patatedvce]

the way he just accidentally made the best affirmations for neurodivergents and socially awkward guys. like yeeeees i am a regular guy ! i can answer the phone c:

[val-the-bun]

I... I DESPERATELY need what the prompt for this was because I am losing my mind trying to reverse engineer what it coulda been.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

[mxrr0rball]

realistically, do i know that drafts are part of the process and may actually really improve my writing?

yes!

will i continuously refuse to entertain the concept of a "first draft" and instead spend a million years on every scene because i want to get it perfect the first time around, causing me to inevitably give up on that work because my perfectionism is shooting me in the foot?

also yes!

[transgenderfabianseacaster]

💥💥💥‼️‼️‼️

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

ao3 turns 16 today.

reblog if you’re older than archive of our own

[kisxmesoft]

make your bed. clean as you go. buy yourself flowers. have a morning skincare routine. have a cup of tea. find an exercise that you'll enjoy. make time for loved ones. change your clothes and remove your makeup when you get home. keep a journal. don't give up on yourself.

[bigandlong]

If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

[jae-felidae]

Oh hey! Haven’t seen this in forever! Didn’t reblog it when it came across me before, not gonna skip it this time, I need some good vibes.

[fantasyinallforms]

Big reminder, folks, that many people, especially veteran writers, are locking their fics nowadays, which means if you don't have an account, you can't see the full library of AO3 and are missing out on a lot of good work. Please go sign up for an account! It's well worth it, and you are missing out on a LOT by not having it.