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 Replies: 32 / Views: 1,494 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
959 Posts |
Here's an example of how much lackadaisical sellers are relying on ebay's AI technology to produce the descriptions for the items they're selling: I typed, with quotation marks, the phrase "must-have for any serious collector" into the ebay search engine and received 120,000+ results. ebay AI is making these ill-informed sellers sound like untrustworthy used car dealers and snake oil salesmen.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
15747 Posts |
captainrich, the AI descriptions are repetitious and often ludicrous. This is one of my favorites spotted in a ridiculous auction that we were lambasting in a different thread: "Not only is this quarter a rare find, but it is also uncertified, which adds to its exclusivity." Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
Edited by Hondo Boguss
12/25/2023 12:31 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
16857 Posts |
I've seen the same--typically not from long-time, established sellers, but from those who appear to be rather new to the numismatic world.
Must-have for any serious collector... is a favorite of mine.
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Forum Dad
United States
23686 Posts |
I like "Mint condition for it's age."
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Moderator
United States
54140 Posts |
Here's a few: 1958-D damaged cent: "Although uncertified, this coin is in excellent condition and showcases the quality of the Denver mint." 1964-D circulated Lincoln Cent: "Don't miss out on this opportunity to own a piece of history!" circulated Roosevelt dime: "It is ungraded and uncertified, adding to its appeal as a unique piece of United States coinage" Lincoln Cent with "grease errors": "Certification for this item is not available, but its condition is evident in its impeccable strike" Show your financial support of the Coin Community Family (click here)See my topic on Mexican Numismatic Medals (click here) |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
15747 Posts |
Listing for a circulated 1989-D Lincoln Memorial cent ($1500) has several AI gems in the description: "With its unique composition and mint location in Denver, it's a rare find for any collector." "The penny is ungraded and uncertified, making it even more special as its true value and condition can only be determined by the eye of the beholder." Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
959 Posts |
Quote:Listing for a circulated 1989-D Lincoln Memorial cent ($1500) has several AI gems in the description: "With its unique composition and mint location in Denver, it's a rare find for any collector." Hondo, I just did a search on ebay for the phrase "a rare find for any collector" and got over 28,000 hits  : 
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
15747 Posts |
Oh dear, captainrich - AI is taking over the world! Gotta love that Jefferson listing - the " no mint mark" rears its ugly head again. Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4065 Posts |
Just had a new phrase tonight: "This coin is uncertified and ungraded, which offers the collector the opportunity to choose their preferred grading company."
I think the description spammer bot might be developing a subversive sense of humor.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1646 Posts |
Interesting. This is what ebay was saying regarding their AI listing tools using Azure's OpenAI technologies. Our new image-based magical listing tool allows sellers to take or upload a photo in the ebay app (iOS-only for now) and watch AI fill in item information details. From a simple photo, AI can write titles, descriptions and add vital information, which could include product release date, detailed category and sub-category, and can combine with ebay's other tech to suggest a listing price and shipping cost. This addresses what we call the "cold start" issue, in which first-time sellers can feel overwhelmed with the amount of information required to create a competitive listing. There's no need to work through a cold start with AI: as soon as you're ready to sell, your listing is ready to post. https://innovation.ebayinc.com/tech...re-accurate/So my opinion is that is good for newbies to get started as mentioned (cold start) and perhaps also for the lazy or those not creative or good at writing to post up more product, but its quite possible that those that take time to put up a better description would typically get the sale instead, although when products are all the same (sealed new items that could alll use generic stock photo) or unique and therefore don't have competition, then it may not matter. The only time I would have issue is if it became unable to not use what the AI put or they start using ai for pricing and can't use your own mind to do so etc. As an assistance tool it has some merit but some of those examples show its very early still. Hopefully AI wont train from tv commercials....  Edited by datadragon
01/02/2024 11:45 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
15747 Posts |
datadragon, I was looking for an obscure coin and found several on ebay of comparable condition and price. One of the sellers (a coin shop, no less) used the AI description. Their offering was immediately dropped from my consideration. Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21593 Posts |
Never done ebay. I always prefer to examine in hand, each coin before I buy. |
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Moderator
United States
54140 Posts |
With a good implementation of AI, one should not be able to tell it wasn't written by a human. ebay's implementation is horrible. It was written by an ex-snake oil salesman. Show your financial support of the Coin Community Family (click here)See my topic on Mexican Numismatic Medals (click here) |
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Moderator
United States
157664 Posts |
AI is only as good as what data it is fed. Garbage in, Garbage out.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4325 Posts |
Actually JBuck it's not GIGO, but there is another aspect, which is the purpose behind it, which most people miss.
Generative AI takes a huge corpus of text and derives the sequence of words likely to follow sequences of words. Thus if fed large amounts of reasonably well written text with words in orders that make sense, it will output text with words in orders that make sense.
Doesn't say anything about the content.
-----Burton 50 year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, OnLine Coin Club Owned by four cats and a wife of 40 years (joined 1983) |
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Moderator
United States
157664 Posts |
I stand by what I said. The assumption of "reasonably well written text" is asking a lot.
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Replies: 32 / Views: 1,494 |
Posted 12/25/2023 11:13 am
