myrmepropagandist
The fallout from "No, not Hank Green using that AI" is at the stage where people are debating if "canceling" people is bad.
This because about 10k people unsubscribed from his youTube channel, something that probably caused him to take stock and leave the internet for a bit.
Unsubscribing from a youTube channel isn't "canceling" someone. Can we all calm down please?
Also, that he used AI isn't really the big issue, it has just formed a concise talking point around something bigger.
Rich Felker
@futurebird I deem it a completely different thing than "cancelling".
"Canceling" is when we stop engaging with media we previously enjoyed because supporting the person who created it (financially or reputationally) is too odious or because something we know about them now has soured our interpretation of what they created.
Dropping a YouTuber because he's pivoted to AI slop is just a matter of the content itself no longer being fit for consumption.
myrmepropagandist
Pivot to AI highlighted a WaPo article that talked about how Hank was among some youTube influencers supported by a group called Frame which is linked directly to EA.
This has had a noticeable impact on his content... something I noticed without knowing about the connection a month ago.
To me this is the real issue. Doomerism is just Boosterism with a D rather than a B. It's buying into the illusion.
And it is scaring people, which seems manipulative.
myrmepropagandist
I've only really seen Pivot to AI pick up on this, but Hank Green has some tangental involvement with "Effective Alturists." One big aspect of Effective altruism (EA) is AI doomerism. AI is a world changing technology (they believe) and we need to take it seriously in *that* way or ... terrible things may happen.
That doomerism is also a different kind of effective marketing for AI concerns me deeply.
Rich Felker
@jstevenyork @futurebird Then that's why it's important to do.
J. Steven York RESISTS
@futurebird
I really like Hank Green, and this turn really bothers me. I don't even want to investigate it too closely because I know it's going to change how I feel about his stuff.
myrmepropagandist
Really one of the things that give me hope for the future is that just disliking AI is so popular even among people who don't know about some of the deeper reasons. I think there is another group of people who are more quiet about not liking it but they have a big fear of not being seen as up to date or able to adapt and use new technology.
The money to promote this stuff is all over the place. Nearly everyone I know has had an education session at work about it.
That is WILD.
Rich Felker
@semitones @futurebird Are you presuming these "education sessions" teach how they work? Oh sweet summer child.
They feed employees misinformation about how they work and false grandiose claims about what they can do and instruct them in patterns for using them without any understanding of what's going on. With the intent that, when the results are poor, the employee will blame themselves rather than recognizing that what they asked for is impossible.
Semitones
@futurebird @dalias I've heard it said that teaching people about what LLMs are, how they work, and how to interact with them is MUCH more effective at protecting them from the potential harms vs. just telling people they're bad and you shouldn't use them. I wouldn't expect that teaching people about the thing would have this effect. What do you think?
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