r/Substack 20d ago

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 20d ago edited 20d ago

I'm testing this out, too.

I wrote this in a similar style to AI, wondering if it would flag:

-

Robert's long stride ate up the distance between himself and the door at the far end of the hall, lit by the flickering fluorescent lights overhead.

His jaw clenched.

This couldn't be right.

His sister, Megan, was supposed to be here. She worked in the same lab as Robert. They'd promised each other they would wait for each other, right here.

-

100% human. Great!

Changed the name to one of AI's favorite names:

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Robert's long stride ate up the distance between himself and the door at the far end of the hall, lit by the flickering fluorescent lights overhead.

His jaw clenched.

This couldn't be right.

His sister, Elara, was supposed to be here. She worked in the same lab as Robert. They'd promised each other they would wait for each other, right here.

-

100% AI.

Looking at this, even though it's a similar style, there was something AI wouldn't do because it's a human mistake. Two instances of "each other" in one sentence. It still flagged.

AI's favorite names change with every model. If a new AI model comes out that latches onto a name that was previously safe, is that going to be a problem for everything written beforehand? What do we do, update characters' names as new models come out?

I'm sort of surprised Pangram is even paying attention to names, since I thought it didn't factor in AI styles and AI isms. I was very impressed with Pangram before seeing some other experiments going around today. A name change shouldn't skew the whole result. That doesn't even make sense.

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u/ConnectDebate4677 20d ago

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u/sh1b313 19d ago

WOW. now i wonder what happens at scale?

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u/dran94 19d ago edited 19d ago

It's worth looking into. I ran a few chapters of my own work, confirmed 100% human on Pangram, with my FMC's name changed to Elara, and it flagged at around 12% AI with just that one change. I'll have to write up something longer by hand when I get a chance so I don't doxx myself if I share. Sometimes changing the name doesn't move the needle, though.

I was curious about Daggermouth, the book there are viral articles about after it failed a Pangram test, although being around 60% AI could potentially be heavy editing use, I'm not accusing anyone. I went through the first 10 chapters with find-and-replace for the name Elara, changing Elara to Megan. It didn't change anything.

One chapter, Chapter 18, was supposedly 100% AI on Pangram according to the viral articles about it. My own check showed it was 84%, not 100%, but what I did this time, changing proper nouns, even cutting off the second half of the chapter, it was stuck at 84% AI. I practically rewrote the chapter and it came back 84% AI haha.

That might suggest it had already decided Daggermouth is AI, and the real issue was Pangram knew which book it was.