Cassandra is only carbon nowFeb 22
Yesterday, had an argument with an AI booster. I'm not going to link, both because I don't want to platform that and because I don't want anyone to go harass them. But what I thought was very interesting was that I asked point-blank if there was any degree to which ethical problems with LLMs could make them not want to use AI — they told me no, there was not, and implied that they evaluated AI purely on the basis of its efficacy.
Show threadCassandra is only carbon nowFeb 22

I don't have time nor the inclination to argue that point with them further when it comes to AI. But I do think there's a broader point that is worth critical examination, especially as tech continues to build out surveillance, age verification, automated filtering and censoring, and other tools that do immense damage when used by authoritarians.

We *cannot* afford to evaluate tech purely based on whether it "works" or not.

Show threadCassandra is only carbon nowFeb 22

AI doesn't work¹, so it's easy to forget that larger point, I suspect? That *even if* AI did work (and again, it doesn't), it still would need to be critically examined from an ethical perspective.

Failing to do so is how we have massive surveillance networks today.

___
¹Here again, referring to the wave of current hype products. Boosters love wearing the ML shit that does work as a shield against criticism.

Show threadKevin Granade
@xgranade it's exhausting as fuck when people that both agree with and disagree with your main point (don't use or promote LLMs) object when the rationales you muster in support are not precisely the same ones they care about.
IMO this is where people get the idea that the "purity culture" angle presents a wedge issue they can use to attack anti-AI people.
Feb 22 at 11:44pmWeb
Show threadCassandra is only carbon nowFeb 22

@kevingranade I never want to put my AI Luddism on a pedestal and make it immune to critique... this is, for example, why I said my closed-mindedness on the subject is both temporary and a reasoned response to bad-faith DDoS attacks on discourse.

To that extent, I'm glad for critique from "my" side. But the purity culture discourse (with a few important exceptions) isn't that, it's a wedge.

Show threadCassandra is only carbon nowFeb 22

@kevingranade I find that progressive moments, as a consequence of the laudable and correct willingness to self-criticize, tend to be vulnerable to wedge attacks. Fuck, as a trans person I *am* a wedge, or at least the right-wing has turned me into a wedge used to weaken opposition to violent and cruel immigration policies.

We need to get a lot better at distinguishing wedges from critiques.