ChatGPT Rewrote My Article? Who Scored Better?

ChatGPT has been doing my dirty work for a while now. Crafting letters of complaint to poor service providers and bureaucrats. Responding to text messages I’d rather ignore. And it’s done a stellar job. So I decided to see how it would fare with something more emotional. An account of my five-day experience trekking to Annapurna Base Camp. Since I recently wrote my own lengthy and sentimental article about my adventure, I would have something to compare ChatGPT’s attempt against.

With a prompt indicating the tone, providing a few specific parameters, and including ample source material (my journal notes from the five-day tour), I let it get to work. So how did ChatGPT* do?

Brevity — ChatGPT 1 : 0 Melissa

ChatGPT knows how to get to the point. As a writer, I find it incredibly difficult to edit my own work. Because every word, so lovingly considered and selected, is too precious to cut. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, ChatGPT excels at detachment. What I expressed in six pages and an 11 point font, ChatGPT conveyed in 2 pages and a 12 point font. That’s not to say that ChatGPT’s prose was better, we’ll get to that, but it will most likely hold on to its audience longer than I will.

Humor — ChatGPT 1 : 2 Melissa

Yes, I said it. Or rather scored it. ChatGPT is pretty skilled at making jokes. My two favorites:

The trek itself was a mix of breathtaking scenery and unexpected pit stops, including…