Generative AI is a Faustian bargain.
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@MegaMichelle @benlockwood
"AI" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. A decision tree classifying tumors, a reinforcement learning agent balancing a robot arm, a recommendation system none of those have a "master." They're narrow tools doing one job. The "serving its master" worry only applies to one slice: generative models trained on someone else's data by a company you don't work for. Using "AI" to mean "that one scary thing" is like saying vehicles are evil because of that one truck that ran over me.. think about it and know the distinction between the whole of AI and Corporation led generative AI please
"AI is the One Ring" Cool metaphor until you realize the One Ring is one object, one master, and it's magic you can't inspect. An LLM is a model file on your disk. You can read its weights, run it offline, point it at your own data, and delete it. The Ring doesn't let you do that. The Ring also talks to Sauron. Your local LLM doesn't talk to anyone. You built it.@zer0unplanned
Like it or not, 'AI' now means LLMs/generative AI because the broligarchs adopted the term and made it so. It's a fait accompli.If it once meant something different to some people, that's over now. Any efforts to change that by replying to posts on Mastodon are as futile as trying to bail out the ocean with a bucket.
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@wraptile @benlockwood ”senior dev and consider myself a good'ish coder” should make you realise that ”I ship so much more” is not a good thing.
@ahltorp why is it not a good thing?
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Generative AI is a Faustian bargain. Every use of it weakens you. Maybe you occasionally save a few minutes, but you are diminished for it. With each use you are further from your human potential.
@benlockwood This.
Prompting our way to paradise.
Meanwhile, Australia just recorded it's worst results in student test scores...
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Generative AI is a Faustian bargain. Every use of it weakens you. Maybe you occasionally save a few minutes, but you are diminished for it. With each use you are further from your human potential.
@benlockwood #1984 remix (feat. ORWELL X FAUST)
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@benlockwood That's a heck of a claim when some of us are using AI as a prosthesis for things like poor executive function or ADHD.
I have an AI assistant I've set up to have context about all my projects & their status.
If I have a bad brain day where I'm foggy/can't focus, I can ask the AI to help me figure out what I should be working on.
That makes me MORE myself, not less.
And anyway, I'll take a handshake with Lucifer over Yahweh any day. The Devil has integrity.
@jack You are infantilizing not only yourself, but everyone who struggles with poor executive function. Not only this, you are surrendering your brain, your agency, to some of the worst people on the planet. For the benefit of us all, stop being a booster and go fuck yourself. @benlockwood
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@benlockwood @Gargron Depends on how you use it. I think it makes me better because I let AI organize my files and deal with mundane task management, giving me more time for my hobbies and creative pursuits.
Let the robot do the robot stuff, and free up the humans to do more humane things.
@jimmylittle @benlockwood You can’t organize your files yourself?
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@jimmylittle @benlockwood You can’t organize your files yourself?
@Gargron @benlockwood I _can_, but why would I? I have more interesting things to do with my time, like make stuff.
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I always say that AI is like the One Ring. You think it's serving you, but it really only serves its master.
@MegaMichelle @benlockwood it will make us into a Smeagol
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Generative AI is a Faustian bargain. Every use of it weakens you. Maybe you occasionally save a few minutes, but you are diminished for it. With each use you are further from your human potential.
@benlockwood This is the best phrasing of my personal feelings on the matter that I have ever seen.
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@MegaMichelle @benlockwood sharing just in case you haven't seen this yet
@wronglang @MegaMichelle @benlockwood
One does not simply use AI as a tool.
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@benlockwood electrically powered tools are a faustian bargain. Every use of them weakens you...
Electric drill diminishes your use of muscles that could've been used for hammering nails manually
That is an unfair comparison, since power tools allow you to do stuff you could never to by muscle power alone.
However, your example with the contact list is more fitting ... because does anyone know a or the phone number to call when they're in trouble? Not 112/999/911, but a person who will help you. I do, but only one and only because that number hasn't changed all my life and I am not the youngest any more. And yes, it bothers me from time to time.
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@jack You are infantilizing not only yourself, but everyone who struggles with poor executive function. Not only this, you are surrendering your brain, your agency, to some of the worst people on the planet. For the benefit of us all, stop being a booster and go fuck yourself. @benlockwood
@OchotonidKnight What are you getting out of being so rude to a stranger?
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@jack @corigan01 @benlockwood There are people who suffer from depression who talk to chatbots when they have a bad day. They say it helps, and that interacting with a relentlessly friendly bot is more helpful than the difficult task of going out and interacting with humans. I think what they’re doing is incredibly dangerous. These tools lack robust behavior safeguards, and are literally designed to suck you in and make you dependent and addicted. But hey, I hope it works out for you and doesn’t harm you.
@mathew @corigan01 @benlockwood Yeahno I have a therapist for that.
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@jack @benlockwood I read the OP as using it for actual creative/engineering tasks rather than an assistant.
@whizzter @benlockwood Yeah, I don't use it for creative tasks. I use it for all the boring business shit so that I can focus on the cool stuff.
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@benlockwood electrically powered tools are a faustian bargain. Every use of them weakens you...
Electric drill diminishes your use of muscles that could've been used for hammering nails manually
@tylnesh @benlockwood made use of my bit and brace just a few weekends ago to hog out a pair of large mortises before going at it with a chisel.
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@MamaLake@beige.party @benlockwood@ecoevo.social blocking anti-AI or pro-AI people? Or regardless of their stance, blocking people that used bad arguments and/or know little of what they were defending?
I have an idea but, I'm genuinely curious about your answer.@Sproid @benlockwood genuinely blocking people based on vibes, bad arguments, unwillingness to take accountability for their own actions, willingness to commit ecocide and plagerism because it helps them think better, etc etc etc
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@Sproid @benlockwood genuinely blocking people based on vibes, bad arguments, unwillingness to take accountability for their own actions, willingness to commit ecocide and plagerism because it helps them think better, etc etc etc
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@benlockwood I don't think that's necessarily true.
Sure if you don't ride the bike every day you're worse bike rider but finishing races also makes you a better bike rider.
I'm a senior dev and consider myself a good'ish coder and while LLMs do make me worse at memorizing APIs I ship so much more which on it's own a very useful skill to train.
At the end of the day it's just another computer. If you use the one that's in your skull as well then you'll be just perfectly fine.
I think that the cautionary tale here is that with vibe coding it's easy to become lazy and ignorant. In other words, it's easy to become like your manager, or worse even - like your CEO.
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@benlockwood @Sproid I wish I could pin this to my profile
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@benlockwood @Sproid I wish I could pin this to my profile
@MamaLake @benlockwood @Sproid you could put it as the header, pfp or in metadata...
