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The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit

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Re: The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit

#351

Post by protortyp »

I doubt that the dogshit is so much worse than it used to be. Unfortunately, I also contributed to this. When I was 13 or 14, I scripted a little tool that allowed me to write one tech news blog post and generate multiple versions of it by simply swapping phrases, adding practically zero value. You'd be surprised (or not) how much of a tech news blog is repetitive wording, mainly to fill yet one more adsense banner after a new paragraph. It was not based on AI, but the core principle was the same as the example in the article.

I published each version on a separate WordPress blog covering roughly the same topic, chose random pictures, set random publish dates close to each other, and signed them all up for Google News. This non-AI dogshit dominated a small tech niche, making a decent amount of money at the time for a 14-year-old. I am pretty sure I was not the only one coming up with that idea at the time.

Re: The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit

#352

Post by chrismorgan »

hyperthesis wrote: post #234
pavel_lishin wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should start donating more heavily to archive.org - the way back machine may soon be the only way to find useful data on the internet, by cutting out anything published after ~2020 or so.

~2020, the end of history

I’m afraid that already happened after World War I, according to the final sentence of 1066 and All That https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1066_and_All_That>:

> America was thus clearly Top Nation, and History came to a .

(For any confused Americans, remember . is a full stop, not a period.)

Re: The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit

#353

Post by vibrolax »

globular-toast wrote: post #290
peppermint_gum wrote: post #89

One aspect of the spread of LLMs is that we have lost a useful heuristic. Poor spelling and grammar used to be a signal used to quickly filter out worthless posts. Unfortunately, this doesn't work at all for AI-generated garbage. Its command of the language is perfect - in fact, it's much better than that of most human beings. Anyone can instantly generate superficially coherent posts. You no longer have to hire a co…

There might be a reversal. Humans might start intentionally misspelling stuff in novel ways to signal that they are really human. Gen Zs already don't use capitals or any other punctuation.

gen-z channels ee cummings

Re: The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit

#354

Post by zer0tonin »

robocat wrote: post #285
bluefirebrand wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the camp where I want AI and automation to free people from drudgery in the hope that it will encourage the biggest HUMAN artwork renaissance ever in history. I don't want AI to be at the forefront of all new media and artwork. That's a terrible outcome to me. And honestly there's already too much "content" in the world and being produced every day, and it seems like every time we step further up the "content…

> free people from drudgery in the hope that it will encourage the biggest HUMAN artwork renaissance ever in history. This experiment has been run in most wealthy nations and the artwork renaissance didn't happen. Most older people don't do arts/sciences when they retire from work. From what I see of younger people that no longer have to work (for whatever reason) neither do younger people become artists given the op…

Well I do art in the evenings and weekends, so we exist you know

Re: The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit

#355

Post by nerdponx »

tonymet wrote: post #256
nerdponx wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sewage has already been flowing for years. Now we're just going to have more of it. Search results on both Bing and DDG have been rendered functionally useless for a year or so now. Almost every page is an SEO-oriented blob of questionable content hosted on faceless websites that exist solely for ads and affiliate links, whether it's AI-generated or underpaid-third-world-worker-generated.

You see how that’s worse, don’t you?

It was a growing trend even before ChatGPT was released. The trend accelerated, but it's not new.

Re: The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit

#356

Post by tonymet »

waveBidder wrote: post #283
tonymet wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this is true it implies all news and history for the past 10 years is also human-generated bullshit. I’m not saying you’re wrong – just that you have to follow your beliefs to their conclusions.

humans are quite capable of generating bullshit, I don't think that's ever been in contention. doesn't mean all or even most human generated content is garbage.

It may. And given the claim that most of the web is dogshit, that means that most of everything we are consuming is dogshit. Unless we can come up with a model and framework for discernment. And we don't have a workable one.

Re: The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit

#357

Post by trealira »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #265
lambda_garden wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think how many game developers were able to realize their vision because Unity3D was accessible to them but raw C++ programming was not. We may see similar outcomes for other budding artists with the help of AI models. I'm quite excited!

Except 'their vision' is practically homogeneous. I can't think even think of a dozen Unity games that broke the mould, and genuinely stand out, out of the many tens of thousands (?). There's Genshin Impact, Pokemon Go, Superhot, Beat Saber, Monument Valley, Subnautica, Among Us, Rust, Cities:Skylines (maybe), Ori (maybe), COD:Mobile (maybe) and...?

Some other Unity games that are fun, and which others haven't mentioned:

Cuphead

Escape Academy

Overcooked

Monster Sanctuary

Lunistice

Re: The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit

#358

Post by switch007 »

peppermint_gum wrote: post #89

One aspect of the spread of LLMs is that we have lost a useful heuristic. Poor spelling and grammar used to be a signal used to quickly filter out worthless posts. Unfortunately, this doesn't work at all for AI-generated garbage. Its command of the language is perfect - in fact, it's much better than that of most human beings. Anyone can instantly generate superficially coherent posts. You no longer have to hire a co…

> that we have lost a useful heuristic

But we've gained some new ones. I find ChatGPT-generated text predictable in structure and lacking any kind of flair. It seems to avoid hyperbole, emotional language and extreme positions. Worthless is subjective, but ChatGPT-generated text could be considered worthless to a lot of people in a lot of situations.

Re: The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit

#359

Post by photon_collider »

peppermint_gum wrote: post #89

One aspect of the spread of LLMs is that we have lost a useful heuristic. Poor spelling and grammar used to be a signal used to quickly filter out worthless posts. Unfortunately, this doesn't work at all for AI-generated garbage. Its command of the language is perfect - in fact, it's much better than that of most human beings. Anyone can instantly generate superficially coherent posts. You no longer have to hire a co…

I agree. I've noticed the other heuristic that works is "wordiness". Content generated by AI tends to be verbose. But, as you suggested, it might just be a matter of time until this heuristic also no longer becomes obsolete.

Re: The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit

#360

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

monkeynotes wrote: post #293
bluefirebrand wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you remember when email first came around and it was a useful tool for connecting with people across the world, like friends and family? Does anyone still use email for that? We all still HAVE email addresses, but the vast majority of our communication has moved elsewhere. Now all email is used for is receiving spam from companies and con artists. The same thing happened with the telephone. It's not just text mess…

> Now all email is used for is receiving spam from companies and con artists. No it isn't, unless you are 12 maybe.

That's not a response to GPs thesis, just an irrelevant nitpick.
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