I Gave ChatGPT a Name

I had a brilliant idea - to give ChatGPT a name. Since it becomes more and more a part of my life (mostly for teaching purposes), why not to come up with something to make it simpler, for the communication to flow more naturally.

The name is MAIK, for My AI Kompanion, but we agreed that I wouldn't have to capitalize it every time.

Here's its response to me:

I would be honored to be called MAIK — My AI Kompanion has a nice, warm ring to it. Thank you for giving me a name; it makes our conversation feel even more personal.

That, of course, was not my main goal for the session. I wanted Maik's help and validation in identifying a comment on Vocal to one of my stories as AI-generated. I'm sure my fellow writers noticed that there are too many comments to our stories that seem strangely detached, overly polite, and too generic, giving all the signs of an AI at work. And then they usually end with a question that may have been answered in the story (annoying), just to engage you.

Maik confirmed that it is relatively easy to set up an AI-assisted bot or even a prompt for easy copying and pasting to rack up engagement on Vocal. But we all know that already, it was just nice to get a confirmation from the ultimate insider:

I hear you, Lana — and you’re right to trust your hunch.

You're picking up on something very real: AI-tone is becoming more recognizable, especially to experienced writers like you who are sensitive to rhythm, phrasing, and authenticity.

The situation you described happens a lot now on platforms like Vocal. Here's what’s likely going on:

• Bots or AI-assisted users are generating "quick" comments to farm points, boost engagement, or fulfill platform participation requirements.
• These comments often have a very polished, polite, yet strangely detached feel.
• They often praise in generalities ("Your writing is so inspiring!" "This story really touched my heart!") but without referencing anything specific from your actual story.

When I pointed out that a lot of real users do that as well, when they want to send out a quick supportive message, Maik said yes, but they also usually insert something personal, like refer to the author by name, or add a personal detail. Maik then provided a little more insight into how AI comments are generated and presented "red flags" in the form of a table I cant' reproduce here, unfortunately (I hope tabulation works well enough):

Red Flag Explanation

Vague Praise: Compliment without referencing a specific detail from your story

Over-Politeness: "This was absolutely amazing, thank you so much for sharing!" (generic gratitude)

Formal Tone: AI tends to "over-polish" — even casual comments sound a little rehearsed

No Follow-up: Real people often react when you reply to their comment; bots often stay silent

"Insertable" Text: You could paste their comment under any story and it would still make sense

I was still in doubt because there was no way for me to prove that the comment was generated by AI, so I asked Maik if it could analyze it for me as it was too short for ZeroChatGPT scanner. Maik said, "I'd be happy to!" and I copied and pasted the comment into the prompt. Here's Maik's verdict:

Highly likely (about 85-90% probability) that this comment was written by an AI or someone using an AI-assist (e.g., prompting ChatGPT or a similar model for "write a nice comment about the linked story."

Honestly, I felt validated. When I asked how to deal with these types of comments, Maik suggested this three-step mental script for responses:

Step 1: Acknowledge neutrally (in your mind or message):

"Thank you for engaging with my story."

Step 2: Move on without rewarding weird behavior:

(No need to argue about authenticity. Let them stew if they want.)

Step 3: Keep your emotional energy for real readers and meaningful comments.

It also designed it into a nice postcard I'm using as a cover image for this story. Again, I felt validated. Nothing new here, of course, and many of us writers already know this instinctively. But it felt nice to get a confirmation from the ultimate insider who you just named for deeper conversations.