I have not just woken up from a 10 year coma, and all this still barely makes sense to me. Luckily I'm not a journalist. I am beginning to worry I might be an AI generated hoax though. Nobody ask me to write them a limerick, I'm afraid what might happen.
I think the constant need for 'content' (hate that word) is also to blame here. We're living in the age of the 24/7 news cycle and the attention economy, and unfortunately journalism is also a business. Rolling Stone already got their clicks, and they'll get even more clicks for their mea culpa. And with the gutting of newsrooms, it's not like whe have tons of other places to go.
You and me both Joe. I'm seriously starting to doubt my own existence at this point, when I can't get any sense to my own stuff even, and the world around me keeps getting more and more ridiculous, but not in a funny way at all. But, this seems to have been the perfect week to cut all old ties to, say, X. I used to enjoy Twitter, knowing how to use it to not get much bad stuff thrown at me, but it's been dead for a while now, and leaving it unused caused unwanted side-effects. I feel relief. But. That doesn't mean this AI/content shit isn't going to be everywhere anyway. I guess I'm the old lady yelling at clouds now, but I'm seriously considering moving somewhere out of grid. But then again, could I maybe get Webworm there as a paper flyer, or something?
And yeah, I noticed your "join my newsletter" etc. I don't miss anything that's there now, but I did feel a sting for leaving all of my likes behind, because now I can't find those things anymore. And I will forget many lovely things that have existed.
I'm sure you don't have time for all these replies to the replies, but if you happen to see this, I did watch Pantheon some time ago and after that I was pretty much convinced for at least a one whole weekend that I'm not a real human being anymore. It faded though, but boy did it mess with my brain. But it really was *really* good. I almost mentioned this on my earlier reply and now this is getting really complicated because I'm losing my way around the conversation. 😅
I think getting off of X is a great start! No matter how much you try to be aware of it and how you try to filter it, marinating in all that right-wing propaganda is a bad idea.
I can't believe there wasn't a bigger exodus after MechaHilter.
The timing of me deleting my (latest) X account was just before it happened, and I hadn't been using it for maybe a year or so. It's just difficult to let go of years of interaction with (real) people and all of the things I liked there. The whole history of it. But, I had accidentally left my DMs open and I'd been added to several group chats. Once I noticed it, I deleted them and tried to get something of my data through the site download, but it was just some media and - because of the groups I'd never participated in - some not so lovely p*rn pics. That was it. 🤬 Deleted the pics from my own laptop ASAP (and thought of having an exorcism performed for it) and then the account. Holy shit was I angry.
But you're right, if more people haven't left, because of everything that now happended, I don't understand why. My procrastination in deleting the account was just because I'm like that in everything, and I didn't use it anymore. I keep a lot of stuff I don't need anymore, and it's painful to let go. Like throwing away a bunch of photos about your earlier life. But yeah. All that nazi crap would've made me leave sooner if I hadn't been away and not seeing it, or at the latest now, with the Grok stuff.
This sort of explains why I reacted to the idea that I'm not real myself. It's like deleting your life, for having had been so much online for years. But there are *limits*. At least for me.
Absolutely wild. Somehow both hilarious and terrifying.
Its also exactly why we need to keep supporting you and your amazing mahi David. Good journalism is one of the coolest and most powerful things humans can share with each other, fuck this bullshit.
Thanks, Beck. All this stuff is going to be such a nightmare for newsrooms to deal with - and at a time when they are especially underfunded and undervalued.
‘Andrew Frelon, does NOT represent their fictitious band. Naturally, I retweeted it from my fake TVS account saying “This is a huge problem for us. Please RT and share!” ‘
😂😂 a fake AI band met their match in the world of fakery.
I teach 5 year olds and they have been learning about AI generated pictures. Now they think everything is fake. It’s a bit sad really but they will grow up savvy.
It made me so happy for some reason. Really tuned into my dislike and disgust of AI, combined with my dislike and disgust at the proliferation of it, and my hypocritical constant use of it.
While I enjoyed reading this article, I couldn't stop thinking about the environmental impact all this use of generative AI had, even with the goal of ridiculing the AI generated music.
