This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply. I’ve published a first draft of an AI Use Policy to define how, where, and – more to the point – where we won’t use AI. This is a first attempt at putting my thoughts into words, and I will probably revise this over time as my own feelings about AI keep evolving. But I wanted to get something out there now, because everywhere else seems to be sprinting in the opposite direction. A few weeks ago I saw a post in a blogger group on Facebook that has just … stuck with me. It fucking haunts me. It represents a version of the internet I want to run away from screaming, a version that scares me, and one that moves even further away from the internet I grew up loving. I already feel like I’ve lost so much to social networks that divide us, sell us, and try to keep us rage-engaged until we’re little more than scrolling-hating-bullshit-consuming machines. And now it feels like the last parts of the internet I still care deeply about: writing, human connection, emotion, art, music, are being ripped through in the same manner. In the same way I saw social networks and the algorithmic feeds kill blogging, kill the idea of a bookmarked website, I feel like I’m watching so much of the web turn into a factory that churns out slop. Fake, inauthentic, soulless slop. And I hate it. I can try and protect my little corner of the internet. To try and keep the humanity, be intentional, be messy, and be, above all, real and honest. That’s what I’m going to try to do. My line in the sand is here. more Not all embedded content is displayed here. You can view the original to see embedded videos and other embedded content.
I appreciate your effort to keep the forum real and human. Clear AI rules and encouraging genuine member content will help maintain authenticity.
This is probably a dumb question, but what is the "pillar content" referred to in the tweet? Is it just, like, actual writing?
Cool. Very similar is happening with grant writing and grant management, which is my job. AI streamlines certain aspects of the grant cycle, however, certain funders still prefer the human DNA tied to it.
Software developer here. Rules are straightforward and reasonable, especially understanding the role LLMs and AI-assisted tools can play for backend processes. LLMs are not new and are fully utilized in almost every "smart" device you use, so to discard their usage wholesale means taking a lot of steps back. Which I can respect if that's the route you want to take. I'm actually 100% for Luddism, because it means taking an intentional approach to technology instead of adopting (or rejecting) everything. But yeah, the stuff you're prohibiting (or striving to counter) makes a lot of sense, especially since this is a human-operated forum.
Well done. Half the battle is that the rules aren’t defined and being made up as we go, so clear rules of engagement are actually necessary. Right now everyone is flailing out in the wind with varying levels of knowledge or desire, I’m glad this website has planted its flag. This is a hill worth dying on, IMO. I still say AI “art” is simply marketing. I’m glad the differences in AI for processes and systems and AI for creative was clearly defined. It seems obvious, but this is kind of frontier space right now.
I hate this future we've entered and the dystopia we're hurtling toward, and I applaud Jason and all other site admins for trying to keep this place as human as possible.
Basically for most "blogs" think of it like, on a body building blog, "The Ultimate Guide to Gaining Mass" or something that is usually long, usually doesn't expire, but can be a piece that lives for a very long time and do well in SEO and get pageviews for years and years. The kind of content that ends up making good money from ads. Food blogs may be like "the best Christmas ham" or whatever. The idea for years was really good long form content can live forever, monetizes pretty well, but is harder to create. Now people are creating thousands of "articles" in a day by just having an LLM do it all, quality be damned. Been my take for a while, I love technology, love computers, obviously, and there are gains in productivity, time, etc., that I have from using LLMs. Me not remembering a SQL query or even though I've used unix/linux based systems for most of my life I'll still forget command line commands and have to look them up. Stuff like that: super useful! Analyzing a lot of a data? Also useful. But, like writing words/essays, I like writing code too, so I'm not the kind of person that would just say "LLMs write it all now, vibe it, fuck it, whatever." So, yeah, basically I don't want to cover AI art. I don't to spit out AI "content." You could write a script to read 500 RSS feeds, grab the most interesting articles/news, summarize it, post it to a blog, and "automate" a music blog. Fuuuuck that. I hate that idea (I guarantee this is happening on some "blogs" already). I'm not anti-AI as some people are but I am very much a "it's helpful in these use cases and then it being shoved down everyone's throats everywhere all the time super sucks." Want to cure cancer with it? By all means, let's go. Want to create slop videos that steal IP and were trained on shit I wrote for the last 20 years? Get out of here, what a waste.
Yeah, I want people in the spaces where they want to be adding value to the discourse. I don’t want the spaces of whatever the interest/input is to be systematically filed to best appeal to me or some trend. No one feels good being deduced to a number in a system. It’s especially sensitive in the artistic/creative world. It’s totally antithesis to what art, music, etc is.