Medium: hacks

Hacking Medium with Zero Effort

Let AI do the writing for you!

Let’s face it. For most of us the challenge of coming up with good, well-researched, snappy, readable stories is not something we can do reliably day after day.

And who has time for checking spelling and grammar? Not to mention finding a pertinent, eye-catching image that we can legally use.

I’ve even seen some writers resort to copying articles from obscure parts of the internet, sometimes changing a few words around to conceal their source. Not good.

Here’s a Legal Hack

You don’t have to write article after article, one a day to build up your following.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) content generators have progressed to the point where not only can they write clear, perfect English, they can create images that look like photographs, paintings, drawings, anything in any style.

All unique, non-plagiarised, no copyright or license problems, all legitimately yours to use in any way you see fit.

It’s quick and easy!

This is something that literally takes a minute. Enter a few keywords, click a few buttons, and you will have a thousand-word article with an image, completely ready to publish.

Most AI programs have free trial modes and one may buy more output for a few dollars a month.

OK. Here’s the problem

Yes, it’s easy, it’s quick, it’s legal. No problems there.

The hassle is that your text will very likely be either bland or incorrect, possibly both. Will anybody want to read a string of these stories? Perhaps more to the point, will an editor accept them for publication?

And here’s the solution

Treat your AI content generator as a research assistant. A helper who can write well but needs guidance and their work checked.

Choose your keywords carefully. You want the resulting story to be something interesting and entertaining. Depending on the program or module used, you may have several choices of initial paragraphs and outline subheadings. You may be able to tweak the choices made by the program to guide the AI to a useful story.

Once the text is generated, check any facts. If you are providing health or financial advice, you should be extra careful. If — for example — the AI recommends bleach or veterinary worm tablets as a cure for Covid and somebody follows this idiot advice and dies, you could be in serious legal trouble.

So your job with AI is one of guidance and supervision.

There are many AI content generators. I use Writesonic which I’ve been using for over a year now. It has a free mode so you can test it out and various levels of paid subscription ranging up to $13 a month. (If you subscribe using one of my links, I receive a small fee, just letting you know, but realistically, shop around, there are many different providers and what works for me may not be what suits your needs.)

An example

I used Writesonic to generate a story about the journey of Apollo 18 to the lunar polar region. I knew that this would have to be short on factual accuracy because the Apollo lunar program ended with Apollo 17, and Apollos 18, 19, and 20 were cancelled, as per Wikipedia.

Discussion on accuracy afterwards.

The Secret Mission of Apollo 18 to the Moon’s South Pole

When NASA launched the final Apollo mission in 1972, most people assumed that would be the last we’d see of manned lunar exploration for a while. After all, they’d achieved their objective: to prove that humans could successfully explore another world. However, the success of Apollo provoked an unexpected consequence. The media had grown bored with the missions and almost no one was watching. As a result, NASA began cutting back on all its space initiatives. Fortunately for lovers of manned planetary exploration, some intrepid astronauts and engineers weren’t ready to give up just yet. They managed to convince management at NASA that there was one more place worth visiting on the Moon: its South Pole. And so, in 1976, two years after Apollo 17 returned home from their final mission to the moon, we got Apollo 18…

What is the Moon’s South Pole and why is it important?

The South Pole of the Moon is an area of intense scientific interest, for a number of reasons. First of all, the South Pole of the Moon is the only place where you can find water there. It’s not much, just a few ice-rich patches of soil, but the discovery that water could exist on the Moon was a huge deal at the time. The South Pole of the Moon is also of interest to astrobiologists, as it’s the place on the Moon which would receive the most light if the Moon orbited Earth at the right distance. In fact, the South Pole of the Moon is the only place on the lunar surface that would be able to sustain life. The final reason why the South Pole of the Moon is of interest to scientists is because it’s the area where the Moon’s crust is thinnest. This makes it easier to sample the Moon’s interior and also facilitates the possible future excavation of water from this location.

Launching Apollo 18 in secret

Although the Apollo missions were announced in advance, the launch of Apollo 18 was kept secret. There were a few reasons for this, but the main one was because NASA had no intention of actually landing the mission. Instead, they planned to send the Lunar Module all the way to the Moon’s South Pole and just “sit” there for a while, gathering data. So, they decided to launch this mission in secret, in order to avoid public expectation. This decision to launch the mission in secret was a controversial one. Some people felt that the public had a right to know what was being done in their name, but others felt that the extreme difficulty of the mission meant that its launch should be kept quiet to avoid any unnecessary public pressure.

The crew of Apollo 18

Overall, the crew of Apollo 18 were a highly experienced team, composed of Pete Conrad (Commander), Alan Bean (Lunar Module Pilot), and Jack Swigert (Command Module Pilot). The crew had originally been intended for the cancelled Apollo 19 mission. When Apollo 18 was repurposed for the South Pole mission, Pete Conrad was given command of the team. He was a seasoned astronaut who’d already completed two space missions.

Equipment on board the Apollo Lunar Module for this mission

The Lunar Module for this mission was named “Challenger”, in honour of the Space Shuttle that would launch the mission. This was a fitting gesture, as the shuttle would have been used as well, had it not been delayed in its construction. The following equipment was installed in the Challenger Lunar Module for this mission: an array of scientific equipment to gather data on the Moon’s environment, including a seismograph to monitor the movement of tectonic plates, a laser reflector to send laser pulses back to Earth, and a solar wind detector.