I wish people didn't rely on ChatGPT so much, even for the simplest things. I don't want to browse an internet where everything is written by bots and we lose the human nuances of language.
Can't help but laugh at the irony of the "band's" complaint of someone taking ownership of something they didn't create, though.
The level of trust and reliance people have in the trash that ChatGPT spits out is bonkers. It's just full of errors. And the whole time, it's chewing up the planet.
ChatGPT helped me fix my toilet and I avoided a hefty plumbing bill. So useful, but so evil, I am so conflicted, no such thing as an ethical consumer etc
I like to find YouTube videos for those how to type queries. You find super wholesome people recording instructional videos. Gives me warm feelings ai never could. Maybe an option for you next time!
Yea I felt the same, the only thing that got a chuckle out of me was the fake account re-posting the "real" accounts statement. Everything else felt gross, humiliating journalists doesn't feel like the lesson we need from a fake account using AI to promote a fake AI band. "It's easy to Catfish people on the internet" no shit dude, we've known that since MySpace. Use your powers for good and do a deep dive and figure out whose behind the band and whose making money off the algorithm manipulation.
Oh, I don't have much problem with humiliating the lazy journalists who don't properly fact check. They reap what the sow. But using the AI to do it just feel lazy.
We have all the major news outlets in New Zealand printing press releases from political parties as if they are real news. They just seems to be very little verifying of facts anywhere.
Opinion pieces are published as if they are new pieces The rot has set in,
Yesterday I read about Peter Thiel and Palantir, today this…. Off grid does sound appealing but really there is nowhere to hide (drones etc). Interesting and very uncertain times we are living in! Love your Substack David, thanks.
In my mind it goes back to the Dave Eggers book The Circle, and those who wanted to stay away from the monitoring and observation of the tech were hounded when they tried to go off and just do their own thing.
I haven’t read that one Marshall but will note it for later, thanks….. in fact I haven’t read anything dystopian for a while as real life has become weirder than fiction and I feel like I’m living in a dystopian novel 😉.
I have not watched the movie (heard it evolves from the book story) so I only have the literary reference. I really like the statements it was making about both tech companies and the willingness of so many to give up their privacy, even to the point of feeling like they should be able to impose that on others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circle_(Eggers_novel) It's been 10 years, so maybe I should go back and read it again. I also enjoyed the following story, The Every, though from what I remember the aspects of The Circle were more impactful to me.
The larger implications are things we’ve already guessed. The truth is lost, and mostly unimportant. Lies keep forging ahead while the truth is still gathering its thoughts.
People are slowly turning to independent news, but there’s still bias. How long before a huge check takes over a source?
There’s lots of people still believing the drivel, but perhaps that has plateaued? Either we go full skeptic or we lose the thread.
The whole thing is a perfect analogy for politics today - there’s so much ambiguity about every topic nobody can genuinely grasp the truth. Social media has been the greatest gift to grifters, liars and the evil.
Totally. And in cases like this, I do feel for them. Being actively misled, even if it's to make an important point, is rough. Understaffed newsrooms just trying to do their job, and the spokesperson for an AI band reaches out... what is one to do?
There’s a blurred line here where AI can help or hinder humanity. This is clearly an example of hinder. Though one would assume a publication such as Rolling Stone would have done more leg work in researching the fake account before setting up an interview. This is a bit scary though in a way by using ChatGPT to write angry tweets and such that come off as solid writing from a human being.
We’re almost at the point where humanity and AI are so mixed together we won’t know which is real and which is generated. While I have laughed at some of the AI songs like I Glued My Balls To My Butthole again, though crass and childish, is admittingly hilarious, I have also been terrified at AIs ability to sound so real and convincing.
How do we combat this problem? AI will be able to be used in fields of medicine and science to help us further our understanding of biology and help in diagnosing medical issues, yet being publicized creates a new set of issues. Where do we go from here? And how do we rein this in because the problem has truly already began. Thanks for the article guys. A truly thought provoking read.
I was listening to the TED Radio Hour yesterday and it featured futurist Ray Kurzweil and his prediction that singularity-the point at which human intelligence merges with machine-will arrive by 2045. It’s both fascinating and terrifying for me as a GenX-er who lived between the analog and digital era. I’m not sure we can collectively resist the seeming irresistible force of AI. But recognizing the ethical implications of it and calling for increased accountability— as David does in this article— might help hold the line between fact and fiction.
