AI is becoming increasingly prevalent in our daily lives in the form of integrated writing assistants, search engine summarizers, and even the iPhone’s upcoming Apple Intelligence. With practically everybody with access to the internet having powerful AI writing tools at their disposal, it’s no surprise that AI text can be found everywhere from social media captions to news articles. Essentially, AI is generating more and more of the text we consume everyday, which raises the question: how does this change the evolution of language
Language on the internet is known to be highly dynamic. It evolves at lightning fast speeds, influenced by trends and memes. This is the result of a phenomenon known as linguistic convergence, in which frequent exposure to a certain style of writing makes us more likely to use them in our own writing and speaking. Thanks to this, social media is constantly producing new bizarre internet slang. However, AI may be responsible for a more subtle form of linguistic convergence.
One of the defining features of AI-generated text is its preference for certain words or phrases. If you’ve used ChatGPT frequently, you may have noticed that it frequently uses: delve, meticulous, lofty, tapestry, vibrant, embark, vital, and comprehensive along with a few other of its favorite words. It also tends to use the same sentence structures in its responses. Considering these unique traits, we may start to see these patterns subtly influencing the way humans communicate online.
People are constantly interacting with AI tools and are exposed to AI-generated text all over the internet. Over time, this exposure can lead to a form of linguistic convergence in which humans begin to favor the specific words, phrases, and structures that are prevalent in AI text, subconsciously implementing them into their own writing.
While this isn’t inherently a negative side effect, it’s worth considering that this influence might gradually standardize online language. Personally, I doubt that this will influence internet slang as internet slang is driven by informal humor and social dynamics often born from social media; I find it hard to believe that anybody would be relying on AI tools to create a comment on an Instagram post. However, when it comes to more formal forms of internet writing like emails, news articles, and even blog posts, I see the potential for AI to nudge humans into a more homogenous writing style. In this case, it’s easy to see how we may lose creative elements that make human language so expressive and unique.
There could be benefits from this change though. This style is specifically engineered to be clear, informative, and smooth. If humans begin to adapt the specific style and vocabulary commonly seen in AI-generated text, it could lead to more effective communication overall. Clarity and coherence might improve across online platforms, making it easier for readers to understand complex ideas or follow structured arguments without confusion.
All in all, AI’s influence on the evolution of language offers challenges and opportunities at the same time. As we continue to further integrate AI tools into our daily lives, we’ll find a balance between efficiency and authenticity. AI isn’t going to disappear any time in the foreseeable future, so for now, we’ll simply have to watch and see how it plays out.
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