• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Carol J. Michel

Award winner author of gardening humor books

  • About
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Shop
    • Gardening Humor
    • Children’s Books
    • New – The Halloween Hare
  • Speaking
    • Upcoming Speaking Engagements
  • Social
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • Gardening Humor
  • Children’s
  • All Books

May Dreams Gardens

Garden Writing, AI Style

January 9, 2023 By Carol 1 Comment

Carol J. Michel's typewriter
typewriter

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.)

Filed Under: Blog

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Helen Malandrakis says

    January 10, 2023 at 12:50 pm

    Lol!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Categories

  • Blog (3,047)
  • Internal (2)

Blog Tags

annuals Blogging books bulbs dr. hortfreud embrace fairies fall family flowers fruits garden bloggers bloom day garden bloggers book club garden design gardeners gardening gardening geek gardens hoes holidays hortense hoelove houseplants humor indoor gardening insects lawn letters to gardening friends perennials rabbits reviews Secrets seeds shrubs spring tools trees vegetable garden vegetable gardening vegetables weather weeding weeds when a gardener wildflower wednesday winter

The Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Footer

Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Connect

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • maydreams icon

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Contact
  • Books
  • May Dreams Gardens
  • Podcast

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Newsletter Archive

Copyright © 2023 · CarolJMichel.com · Sitemap · Privacy Policy

Book purchase links are affiliate links and Carol earns a small commission if you make a purchase.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT