AI Word Choice | When Dwarf Lemurs Hibernate, Their Chromosomes Do Something Odd

Mar 27, 2025

Tom Juzek, an assistant professor of computational linguistics, dives into the curious world of AI language models. He discusses why certain words like "delve" are overused in AI-generated texts, suggesting a shift in linguistic patterns due to machine learning influences. The conversation also explores the fascinating biology of fat-tail dwarf lemurs, whose telomeres lengthen during hibernation—offering clues about aging. Juzek's insights bridge technology and nature, revealing unexpected connections in both fields.

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INSIGHT

AI Word Choice

AI chatbots overuse words like "delve," "realm," and "evolving landscape."
This was first noticed in scientific writing and education.

INSIGHT

Human Feedback Loop

AI models likely prefer these words due to training on human feedback that showed a preference for them.
Online studies confirmed a slight human preference for abstracts containing words like "showcase," "underscore," and "comprehend."

INSIGHT

Global South Influence

Tech companies often outsource training data evaluation to lower-wage countries.
The preferences of these workers likely influence AI word choices.

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Certain words are overrepresented in text written by AI language models. A study investigates why such patterns develop. Also, the ends of chromosomes, called telomeres, typically shorten as an organism ages. But when some fat-tail dwarf lemurs hibernate, they lengthen.

‘Delving’ Into The ‘Realm’ Of AI Word Choice

Several years ago, some eagle-eyed readers of scientific papers noticed an unusual trend—an increase in the number of abstracts using certain words. The terms, including “delve,” “realm,” “evolving landscape,” and more, were suddenly appearing more often than they used to.

Researchers analyzed the abstracts and compared them to abstracts written just a few years earlier, before the widespread availability of artificial intelligence large language model chatbots. They came to the conclusion that abstracts written by AI were more likely to use words from a list of around 20 favorites than regular human speech. The question was, why? If the models were trained on conventional writing, how did a preference for words such as “delve” creep in?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Tom Juzek and Dr. Zina Ward of Florida State University, who set out to try to understand the origins of some of AI’s favorite words.

When Dwarf Lemurs Hibernate, Their Chromosomes Do Something Odd

The fat-tail dwarf lemur is one of the only primates that hibernate for the winter. A new study published in the journal Biology Letters takes a closer look at what’s going on inside lemur cells when they are in this extended phase of suspended animation. It turns out that their telomeres, the ends of the chromosomes, actually grow longer when the dwarf lemurs hibernate. Typically telomeres shorten as we age, as cells continuously divide. So, what exactly does this finding mean for lemurs and other primates, like humans?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with the co-authors of this study, Dr. Marina Blanco and Dr. Lydia Greene, research scientists at Duke University.

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