To be so sick of AI!

[Missingpate]

It’s everywhere and it’s awful! On a personal level, taking over my FB feed with nonsense, fake images that are just annoying, irritating platitudes… the first thing you get on an internet search is a load of Ai content scraped from all over so you have no idea what you are reading and can’t begin to credit a source if researching etc. it’s basically theft, as I see many are now petitioning to point out.
And it’s terrifying for what it is likely to do to the jobs market and all sorts of other Black Mirror type things my brain can’t fully imagine but I’ve no doubt are coming. Yesterday my boss had an email from a company with an AI plan to do what I do, explaining all the things they could offer. We all had a good chuckle about it because it totally lost all the nuance of the actual role involved but for many this will become reality. It all feels nightmarish quite frankly. I’m sure there are some good things but struggling to see many. Medical ones come to mind, I suppose. But wanted to rant, so ranting 😂

@RainySunnyWhatevery AI doesn't worry or confuse me, maybe because I have gone through that 'holy shit' moment when smart phones, Facebook, insta etc became widely used

Yes of course people often panic for no reason. But there are trade-offs with most new technologies, and I actually think the examples you’ve given are ones where we’ve lost far more than we’ve gained.

But humans can be consciously aware of their bias and take precautions - even as simple as a recruitment panel so hopefully biases are cancelled out. That isn't possible with AI.

Yes of course people often panic for no reason. But there are trade-offs with most new technologies, and I actually think the examples you’ve given are ones where we’ve lost far more than we’ve gained.

I'm Gen Z. I would love to go back to a time where I'd never heard of a smart phone.

I also wish the big social media corporations hadn't taken over most of the Internet. I've ended up opening accounts on various niche old-school forums and they're so much more fun than subreddits and Facebook groups, even when they cover the same hobbies and interests.

Dd14 told me she envied my childhood with no mobiles or internet. Told her I can get rid of her phone and she pretty much said ‘genies out of the bottle’!

Wow lots of replies! Busy day and missed all these, thanks for all the comments. Found the different points of view fascinating. So sorry for those who have lost jobs to AI already. Good to hear many are finding it a useful tool to supplement and enhance what they do, that’s what I’m hoping will be the case for my role which thankfully is multi faceted so hopefully can’t be too easily written off (though I have no doubt AI will take over aspects of it!). It is also exciting to think of the opportunities for science and medicine. I still can’t help thinking of the many dystopian scenarios too 😂😭 but I’m sure it will help us achieve some incredible things.

Do you mean bots or posters using ai to write posts?

It's all over Facebook and it's worrying to me that people can't identify the difference. It's hard but it's also sort of obvious.

I mentioned this to DH and showed him some examples, but he couldn't see it. Had no idea.

People are pretty stupid as well: lots will just suck it all up and it has the potential to change the way we perceive the world. I find it very worrying.

Exactly this. It will cause misinformation.

I understand your frustration. The saturation of AI-generated content can make it hard to find genuine information, and it often feels like a lot of noise. Concerns about attribution and the quality of information are valid, especially when it impacts research and online interactions. It seems like a lot of people are grappling with similar issues.

It can be tough to navigate. If you're looking for ways to find more reliable content, maybe focusing on specific sources or communities that prioritize quality could help. But I know that can feel like a challenge in the current landscape.

I'm wondering if people will be more willing to pay for reputable authentic content online the more Ai-powered bots generate information and misinformation.

The guardian are already pitching their content in that way

This is what we're up against
Bad actors spreading disinformation online to fuel intolerance.
Teams of lawyers from the rich and powerful trying to stop us publishing stories they don’t want you to see.
Lobby groups with opaque funding who are determined to undermine facts about the climate emergency and other established science.
Authoritarian states with no regard for the freedom of the press.
***
I'd like to know if Guardian researchers and journalists are using AI to help them do their jobs. I bet they are.

Try being a teacher.
Half the work that gets handed in is AI produced now.

YANBU. I long to live in times gone by. Just a more simple life without all this shit. Another thing is it all gets so much harder and complicated the older you get too. You can't do or have anything without there being an app or having to do it online, password after password, even ringing up places, press 1 for this, and it doesn't stop there, then after holding for ages they still try and suggest to do it online, you try it online and the system crashes or doesn't work properly!

I used to teach HS. I'm thinking, would one way around this to be to get them to assemble source material for homework, then actually write the essay / assignment in class without any screen access? By hand?

If kids even can write that much by hand these days... I don't know. It's been a while since I've taught.

If AI is a big problem in education in terms of students using it for assignments, then another obvious solution is to rely heavily on exam results. No computers in an exam, and you have to actually know your stuff to pass.

^ that was AI’s response to this thread btw 😆

Jeez, scary

I actually think the 90s or possibly the very early 2000s (pre- smartphones, social media and high-speed internet) were a sweet spot technologically. We had developed a lot of labour-saving technology but hadn’t yet created the things that are truly changing our way of relating to one another, altering our brain structures and messing up childhoods.

I know I sound like I am just nostalgic for my glory days, but I was a child during that time period so they certainly weren’t my glory days!

The exception is medicine where I recognise going back to the 90s would not be good.

But AI didn't post that thread surely. It might well be that a PERSON is using AI to create a thread, or comment on a thread, but it's not the Ai that's the problem, it's the user.

This is what I was trying to say earlier. In the old days on facebook, some morons would post and share random ridiculous things that weren't true. They weren't using AI to do it but they did it. Now they still do it, they just use AI to make it look and sound better.

PEOPLE ar eth eproblem. People are ALWAYS the problem.

Hollow laugh. If this was true, believe me, whit emen would not still dominate the workplace and leadership positions.

Those essays have to be written in the class and then marked.

A lot of dumb people commenting on obviously AI fake images. I agree with you, it’s not looking good. It can be used for good in future but also very very sinister purposes too.

I'm not saying it happens 100% of the time, I'm saying at least it is possible for it to happen - whereas with AI it isn't!

Really? I see no problem with it 😇

On a serious note though - I’m an employment lawyer and the amount of AI reports I see from so called HR consultants who just run everything through AI and then don’t even bother to check it is astonishing.

@EgyptionJackal No it's definitely a big step above. I don't agree with photoshopped images either but these are completely alien looking women.

The most recent episode of the podcast Your Undivided Attention discusses a new website that can identify AI images.

It got this one!