Well said. Denmark is amending a law currently to give people copyrights over their own images. So there is a recognition to the impact AI is making globally. It’s wild to believe this would ever have been a thing going back to when we were growing up, isn’t it?
That was a geg, but also scary. I have family who absorb all the garbage they see on their perfectly created algorithm of insanity. I'm sure much of what they see is just this in a different hat.
I'm a bit late on this because I just got home from NYC but, there was this professor at George Mason University (where I went to college) that used to be affiliated with digital humanities stuff and he'd teach a class on historical hoaxes and truth in the news and every semester his class would create a hoax and put it online to see if people fell for it. People used to get really mad about it, lol.
Anyway, I think about him a lot these days because there's no way in hell he could teach that class anymore.
A great read, David. I thought it read like a playbook for cyber warfare. The back and forth obscuring of the “real” owner of the band made it scarier to me if this was about something that actually mattered…
I have not just woken up from a 10 year coma, and all this still barely makes sense to me. Luckily I'm not a journalist. I am beginning to worry I might be an AI generated hoax though. Nobody ask me to write them a limerick, I'm afraid what might happen.
I think the constant need for 'content' (hate that word) is also to blame here. We're living in the age of the 24/7 news cycle and the attention economy, and unfortunately journalism is also a business. Rolling Stone already got their clicks, and they'll get even more clicks for their mea culpa. And with the gutting of newsrooms, it's not like whe have tons of other places to go.
Yeah, the punishing news cycle & need to "break" things in order to maximise clicks certainly doesn't help.
Now... give me that limerick!
Twas once a Kiwi named Farrier
Pondering an ethical barrier
Was the worm an AI?
An electronic lie?
'Write a limerick," he said, "or kiss my derriere!'
Aw dammit...
You and me both Joe. I'm seriously starting to doubt my own existence at this point, when I can't get any sense to my own stuff even, and the world around me keeps getting more and more ridiculous, but not in a funny way at all. But, this seems to have been the perfect week to cut all old ties to, say, X. I used to enjoy Twitter, knowing how to use it to not get much bad stuff thrown at me, but it's been dead for a while now, and leaving it unused caused unwanted side-effects. I feel relief. But. That doesn't mean this AI/content shit isn't going to be everywhere anyway. I guess I'm the old lady yelling at clouds now, but I'm seriously considering moving somewhere out of grid. But then again, could I maybe get Webworm there as a paper flyer, or something?
The Webworm print edition! I mean, The Onion started printing a physical paper again recently, so there's something in it...
I jumped off X a few months back and miss absolutely nothing about it.
Yay, my idea getting air under its wings. 😄
And yeah, I noticed your "join my newsletter" etc. I don't miss anything that's there now, but I did feel a sting for leaving all of my likes behind, because now I can't find those things anymore. And I will forget many lovely things that have existed.
I'm sure you don't have time for all these replies to the replies, but if you happen to see this, I did watch Pantheon some time ago and after that I was pretty much convinced for at least a one whole weekend that I'm not a real human being anymore. It faded though, but boy did it mess with my brain. But it really was *really* good. I almost mentioned this on my earlier reply and now this is getting really complicated because I'm losing my way around the conversation. 😅
I know it's "off the grid". Stupid cell phones and all. *Yelling At Clouds*
I think getting off of X is a great start! No matter how much you try to be aware of it and how you try to filter it, marinating in all that right-wing propaganda is a bad idea.
I can't believe there wasn't a bigger exodus after MechaHilter.
The timing of me deleting my (latest) X account was just before it happened, and I hadn't been using it for maybe a year or so. It's just difficult to let go of years of interaction with (real) people and all of the things I liked there. The whole history of it. But, I had accidentally left my DMs open and I'd been added to several group chats. Once I noticed it, I deleted them and tried to get something of my data through the site download, but it was just some media and - because of the groups I'd never participated in - some not so lovely p*rn pics. That was it. 🤬 Deleted the pics from my own laptop ASAP (and thought of having an exorcism performed for it) and then the account. Holy shit was I angry.
