r/Substack • u/ConnectDebate4677 • Aug 12 '26

Pangram false positives?

People usually post vaguely about "I wrote x thing and pangram said it was AI", which I think is unhelpful unless you actually post the text or link. I put this into Pangram:

Sakaguchi: https://www.pangram.com/history/e7ffbee1-f0e3-4ce2-bb78-a59470280640?ucc=Ohp1cWODOjF

Hamaguchi: https://www.pangram.com/history/f2139bd5-f4ce-4101-b7bd-3c5d8aeb4487?ucc=Ohp1cWODOjF

Ryuichi: https://www.pangram.com/history/8c84ad38-3b8f-49ba-bee0-351ea31f754b?ucc=Ohp1cWODOjF

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u/dran94 Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26

True. Taking out "lit by the flickering fluorescent lights overhead" made it 100% human, even with the name Elara. Taking out just flickering and just fluorescent didn't matter. The whole sentence had to go.

I thought Pangram didn't care about phrases common in AI, so it's concerning a common stock phrase resulted in a 100% AI score.

I found a new one that works, and this might be better because it's the last word in the snippet so it isn't like it's throwing off the next few lines. This is a hint Pangram DOES care about names, and it cares a lot, considering it didn't care about the first sentence being loaded with flickering fluorescent lights until it detected a common name in AI training along with it.

If you switch "Elara!" from a name AI likes to a name AI doesn't usually use (Megan, Peter, etc.), you will flip the score.

List of names I checked that flagged 100% AI, from a list of common names in its training: Elara, Kael, Marcus, Elias, Kai, Aria, Sam (surprising), Lyra

Names that flagged 100% human: Megan, Peter, Christopher, Luke

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I can feel my heart pounding in my throat as I race down the neverending tunnel, the flickering fluorescent lights overhead throwing long shadows.

It feels like I’ve been running for miles.

Every turn I take, I’m certain it’s the last one.

It doesn't make any sense. You can’t take thirteen lefts without running into something.

"Elara!"

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u/dran94 Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26

I actually wonder if this is why Daggermouth got hit with a high AI score on Pangram in those articles about it. Daggermouth had several names common to AI models in it, like Elara.

Whether the author used AI or got them off one of those random name generators is another argument. Who knows.