Something I’ve found disappointing in the “AI conversation” around me …
… there hasn’t been enough honest introspection about how this whole thing feels and likely will feel.
Like, there’s something disturbing in AI’s first “success” being “art” and “music”.
There’s something disturbing about how we were never going to be able to help ourselves & are compelled to make things like LLMs, but can still be frightened by its implications.
anger v hype leaves all that out
I feel like people don’t discuss it much, because it would mostly amount to “Capitalism, amiright?”. It’s not surprising that companies have no consideration for their actions, other than how it affects shareholder value.
I’m certainly not fond of artistic careers not being viable anymore, especially since LLMs hardly create new jobs to catch these people.
Also really not a fan of all the spam that killed internet search, nor the climate impact. For a moment, I felt like we had the IT industry back on track, after cryptomining folded. Nope, here’s a way to burn tons of energy for you to generate some text or image that is unlikely to contribute much to anything.
At the same time, of course, there’s some opportunities there. Mozilla is generating alt texts for images, so that visually impaired folks have a description to go off of. Like, that feels worth it.
If we switch to 100% regenerative energy and solve the unemployment problems (which I’m not holding my breath for), then I would also be onboard with having some fun with it. Then we can build videogames and have tons of texts in there, which get voiced by some AI.
Like, that’s definitely where feeling comes in. If the ethics of it are garbage, then I cannot get excited about dicking aroubd with it. I know many people ignore the ethics, but that is just weird to me.
@Ephera
> “Capitalism, amiright?”
Yea, I was driving at more existential dread angle, not anything causal or analytical.
For instance, the “weirdness” of the quality of current AIs not being great but also sometimes better than some people, at least on their off days … all highlighting how “untalented” some people out there can be at things. There’s some disconcerting truth in that.