But you're right, if more people haven't left, because of everything that now happended, I don't understand why. My procrastination in deleting the account was just because I'm like that in everything, and I didn't use it anymore. I keep a lot of stuff I don't need anymore, and it's painful to let go. Like throwing away a bunch of photos about your earlier life. But yeah. All that nazi crap would've made me leave sooner if I hadn't been away and not seeing it, or at the latest now, with the Grok stuff.
This sort of explains why I reacted to the idea that I'm not real myself. It's like deleting your life, for having had been so much online for years. But there are *limits*. At least for me.
Absolutely wild. Somehow both hilarious and terrifying.
Its also exactly why we need to keep supporting you and your amazing mahi David. Good journalism is one of the coolest and most powerful things humans can share with each other, fuck this bullshit.
Thanks, Beck. All this stuff is going to be such a nightmare for newsrooms to deal with - and at a time when they are especially underfunded and undervalued.
Hilarious and terrifying is exactly what this is, and why we are all stumbling around not knowing what is true anymore.
‘Andrew Frelon, does NOT represent their fictitious band. Naturally, I retweeted it from my fake TVS account saying “This is a huge problem for us. Please RT and share!” ‘
😂😂 a fake AI band met their match in the world of fakery.
I teach 5 year olds and they have been learning about AI generated pictures. Now they think everything is fake. It’s a bit sad really but they will grow up savvy.
It made me so happy for some reason. Really tuned into my dislike and disgust of AI, combined with my dislike and disgust at the proliferation of it, and my hypocritical constant use of it.
While I enjoyed reading this article, I couldn't stop thinking about the environmental impact all this use of generative AI had, even with the goal of ridiculing the AI generated music.
I wish people didn't rely on ChatGPT so much, even for the simplest things. I don't want to browse an internet where everything is written by bots and we lose the human nuances of language.
Can't help but laugh at the irony of the "band's" complaint of someone taking ownership of something they didn't create, though.
Oh I agree, 110%.
The level of trust and reliance people have in the trash that ChatGPT spits out is bonkers. It's just full of errors. And the whole time, it's chewing up the planet.
ChatGPT helped me fix my toilet and I avoided a hefty plumbing bill. So useful, but so evil, I am so conflicted, no such thing as an ethical consumer etc
I like to find YouTube videos for those how to type queries. You find super wholesome people recording instructional videos. Gives me warm feelings ai never could. Maybe an option for you next time!
This was my issue too. Fighting AI misinformation, but using AI too? It feels... icky. I can't phrase it better than that.
Yea I felt the same, the only thing that got a chuckle out of me was the fake account re-posting the "real" accounts statement. Everything else felt gross, humiliating journalists doesn't feel like the lesson we need from a fake account using AI to promote a fake AI band. "It's easy to Catfish people on the internet" no shit dude, we've known that since MySpace. Use your powers for good and do a deep dive and figure out whose behind the band and whose making money off the algorithm manipulation.
Oh, I don't have much problem with humiliating the lazy journalists who don't properly fact check. They reap what the sow. But using the AI to do it just feel lazy.
We have all the major news outlets in New Zealand printing press releases from political parties as if they are real news. They just seems to be very little verifying of facts anywhere.
Opinion pieces are published as if they are new pieces The rot has set in,
100% Elaine which is why my go is various Substack writers and the Spinoff.
The hoaxer retweeting the “band’s” complaint about his own activities to make his account look more legit is S-grade troll behaviour 😂
What a legend!
Should we ask about the Observer's Salt Path story?
God that was a GREAT read. Really wonderful investigative journalism.
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-real-salt-path-how-the-couple-behind-a-bestseller-left-a-trail-of-debt-and-deceit
Yesterday I read about Peter Thiel and Palantir, today this…. Off grid does sound appealing but really there is nowhere to hide (drones etc). Interesting and very uncertain times we are living in! Love your Substack David, thanks.
Thanks for being here, KSJ.
I hate how Thiel got NZ residency so easily. Horrible.
In my mind it goes back to the Dave Eggers book The Circle, and those who wanted to stay away from the monitoring and observation of the tech were hounded when they tried to go off and just do their own thing.
