BedastGPTJan 9, 2025

The enshittification of AI has lead to the choice of AI used by VLC to be groaned at. I even saw a post cross my feed of someone looking for a replacement for VLC.

VLC is working on on-device realtime captioning. This has nothing to do with generating images or video using AI. This has nothing to do with LLMs.

(edit: There's claims VLC is using a local LLM. It will use whisper.cpp, and not be using OpenAI's models. I don't know which models they will be using. I cannot find any reference to VLC using a LLM.)

While it would be preferred to use human generated captions for better accuracy, this is not always possible. This means a lot of video media is inaccessible to those with hearing impairment.

What VLC is doing is something that will contribute to accessibility in a big way.

AI transcription is still not perfect. It has its problems. But this is one of those things that we should be hoping to advance.

I'm not looking to replace humans in creating captions. I think we're very far from ever being able to do this correctly without humans. But as I said, there's a ton of video content that simply do not have captions available, human generated or not.

So long as they're not trying to manipulate the transcription using GenAI means, this is the wrong one to demonize.

#AI #Transcription #VLC #HearingImpaired #Deaf #Accessibility

Show threadHops the sausage dogJan 9, 2025

@bedast I would also add I find it quite helpful to start with a set of automatically generated captions, and then correct them. I don't do this often, but it saves me loads of time in a part-time job.

Is this a bit like people being annoyed at Mozilla using AI for on-device browser translation, even though that's very useful? I'm not sure if that's generative, but I'd guess not.

Show threadDr. Angus Andrea Grieve-SmithJan 9, 2025

@howisyourdog @bedast I groan every time I see unsuprevised automated captions or machine translation. They're simply not ready for prime time.

I know some Deaf people find them useful, so I understand the push to integrate them. But this should not be bundled with VLC; it should be an optional plugin, if it isn't already.

Show threadvekkqJan 11, 2025

@grvsmth @howisyourdog @bedast always better to have automated captions and/or automated translations than understanding nothing at all.

There is also basically no drawback from shipping this with VLC, while shipping it separately as a plugin is an additional hurdle.

Show threadDr. Angus Andrea Grieve-SmithJan 11, 2025

@vekkq @howisyourdog @bedast These systems routinely produce both factually incorrect text and nonsense.

Claiming "always better to have automated captions and/or automated translations" without further justification is just a power move.

I'm baffled that these developers can't envision a situation where an incorrect transcription has worse consequences than no transcription at all. Or one where the availability of crappy automated text justifies a decision not to provide quality text.

Show threadDr. Angus Andrea Grieve-SmithJan 11, 2025

@vekkq @howisyourdog @bedast And if I say transcription should not be bundled with VLC, I obviously think there are drawbacks. Stating "there is also basically no drawback" is, again, a power move, not a real discussion.

What are the drawbacks?

1. It's an endorsement of technology that is not ready for prime time.
2. It locks users of VLC into a specific implementation of transcription, when there are lots of ways to do transcription, currently and in development.

Show threadvekkqJan 11, 2025
@grvsmth @howisyourdog @bedast
1. machine learning has been used since the 80' and has helped in many fields.
2. there is no lock in. the existing choices don't go away, but it makes the choice made by the VLC devs easier to use.
Show threadDr. Angus Andrea Grieve-SmithJan 11, 2025

@vekkq @howisyourdog @bedast 1. I worked in machine learning for years. I stopped because I saw firsthand how developers and investors were treating it like a magic spell that always works.

2. One of the things I've always appreciated about VLC is how its developers have avoided trying to make it do too much and be too many things.

It's a video player. If I want something else, I'll use that.

Show threadvekkq
@grvsmth @howisyourdog @bedast 2. it wasn't just a video player at its first day. The name should have given it away, that the project's original purpose was to transmit video over local network and display it. This required encoding and networking additional to decoding, which made it way more than just a video player.
Early on VLC was regarded as the player that can just play everything, doing more than what other players could at that time. This was also likely the reason for its rapid adoption. Considering how massive the project is to provide this, a module for automatic caption would be a small part.
Jan 11, 2025 at 9:15pmWeb