Mastodawn

Where are the nuanced left-wing takes on modern AI and LLMs?

So much of the discourse around this tech is centered on rejecting it because of who currently owns it. But like all tech, it can be used for both oppression and liberation.

Who is focusing on the latter?

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burakemir

@zanzi "Discourse" is the key word here: the ongoing power struggle to define what counts as science and knowledge. It is ok to reject the accelerationist message of those in power, but people overdo the rejection and posture around technology-as-instrument-of-class-war. I use LLMs every day and am trying to figure out how to use them for meaningful purposes. It is hard to have a nuanced discussion against a backdrop of winner-takes-it-all-capitalist techno fascism and copyright being used as weapon and at the same time ignored precondition for artist livelihood. Dark times! There are a lot of good uses of LLMs even if the method of production and operation remains problematic, but it would be as important as ever to discuss openly, support each other and consider standards for ethical use and organized action in this situation.

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burakemir 2d ago

@zanzi What is clearly problematic is the loss of skill and the vicious loop where everything original will be "captured" and assimilated in the next model without any attribution. It is a dynamic that is similar to open source software, the value generated by human creativity and effort gets monetized by few. That might be the biggest issue. When it comes to science and education, the big opportunity is in cheap and effective dissemination. It is maybe less the novel results but that a larger number of people can more easily understand and apply already existing results where we should look for positive outcomes; if we can define the standards of quality and verification for the things we care about.