I haven’t read that one Marshall but will note it for later, thanks….. in fact I haven’t read anything dystopian for a while as real life has become weirder than fiction and I feel like I’m living in a dystopian novel 😉.
I have not watched the movie (heard it evolves from the book story) so I only have the literary reference. I really like the statements it was making about both tech companies and the willingness of so many to give up their privacy, even to the point of feeling like they should be able to impose that on others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circle_(Eggers_novel) It's been 10 years, so maybe I should go back and read it again. I also enjoyed the following story, The Every, though from what I remember the aspects of The Circle were more impactful to me.
The larger implications are things we’ve already guessed. The truth is lost, and mostly unimportant. Lies keep forging ahead while the truth is still gathering its thoughts.
People are slowly turning to independent news, but there’s still bias. How long before a huge check takes over a source?
There’s lots of people still believing the drivel, but perhaps that has plateaued? Either we go full skeptic or we lose the thread.
The whole thing is a perfect analogy for politics today - there’s so much ambiguity about every topic nobody can genuinely grasp the truth. Social media has been the greatest gift to grifters, liars and the evil.
The irony of reporting on "fake news" is the likely outcome from those that push it are going to say it is "fake news".
But please, don't stop. This insanity has to have a bottom and an end.
What this demonstrates again is that Journalists are flawed human just like us and ready to fall for the latest brooklyn bridge or snake oil charm.
Totally. And in cases like this, I do feel for them. Being actively misled, even if it's to make an important point, is rough. Understaffed newsrooms just trying to do their job, and the spokesperson for an AI band reaches out... what is one to do?
There’s a blurred line here where AI can help or hinder humanity. This is clearly an example of hinder. Though one would assume a publication such as Rolling Stone would have done more leg work in researching the fake account before setting up an interview. This is a bit scary though in a way by using ChatGPT to write angry tweets and such that come off as solid writing from a human being.
We’re almost at the point where humanity and AI are so mixed together we won’t know which is real and which is generated. While I have laughed at some of the AI songs like I Glued My Balls To My Butthole again, though crass and childish, is admittingly hilarious, I have also been terrified at AIs ability to sound so real and convincing.
How do we combat this problem? AI will be able to be used in fields of medicine and science to help us further our understanding of biology and help in diagnosing medical issues, yet being publicized creates a new set of issues. Where do we go from here? And how do we rein this in because the problem has truly already began. Thanks for the article guys. A truly thought provoking read.
I was listening to the TED Radio Hour yesterday and it featured futurist Ray Kurzweil and his prediction that singularity-the point at which human intelligence merges with machine-will arrive by 2045. It’s both fascinating and terrifying for me as a GenX-er who lived between the analog and digital era. I’m not sure we can collectively resist the seeming irresistible force of AI. But recognizing the ethical implications of it and calling for increased accountability— as David does in this article— might help hold the line between fact and fiction.
Ray Kurzweil is such a fun read (The Singularity is Near is a favourite) - but man, he keeps pushing back his dates, that's for sure!
If you dig this kind of stuff though, please, please watch PANTHEON on Netflix. It's an animated drama and well worth your time. Two perfect seasons.
I’ve got that in my queue! Thank you for the recommendation—looks amazing.
Well said. Denmark is amending a law currently to give people copyrights over their own images. So there is a recognition to the impact AI is making globally. It’s wild to believe this would ever have been a thing going back to when we were growing up, isn’t it?
That was a geg, but also scary. I have family who absorb all the garbage they see on their perfectly created algorithm of insanity. I'm sure much of what they see is just this in a different hat.
I'm a bit late on this because I just got home from NYC but, there was this professor at George Mason University (where I went to college) that used to be affiliated with digital humanities stuff and he'd teach a class on historical hoaxes and truth in the news and every semester his class would create a hoax and put it online to see if people fell for it. People used to get really mad about it, lol.
Anyway, I think about him a lot these days because there's no way in hell he could teach that class anymore.
A great read, David. I thought it read like a playbook for cyber warfare. The back and forth obscuring of the “real” owner of the band made it scarier to me if this was about something that actually mattered…