is the reader outreach editor and a member of The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board. Email him a 150-word letter at letters@sduniontribune.com and we may publish your letter, too.
In a world increasingly dominated by automation and anonymity, that’s one factor that makes letters to the editor a cut above other forms of audience engagement people encounter on myriad news and social media platforms. Here you know several editors are reading that message before it is run through the printing press and posted on the internet — and in print you can see those editors’ names at the top of the same page with the thoughts and names of those letter writers.
On those occasions when we get submissions that are nearly identical to others we receive, we know some organized letter-writing effort is at play and rather than rewrite the suggested message, some people have cut-and-pasted the original composition and applied their names as the authors. Those people are asked to reframe and resubmit their messages in their own words.
Many busy executives and politicians employ the assistance of public relations and communications people to do the work of spinning thoughts and talking points into a cogent commentary, speech or even book. With AI programs like ChatGPT, now everyone can have someone, or rather some thing, do the actual writing when given a few simple parameters.on the topic of ChatGPT, we asked the program itself to discuss the ramifications of such technology.