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Facebook scraped every Australian adult user's public posts to train AI

abc.net.au

51–60 of 267 posts

Re: Facebook scraped every Australian adult user's public posts to train AI

#51
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's... really not. Despite what some people seem to think, most of the 3 billion+ Facebook users are normal people who aren't just posting nonsense or memes.

Their algorithm sure does a good job at filtering those normal people out...

Maybe that says more about you and how you engage with it than it does the platform though.

Re: Facebook scraped every Australian adult user's public posts to train AI

#52

Was "public" ever the default setting? I remember it as being opt-in if you ever wanted something to show beyond your friends-of-friends.

Yes, “Everyone” was the default for years https://readwrite.com/facebook_pushes_people_to_go_public/

Re: Facebook scraped every Australian adult user's public posts to train AI

#53

I am very likely in the minority here, but I think AI SHOULD be trained on everything that is in the public sphere. I'd be disappointed if it wasn't trained on everything they had access to. If it is trained on private information, then I would have issue with it.

The question become are post with a limited reach (friends) the public sphere.

Re: Facebook scraped every Australian adult user's public posts to train AI

#54
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their algorithm sure does a good job at filtering those normal people out...

Maybe that says more about you and how you engage with it than it does the platform though.

Does it? I deleted my Facebook back in 2016 or so when it got so bad. Before that, I used extensions to make it show posts from friends in chronological order instead of whatever it was optimizing for by default (engagement/controversy, I think?)

It's just such a toxic, manipulated environment... I don't use social media anymore, just text some friends, and am much happier.

Re: Facebook scraped every Australian adult user's public posts to train AI

#55
post #34

Was "public" ever the default setting? I remember it as being opt-in if you ever wanted something to show beyond your friends-of-friends.

On Facebook, public isn't the default, but on Instagram it is. All those billions of photos, including all those famous people: evidently fair game.

I don't think you can make a blanket statement like this - the defaults and privacy policy for FB have changed a lot in 16 years, multiple times. It might be the case today, but this is 16 years of data.

Re: Facebook scraped every Australian adult user's public posts to train AI

#56
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their algorithm sure does a good job at filtering those normal people out...

Maybe that says more about you and how you engage with it than it does the platform though.

it's true, I only have to reply to one stupid post and I'm flooded by similar nonsense. now I've taken to closing it if it shows me anything other than a nice house or a cat. i definitely see less dumb.

Re: Facebook scraped every Australian adult user's public posts to train AI

#57
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe that says more about you and how you engage with it than it does the platform though.

Does it? I deleted my Facebook back in 2016 or so when it got so bad. Before that, I used extensions to make it show posts from friends in chronological order instead of whatever it was optimizing for by default (engagement/controversy, I think?) It's just such a toxic, manipulated environment... I don't use social media anymore, just text some friends, and am much happier.

You don’t consider HN social media?

Re: Facebook scraped every Australian adult user's public posts to train AI

#58

Funny to think that the distillation of 16 years of Facebook posts is now considered "intelligence."

I wonder how much safety work they have to do specifically because of this. I’d imagine their model might have a fairly paranoid, slightly racist bias if not. Particularly as younger demographics shifted away from FB in the last decade.

Considering the standard datasets contain 4chan posts it’s probably a marginal improvement.

Re: Facebook scraped every Australian adult user's public posts to train AI

#59

I am very likely in the minority here, but I think AI SHOULD be trained on everything that is in the public sphere. I'd be disappointed if it wasn't trained on everything they had access to. If it is trained on private information, then I would have issue with it.

I don't agree because it creates this dilemma for creators: you need to put your work out there to get traction, but if you put your work out there and anything public is fair game, then it will be sampled by a computer and instantly recreated at scale. This might even happen without the operator knowing whose work is being ripped off.

Commercial art producers have always ripped off minor artists. They would do it by keeping it very similar to the original but just different enough to avoid being sued. Despite this, I personally know two artists who have sued major companies who ripped off their work for ads, and both won million-plus settlements. Why would we embrace this now that a computer can do it and there's a level of deniability? I don't understand how this benefits anyone.

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