Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet
mastodon.lawprofs.org
Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet
1–10 of 59 posts
Re: Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet
#2That mastodon instance does not seem to be ready for HN
Re: Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet
#3Hugged?
Re: Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet
#4[deleted]
Re: Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet
#5It seems the site is down so I typed cache:https://mastodon.lawprofs.org/@jtlg/112052299948819084 on Google and checked the text version. Here's what it says:
>To use the Mastodon web application, please enable JavaScript. Alternatively, try one of the native apps for Mastodon for your platform.
That's very grim indeed.
Re: Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet
#6>> In the last few months, the constant flood of algorithmically generated junk content has kicked into an AI-powered overdrive, and it is cutting a swath of destruction as it overwhelms search engines, filters, and moderation systems
Nothing that wasn't happening already since some 15 years or so.
Re: Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet
#7It seems the site is down so I typed cache: https://mastodon.lawprofs.org/@jtlg/112052299948819084 on Google and checked the text version. Here's what it says: >To use the Mastodon web application, please enable JavaScript. Alternatively, try one of the native apps for Mastodon for your platform. That's very grim indeed.
I managed to connect. I don't know how much I can copy, since it's quite a long thread, but here is the first message.
> Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet.
> In the last few months, the constant flood of algorithmically generated junk content has kicked into an AI-powered overdrive, and it is cutting a swath of destruction as it overwhelms search engines, filters, and moderation systems
> Call it Gresham's Law 2.0: bad content drives out good.
> I'm starting this thread to document it, because there is a lot happening all at once.
> #greshamslaw20
Re: Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet
#8"Google is taking action against algorithmically generated spam. The search engine giant just announced upcoming changes, including a revamped spam policy, designed in part to keep AI clickbait out of its search results."
Even before the AI floodgates were opened, there was a huge problem with ads and SEO-optimized junk written by humans clogging up Google, and pushing the good stuff into the SERP netherworld. People complained for years (including here) with no discernible improvement.
It's one of the reasons HN turned into one of my go-to places for finding the good stuff - obscure blog posts and social media threads and websites that share facts, recollections, opinions, and expert insights that can't be found anywhere else. However, HN and a few other high-quality discovery sites can only go so far in surfacing such content.
Now it looks like Google, Amazon, and other Lords of the Internet are going to cause further damage with inevitable false positives as "AI spam detection" is unleashed on the Internet. Of course, there will be no recourse other than victims pleading for human intervention on a forum like this or hoping it goes viral on social media.
Re: Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet
#9That mastodon instance does not seem to be ready for HN
Works fine for me, 10 minutes after this was posted. I'm not sure if this thread unrolled caches responses or not, but if it does maybe those who can't get through can read it here.
https://mastoreader.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmastodon.lawprofs....
or
https://unroller.zachmanson.com/tree/https://mastodon.lawpro...
Re: Something exceptionally grim is happening on the Internet
#10>> In the last few months, the constant flood of algorithmically generated junk content has kicked into an AI-powered overdrive, and it is cutting a swath of destruction as it overwhelms search engines, filters, and moderation systems Nothing that wasn't happening already since some 15 years or so.
I think you are massively underestimating how quickly AI generated content is going to dominate the web. This is something new.