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Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

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Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#201

Post by goodluckchuck »

pixl97 wrote: post #193
guntherhermann wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But these people all existed 10, 20, 30 years ago, they have existed and will continue to exist throughout humanity. You cannot fix stupid. What is the solution, to control 'The Message'? I agree with the parent. I grew up on the 90s internet, where you didn't believe anything on it! Somewhere along the lines this changed (I blame 2007 -- the iPhone / huge numbers of people going online during this period), and that…

The question that we need to ask is "Will unlimited lies kill us faster than unlimited truth". If we can avoid global warfare with unlimited truth/lies then what we are doing is fine. If we cannot, then openness is a dead end. Democracy will vote in authoritarian leaders to attempt to overcome the ocean of lies and bullshit and we will destroy ourselves.

I don’t understand that question. What system can distinguish lies from truth better than each person for themselves? To me, the question is more freedom of speech or less freedom of speech. At best retaining the existing restrictions would have a neutral impact on both, and likely would restrict the truth more than lies.

After all, the truth is often more quiet than a lie.

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#202

Post by infomofo »

Google used to have a feature to suppress sites or domains from your personal search result. This was back in the day where any programming question would lead to a paywalled site like experts-exchange which was a frustrating experience so it was easy to block. I suppose google removed that feature because it messed with monetization possibilities in search, but it is another indication of the way that google has really deprioritized the quality of the search experience for the user.

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#203

Post by unstuck3958 »

Auguste wrote: post #80
marban wrote: post #41

Kagi and DDG link the same Quora thread as #1. So much for alternatives.

The difference with Kagi is it lets me completely block Quora from my search results. Quora has been garbage for years, even before they started using AI answers.

> The difference with Kagi is it lets me completely block Quora from my search results.

Can also be done through content filtering extensions (e.g. ublock origin [1])

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/meflfv/rules_...

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#204

Post by saagarjha »

AlanYx wrote: post #142
Ensorceled wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The tendency of a lot of the population to prioritise quick and vapid answers over researching and thinking for themselves isn't helping either. This makes no sense... how do they "research researching and thinking for themselves" without the internet? Encyclopædia Britannica stopped publishing in 2010.

For what it's worth, World Book still publishes the print version of their encyclopedia.

They look great on a shelf.

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#205

Post by pixl97 »

goodluckchuck wrote: post #201
pixl97 wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question that we need to ask is "Will unlimited lies kill us faster than unlimited truth". If we can avoid global warfare with unlimited truth/lies then what we are doing is fine. If we cannot, then openness is a dead end. Democracy will vote in authoritarian leaders to attempt to overcome the ocean of lies and bullshit and we will destroy ourselves.

I don’t understand that question. What system can distinguish lies from truth better than each person for themselves? To me, the question is more freedom of speech or less freedom of speech. At best retaining the existing restrictions would have a neutral impact on both, and likely would restrict the truth more than lies. After all, the truth is often more quiet than a lie.

>and likely would restrict the truth more than lies.

Lies are infinite and the truth is not, so I see that to be logically impossible. You would filter far more lies by total number, but filter more truths per capita. In such a system that unlimited or otherwise near infinite lying is possible, the group with the most entropy to spend wins. I just keep you busy filtering bullshit to the point you have nothing else to do.

The problem with lying at the end of the day is there has to be either a social or legal cost to the liar. If not, all communications turns to spam. Then people will go to industry or government to deal with the problem in one way or another.

Free speech absolutists that ignore physics reject reality.

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#206

Post by berniedurfee »

KRAKRISMOTT wrote: post #162
alasdair_ wrote: post #153

Quora is clearly doing this so that they rank highly on Google and get clicks. What surprises me is that Google doesn't seem to care, despite their stance that "Using automation—including AI—to generate content with the primary purpose of manipulating ranking in search results is a violation of our spam policies." https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/02/google-sea...

Quora's boss seats on Open AI's board.

Follow the money

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#207

Post by lossolo »

adrianmonk wrote: post #192
rob74 wrote: post #13

Google's "answers" feature was already unreliable enough when there was only one AI involved (the one picking the answers) - I remember it once said that the capacity of an Amiga floppy was 1760 KB, because the Wikipedia page it picked ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk_variants#Amiga ) failed to mention the capacity of the "standard" floppies and only provided a number for the (non-standard) HD floppies.

Search: "first baby boomer president". Google knowledge panel's answer: "Harry S. Truman". The correct answer is Bill Clinton, born in 1946. Truman was president from 1945 to 1953, so he was the first president in office during the actual baby boom, when the Baby Boomers were babies. So there seems to be a connection, it's just totally the wrong one.

ChatGPT:

> The first baby boomer president of the United States is Bill Clinton. He was born on August 19, 1946, which places him within the demographic cohort known as the baby boomers.

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#208

Post by robertlagrant »

zadik wrote: post #105
robertlagrant wrote: post #51

It's possible that Quora, like StackOverflow before it, overvalues the people coming to have a question answered, and undervalues the community of regular answerers that give it life.

[dead]

What's MOC?

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#209

Post by jgalt212 »

tjrgergw wrote: post #50
jgalt212 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

funny you should mention this, but Encyclopedia Britannica is online, free, and perhaps unsurprisingly does not often show up on SERP page 1.

Serious question - do you have experience to EB? You mentioned SERP and I thought - doesn't matter to me, I have a custom search for Wikipedia that I use instead of google when I know there's a wikipedia for something (I've developed really good intuition for this). But... the same isn't true for EB, but should it? Does EB ever have anything that's not on wikipedia? Like, ever?

For figures or issues mired in controversy, for better or worse, you never see edit wars.

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#210

Post by ncallaway »

goodluckchuck wrote: post #189
ncallaway wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we have to go through a holocaust or a genocide to get to that utopia where people can sift through this flood of information with well-honed critical thinking skills, will it be worth it? Because, in the extremes, that’s what we’re talking about. Genocides often come as the result of a long disinformation and dehumanization campaign.

I think you’re viewing this completely backwards. With a more free and efficient public discourse the opportunity for disinformation and dehumanization is reduced. Sure, some idiots on the internet will be saying x, y, and z, but that’s not very effective. It’ll only be roughly as effective as their claims are true. Historically these campaigns would be waged by groups with overwhelming culture-making powers, who cou…

> It’ll only be roughly as effective as their claims are true.

Boy, do I wish I had your faith. That hasn't been my experience with how claims are evaluated on the internet, nor with how they spread.

It certainly seems to me that claims that are more interesting or emotive spread further, regardless of their truth value. It certainly seems to me that corrections to false claims don't spread nearly as far as the original false claims. And it seems to me that false claims are much easier to produce than true claims, so are produced in greater volumes.

I just don't see it being "as effective as their claims are true", I see it being "as effective as their claims are *desirable*". That seems (again, to me) to be the much more important factor in how a claim spreads. And...well...humans have a very strong tendency to blame their problems on outside groups and factions. It's very desirable for groups to blame our problems on others.

I really have seen very little evidence that an idea/meme's effectiveness at spreading has a strong correlation to its truth value.

I hope you're right. I want to live in a world where you're right. But I also am terrified that we live in a world where you're wrong. I don't think the world you want to live in happens automatically. I think it takes a tremendous amount of work to achieve, and if we just assume it's natural, I don't think we will realize that world.

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