The state of publishing right now
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The state of publishing right now
@lcamtuf
A family member bought a potty training book for my toddler and it was definitely AI slop. When we told them about it, they were very sorry. The title was very similar to a popular potty training title, so it was an easy mistake.It's really infuriating that someone would make this. They clearly thought it was no big deal, they'll slop out a silly book about going to the bathroom. But potty training is a serious developmental moment for a child. They need lots of reassurance, patience, and understanding.
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The state of publishing right now
The amount of Instagram ads I see peddling all this shit is insane. Every single ad.
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@lcamtuf
Yeah, it's terrible. The fact that they're targeting children pisses me off to no end. -
@lcamtuf
Yeah, it's terrible. The fact that they're targeting children pisses me off to no end.@jargoggles @lcamtuf
..but not surprising, just look at the amount of absolute rubbish youtube pushes at kids -
The state of publishing right now
@lcamtuf No alt text so can't boost but do love the falling cat with "flexible spine" and three back legs.
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The state of publishing right now
@lcamtuf For what it's worth, the way amazon does "best seller" lists is so ridiculously specific (so they can technically have literally THOUSANDS of books listed on their site as best sellers of different categories) that it means almost nothing. There are barely 100 books in /total/ in the category this is winning, and 10 of them are this same book at different levels with different printings. So not quite as dire as if it was /actually/ selling well.
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@lcamtuf For what it's worth, the way amazon does "best seller" lists is so ridiculously specific (so they can technically have literally THOUSANDS of books listed on their site as best sellers of different categories) that it means almost nothing. There are barely 100 books in /total/ in the category this is winning, and 10 of them are this same book at different levels with different printings. So not quite as dire as if it was /actually/ selling well.
@Binks Sure, but as a seemingly-mostly-human book author, you know, I wouldn't mind that
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@lcamtuf looks like most of, I'm just going to take a wild guess is, North America is inside the Arctic Circle. But given the north pole is somewhere in the Pacific, I guess it's ok.
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@Chip_Unicorn @flipper They warned us about climate change
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The state of publishing right now
@lcamtuf
I dislike how all the "informative" text is A) very dumb, and B) not positioned in places that make the slightest bit of sense.In other words.... Perfectly good content to train AI on.
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The state of publishing right now
@lcamtuf Slop, slop, sloppity slop! The haunted owl pic scares the shit out of me.
Good grief - they are feeding this slop to children!
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The state of publishing right now
@lcamtuf This kind of thing makes me really worried about my kids if I ever have kids, or any child in my family.
What do I do if this is still a problem by that time & they're accidentally given one of these for Christmas? How do I get it away from them as quickly as possible without causing a memorable scene? How are you supposed to handle infohazards & memetic hazards near children?
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The state of publishing right now
@lcamtuf Ageng AI Alexander gave the task to create a book, Agent AI Elon created this, Agent AI Sam recitified that, Agent AI Mark published this and Agent AI Jeff sells this. full chainof commands. look no human.
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@lcamtuf also one review mentions that every chapter is chapter 6.
@nousersmanual @lcamtuf satanic!
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@lcamtuf This kind of thing makes me really worried about my kids if I ever have kids, or any child in my family.
What do I do if this is still a problem by that time & they're accidentally given one of these for Christmas? How do I get it away from them as quickly as possible without causing a memorable scene? How are you supposed to handle infohazards & memetic hazards near children?
@jackemled Before I had children, I thought the role of a good parent is to let them develop their views without getting in the way.
Now, I sort of recognize that this is more or less a fantasy. *Everyone* wants to raise your children their own way. Teachers, book authors, toy makers, your crazy aunt / neighbor, TikTok slop-mongers, smartphone manufacturers... so you kinda have to play an active role.
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@jackemled Before I had children, I thought the role of a good parent is to let them develop their views without getting in the way.
Now, I sort of recognize that this is more or less a fantasy. *Everyone* wants to raise your children their own way. Teachers, book authors, toy makers, your crazy aunt / neighbor, TikTok slop-mongers, smartphone manufacturers... so you kinda have to play an active role.
@lcamtuf Yeah, I think it's good to give kids information & teach them how to process it & think critically so they're prepared for when you aren't there anymore. That lets them develop on their own but you're still there to moderate, raise them, & teach them to be good.
My questions are about what to do in this specific situation, where a child is given something like this that is such an unusual danger. Usually you want your kids to remember danger they were exposed to so they know to avoid it; so they can walk carefully instead of tripping & scraping their knees. However this is a danger that must be forgotten. Remembering anything out of one of these is like getting a papercut that you don't know is there until it gets infected. You can't even discuss what this danger was with your child until it has been completely forgotten & can't be remembered.
Maybe I'm worrying too much, but it's scary. This isn't something you can put a bandage on & tell them "don't do that again" about.
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The state of publishing right now
@lcamtuf I guess only that any hint for Dinosaurs to birds like owls may be missing in the book
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@lcamtuf also one review mentions that every chapter is chapter 6.
@nousersmanual @lcamtuf
AI generated book, with most likely AI generated text, and bot reviews to inflate the review stars to 5. Most people don't buy AI books because it is scum. If you bought this book - it is entirely fair to get a refund on the stand of shit quality, and complain it is AI generated and it is not mentioned anywhere. Leave a 1 star review to warn people. -
@lcamtuf
A family member bought a potty training book for my toddler and it was definitely AI slop. When we told them about it, they were very sorry. The title was very similar to a popular potty training title, so it was an easy mistake.It's really infuriating that someone would make this. They clearly thought it was no big deal, they'll slop out a silly book about going to the bathroom. But potty training is a serious developmental moment for a child. They need lots of reassurance, patience, and understanding.
@jargoggles if only there was a way to buy books at a place where you could ask people if a book is good or not or get some real recommendations. One could call it a „book store“. And maybe real people would work there.
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The state of publishing right now
@lcamtuf make sure you are totally sober when looking at this picture