The plan for this final Apollo mission to the moon

The plan for this mission was to “hover” at the edge of the South Pole, which was approximately 12 km from the Moon’s surface. If they drifted any further, they risked falling into an erg, a giant lunar pit formed by the constant pull of the Moon’s atmosphere on the surface. By hovering at the edge of the South Pole, the Challenger was able to collect data on the Moon’s surface, as well as on the rocks below. The crew also deployed a number of experiments, including a solar wind detector and a laser reflector, which would send laser pulses back to Earth.

Conclusion

The mission was a success, although it challenged the crew and their equipment to the limit. The Challenger was forced to run on minimal power for most of the mission, after the main power supply failed. The crew also had to navigate through an intense solar storm, which almost disabled their communication systems and experiments. In spite of these challenges, the crew of Apollo 18 were able to gather important data on the lunar surface, as well as on the rocks below. Additionally, they were able to deploy an array of scientific equipment to gather more data in the future from the South Pole. Despite the success of this final Apollo mission, it failed to revive public interest in manned space exploration. As a result, we remain without a manned lunar presence, even forty years later.

Comments on accuracy

If one didn’t know the details of the Apollo program, this all sounds reasonably plausible. It reads well, it is full of facts and names and dates, it doesn’t sound like some wild-eyed speculative journalist had had a few shots too many.

However.

Apollo 17 was the final manned lunar mission in the Apollo program. Apollo 18, if it had been launched, likely would have been — according to Wikipedia — launched to the crater of Copernicus in mid-1973. While a mission to the south polar region would have been feasible — and is, indeed the target of the upcoming Artemis program — it was never a serious target in the 1970s. Apollo 17 returned to Earth on 19 December 1972; an Apollo 18 mission two years after that date would have been 1974 or 1975, not 1976, as the AI suggests in the first paragraph.

The second paragraph lists some reasons why the lunar south pole is a good scientific target. The main reason is that water ice — and possibly life — may be found there. The potential for increased light and the thickness of the lunar crust is pure robot imagination.

Launching an Apollo mission in secret (perhaps by going at night when observers would be asleep) is not an option. The Saturn V rockets used for the moonshots were huge and expensive pieces of technology visible for many kilometres and requiring a huge logistics effort and workforce to prepare them for space. The launches were watched by tens of thousands of tourists and the final launch of Apollo 17 at night was visible all along the east coast of the USA. Trying to send an Apollo mission to the moon without anyone noticing would be like dropping a nuclear weapon on Mar-a-Lago under cover of darkness.

The crew assignments are a bit wobbly. Pete Conrad was a veteran of Gemini 5 and 11, as well as commanding Apollo 12 in 1969. It would have been unusual for him to have been given a second command slot for a lunar landing. Alan Bean, the supposed Lunar Module Pilot, had already filled that role, also on Apollo 12. Jack Swigert had served as Command Module Pilot on Apollo 13, which didn’t land on the moon due to an explosion in-flight. NASA tended not to give mission commanders a second shot, and their crews would be given command roles of their own at the next opportunity. The crew roster isn’t impossible, just highly unlikely.

The name Challenger had already been used for the Apollo 17 Lunar Module. The Space Shuttle Challenger was not flown until 1983, seven years after this fictional mission. The shuttle vehicles were able to reach earth orbit, but the moon was way beyond their capability. The equipment list reads more like that carried on Apollo 11; later moon expeditions were extremely well equipped, with lunar roving vehicles and small satellites included.

The supposed mission plan to “hover” at the south pole twelve miles above the surface is ridiculous. As is the notion of an “erg” — whatever that is — formed by the nonexistent lunar atmosphere. The description of the mission — low on power and sailing through a solar storm — is fanciful but we return to reality with the comment that mankind has not returned to the moon in forty years. Almost fifty, to be accurate.

Reliable? No!

The AI article-writer doesn’t check its facts. Instead, it aims for kind-of-plausible statements that might fool a reader who doesn’t know their subject.

Using the raw AI output would be most unwise. Use Google and Wikipedia to check for accuracy, and tone down some of the wilder claims. Otherwise be prepared to be ridiculed and rejected by readers and editors.

A few words on the “photograph”

The image of a boxy rover on the lunar surface looks photo-realistic but does not represent any vehicle actually deployed during the Apollo program. Possibly — despite the US flag — the image resembles unmanned rovers sent by Russia or China. I don’t know.

Still, it looks like something that could have been sent to the lunar surface on a secret mission. The only jarring element is the horizon line where a light sky is visible. On the moon the sky would be black. See below for a NASA photograph showing a lunar rover.

OK, I cheated

I forced Writesonic to tell lies. There was no Apollo 18, no Apollo mission was launched in secret (then again, how would I know? Wow!) and no manned mission has gone to the lunar polar regions.

So I knew a lot of the output would be rubbish.

Not that this is a bad thing if you are writing fiction. Ideas and whimsy can be valuable.

On the other hand…

AI can do very well on straightforward topics. Advice on how to be happy, or to write inspiring stories. Simple topics where the internet’s body of knowledge — and wisdom — may be drawn upon and presented in a refreshing manner.

Really, the world of AI is your oyster. Crack it open and enjoy!

Duncan Klein