@thomasfuchs I'd also add micromobility to that list

@colincornaby @jamesthomson Open source != public domain, and free software != free (it's free speech, not free beer), but apparently many developers are clueless re: all those nuances. ️

Perhaps if all LLM-generated code was legally automatically placed in public domain, we'd see a bit of a light bulb moment.

@the_other_jon @jamesthomson John Siracusa seems to offer the most balanced perspective there, but yeah it's pretty grim. I mostly don't listen any more. And don't get me started on MacStories omfg ‍

@elementary 🫡

@cyberlyra I live in a little pocket universe of America called Portland, Oregon. I think perhaps we're much more like Canada culturally…here people might look at you funny if you *don't* have a wide ranging set of eccentric hobbies and are expending too much effort on the hustle and grind.

@idlestate wow, OK I'll bookmark that.

It touches on another but somewhat related problem: people associate "open source" with "good" and that's a fallacy. Just because a technology is open source does not mean it is inherently good.

BTW, you owe it to yourself to watch this entire interview with Whittaker. It's not every day you get to watch a video and feel much smarter after having watched it than you were before. I learned a lot from this and have much food for thought to chew on.

I've been saying for a long time now that "open source AI" isn't really open source. We are being manipulated.

I'm glad to hear Meredith Whittaker is fully in agreement on this point.

https://humansare.social/c/fuck_ai/p/7428/signal-s-meredith-whittaker-says-calling-open-source-ai-open-is-narrative-arbitrage

@jamie The funny thing about this whole thread is apparently I'd already blocked that guy some time ago, so I'm only seeing your side of the conversation. And…that's all I need to know anyway.

@ieeespectrum Um, wow this is bad. Slopaganda in the guise of a hit piece against Wikipedia is unethical dross on multiple levels. Shame on you for publishing this.

Something people need to know about me, and I don't often like tooting my own "good person" horn or anything, BUT…

…I have walked away from *thousands of dollars per month contracts* as well as brand-new job opportunities because of my ethical stance against LLMs. This isn't a joke to me, shitposting online or whatever. I'm not just some curmugeon because it's "fun". 🫠

Anyone is welcome to disagree with my opinions. All I ask for is the courtesy of respecting my personal integrity.

@simeon

You are also welcome to unfollow me if you're sick of me talking about this stuff, because I'm *never* going to stop talking about it until the slop machines are demolished.

It will be the year 2056, and I will still be posting all about handcrafted art & code just as I have for the past 30 years. If that sounds good to you, great! Let's be friends! if not, byeeeee

BTW I unfollow, or mute, and or occasionally block people who are uncritically adopting LLMs and *especially* if they are mocking people who refuse to engage with them.

Nope I am not interested in having a "dialogue" with you. It is not my responsibility. We are several years into this damn mess, and all of the externalities and all of the horrible issues are out in the open and easy to uncover.

Please go educate yourself…and switch off the damn slop machines! ‍️

@arroz @stroughtonsmith Totally off their rockers. Slop machine psychosis really seems to be in the air right now.

You know who is *perfectly cool* with developers continuing to write code for their apps like normal creative people? THE USERS. In fact, putting a slop-free badge on your product *is a selling point* because nobody wants this crap.

@knowler wow, that's so fucking gross.

@ahltorp @GossiTheDog well obviously once the player piano was invented, nobody needed to learn piano ever again.

@GossiTheDog OK, I guess I'll throw Anthropic a bone here and say it's pretty brave of them to post research that's fairly damning to their own products. I understand that's what they're "supposed" to do, but many orgs have a kill switch in upper management to suppress this sort of thing.

"Our results suggest that incorporating AI aggressively into the workplace, particularly with respect to software engineering, comes with trade-offs."

Ya think?!?!

@bagder and for higher-level services/apps, clearing the UX bar as well:

* why is this feature really needed
* how will people use it
* how might it be used in an unforeseen, adversarial way
* will it harm certain demographics disproportionately
* is it cumbersome for people with mental or physical disabilities
* is it easy to explain in documentation/support
* etc.