Garden Writing, AI Style

I did it.

I used one of the popular and currently free artificial intelligence sites to generate some writing about gardening, just for fun.

If you aren’t familiar with artificial intelligence and how it is used to generate writing content, here’s some background info from the website:

“ChatGPT was optimized for dialogue by using Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF) – a method that uses human demonstrations to guide the model toward desired behavior.“

And how did they train it?

“These models were trained on vast amounts of data from the internet written by humans, including conversations, so the responses it provides may sound human-like. It is important to keep in mind that this is a direct result of the system’s design (i.e. maximizing the similarity between outputs and the dataset the models were trained on) and that such outputs may be inaccurate, untruthful, and otherwise misleading at times.“

And one more bit of info:

“ChatGPT is not connected to the internet, and it can occasionally produce incorrect answers. It has limited knowledge of world and events after 2021 and may also occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content.”

So how did it do?

I asked it for five jokes about gardening and the only one that made me laugh was, “Why did the tomato turn red? Because it saw the salad dressing!”

I then asked it to write something about five American women garden writers born before 1900. The list it generated had a few problems, such as listing a man, listing British garden writers, and listing one writer born after 1900. Here’s the full list:

Here are five American women garden writers born before 1900:

1. Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954): Bailey was a horticulturist and botanist who wrote extensively about gardening and plant cultivation. He was the editor of the American Gardening magazine and the author of several books on gardening, including “The Practical Garden Book” (1901) and “The Wild Garden” (1905).
2. Ellen Willmott (1858-1934): Willmott was an English horticulturalist and garden writer who was known for her extensive knowledge of plants and her keen eye for garden design. She wrote several books on gardening, including “The Genus Rosa” (1905) and “The Genus Iris” (1911).
3. Elizabeth Lawrence (1904-1985): Lawrence was a horticulturalist, garden writer, and plantswoman who wrote extensively about gardening and plant cultivation. She was the author of several books, including “A Southern Garden” (1953) and “The Little Bulbs” (1969).
4. Martha Brookes Hutcheson (1861-1951): Hutcheson was a landscape designer and garden writer who was known for her innovative use of plants in garden design. She wrote several books on gardening, including “A Garden from a Hundred Packets of Seeds” (1918) and “The Flower Garden” (1924).
5. Elsa Barker (1869-1954): Barker was a horticulturalist, garden writer, and plantswoman who wrote several books on gardening, including “The Wild Garden” (1905) and “The Practical Garden Book” (1901). She was known for her extensive knowledge of plants and her keen eye for garden design.

By the way, Martha Brookes Hutcheson to my knowledge didn’t write “A Garden from a Hundred Packet of Seeds.” James Fenton did. And I think “The Wild Garden” was written by William Robinson, but I would have to look it up to verify that.

Then I asked the AI engine to write something about gardening podcasts and be sure and mention The Gardenangelists.

Here’s what it wrote.

“Gardening podcasts are a great way for green thumb enthusiasts to stay up to date on the latest gardening trends, tips, and tricks. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, there’s a gardening podcast for you.

One podcast that we highly recommend is The Gardenangelists. Hosted by two lifelong gardeners, this weekly podcast covers a wide range of topics including plant care, design, and sustainability. The hosts, Karen and Christina, are knowledgeable and passionate about gardening, and their enthusiasm is infectious.

In each episode, they provide practical advice that you can use in your own garden, as well as interviews with experts and interesting guests. They also feature listener questions, so you can get personalized help with your own gardening challenges.

Whether you’re looking to improve your garden’s productivity, create a beautiful landscape, or just learn more about plants, The Gardenangelists is a great resource. Give it a listen and let Karen and Christina help you grow your gardening skills.”

Dee and I would like to know who Karen and Christina are!

I have other examples, but that’s enough for now. I don’t have time to fact check what it wrote about photosynthesis, winter gardening, and best vegetables to grow in a garden.

Will I ever use this tool to write a blog post or an article, and then just edit it to save time?

Nope. At least for the topics I gave it to write about, it’s got some learning to do.

But I really want to know… just who are Karen and Christina?

(Update a few days later. I tried a few more articles. While the AI engine wrote coherent sentences which broadly made sense, it still isn’t good with facts, like who wrote what book, for example. I asked it to write another article about gardening podcasts, again with a request to mention The Gardenangelists. Now it “thinks” Debi and Michael are the hosts.)