To use ChatGPT to write a eulogy

[Eastie77Returns]

I’m attending the funeral of a family member who was a very difficult person and had alienated most of the family. I have another thread about the difficulties we have encountered trying to comply with their funeral wishes. I have been asked to deliver the eulogy as no-one else wants to do it.

I found it tricky to write so I put a prompt in ChatGPT and 20 seconds later had a perfectly written eulogy. Tweaked it a bit and now it’s done.

Family members think it’s not very nice to read something AI generated but since none of them are helping me here, I really don’t see the harm in just making something up. Ok it’s all BS and drivel with bits about the deceased’s kindness, humour etc but surely bettor than nothing or the truth about their often unpleasant personality?!

I had to write one for my father who wasn't a particularly nice man. I just basically wrote his biography. The priest integrated it into the service. There was no way I was putting a pack of lies in it.

It's normal for the eulogy to be sympathetic, I would stop overthinking and get it out of the way!

That 'honest' eulogy is a brilliant illustration of the limits of AI. ChatGPT doesn't do diplomacy or nuance. And it's always painfully generic - always very, very obvious when it's been used. People who think it produces 'good' stuff either have low standards or don't understand that it doesn't actually 'write' things - it puts together things that have already been written somewhere, and the more often those wordings have been used, the more likely ChatGPT is to use them too.

There's very little difference between ChatGPT and a template pulled off the internet - the latter of which was written by humans. On its own generic, bland and boring. However, they're structured and polished in a way that's very hard to achieve compared to starting with a blank sheet of paper, unless you're a skilled writer. IMO the latter is what people are referring to when they say 'good'.

What makes the speec 'good' in every sense however is the right personal anecdotes, inserted in between the templated words. Some people are just better at choosing ones that hit the right note. Others can barely remember anything and so go with the full template, leading to a boring speech.

When asked for personal anecdotes to write our ceremony I was overflowing with examples of my future husband's kindness, humour, etc etc. It took him quite a bit of effort however to think of 'examples'...

this

add in that the subject was a miserable git.
use the chat generated stuff as a starter & edit as needed.

I reckon I'd feel I'd failed as a human being if someone used Chat GPT to write my eulogy ....

YANBU to use the AI.

YABU for not editing the obviously untrue bits and telling people you used AI.

Why? Some people are not good at public speaking or at writing. It's no reflection on the dead person but simply reflects the skills or lack thereof of the person doing the eulogy.

I suspect next to nobody actually writes a eulogy from scratch anyway. Most people would, at the very least, use a template. Using Chatgpt is pretty much the same - you're using a tool to put the words together.

Why? You're not going to care and if you did , wouldn't you want loved ones to have help with a difficult task at a difficult time?

very true points