Wendy NatherTheory (which is mine) (and what it is, too): Enshittification has led directly to acceptance of LLMs, because the public is already used to software that is unfit for purpose.
The Great Llama 
@wendynather @pluralistic
Yep. Search engines too: people used to search for an answer, now they ask an LLM. They didn't start doing it because they wanted a machine to think for them, they started because they stopped getting useful search results.
Yep. Search engines too: people used to search for an answer, now they ask an LLM. They didn't start doing it because they wanted a machine to think for them, they started because they stopped getting useful search results.
mtc_uk@TheGreatLlama @wendynather @pluralistic
They started because they were too stupid to switch off of Google to something else that was actually reliable.
They started because they were too stupid to switch off of Google to something else that was actually reliable.
@mtconleyuk @wendynather @pluralistic
I mean... That's a nice thought, but I regularly cycle through every option on the market. None of them work remotely as well as ca. 2012 Google. LLMs aren't a useful alternative, but there aren't any good options.
I mean... That's a nice thought, but I regularly cycle through every option on the market. None of them work remotely as well as ca. 2012 Google. LLMs aren't a useful alternative, but there aren't any good options.
Damon L. Wakes@TheGreatLlama @mtconleyuk @wendynather @pluralistic It is staggeringly rare to find a search engine that will search exclusively for the literal exact term you entered. This certainly used to be the default.
crowdotblack@DamonWakes @TheGreatLlama @mtconleyuk @wendynather @pluralistic
Yeah it's on purpose to force you to use LLM which nobody wants
However there are some topics where it's helped me find research papers. Cases where it's hard to pin down a good set of terms that are very generic
@crowdotblack @TheGreatLlama @mtconleyuk @wendynather @pluralistic It's been going on long enough that it can't have started for the sake of LLMs. I suspect it's just accommodating sloppy searches at the expense of precise ones - not unwelcome where I don't know an exact term, but hugely frustrating when I do (and none of the results contain it).
Moray@DamonWakes @crowdotblack @TheGreatLlama @mtconleyuk @wendynather @pluralistic Are there any addons/plugins/monkey scripts recommended for filtering? Not looked properly - figured if there was something there would be lots of coverage. Seems like something mechanical previewing and filtering results would do the trick and remove the need for AI scanning the results
@Moray @DamonWakes @crowdotblack @mtconleyuk @wendynather @pluralistic
I would doubt it: the whole intent with how they're serving up the garbage is that it isn't easily distinguished from useful content. The signal to noise ratio is just too low.
I would doubt it: the whole intent with how they're serving up the garbage is that it isn't easily distinguished from useful content. The signal to noise ratio is just too low.