I like calling them "Bullshit Generators", because that's what they actually are.
Fuck AI
"We did it, Patrick! We made a technological breakthrough!"
A place for all those who loathe AI to discuss things, post articles, and ridicule the AI hype. Proud supporter of working people. And proud booer of SXSW 2024.
AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.
I like calling them regurgitative idiots, or artificial idiots, though really anything that makes fun of them works
No
Exhibit A people are beginning to describe empty, hollow mass produced corporate slop as AI, it has become an adjective to describe worthless trash and I love it.
AI has a very broad definition. Their products are AI.
Well, according to the broad definition, a Google search or recommendation systems like those on Netflix or Instagram would also be considered AI. And we don't call them that, but rather by their proper name.
And language shouldn't be underestimated. It has a profound impact on our thinking, feeling, and actions. Many people associate AI with intelligence and "human thinking". That alone is enough to mislead many, because the usefulness of the technology in a given application is no longer questioned. After all, it's "intelligent". However, when "LLM" is used, a lot more people wouldn't grant it intelligence or one might be more inclined to ask whether a language model, for example in Excel, is truly useful. After all, that's exactly what it is: a model of our language. Not more, not less.
a Google search or recommendation systems like those on Netflix or Instagram would also be considered AI
Yes, correct.
Well said! Echos my feelings exactly.
Yes we say Fuck AI, but when we see it in the wild we call it slop, bot, clanker, or vibe coded, etc.
And starting splitting hairs about naming is very geeky but it doesn't help, as 90% of people have very little concept about what AI or LLM's are in the first place.
90% of people have very little concept about what AI or LLM’s are in the first place.
Yeah I mean I agree, I think that's why there needs to be a term that describes them.
It's just a word. It's more important to let people know what this is about and any terms that may be more "accurate" won't do that.
I never liked the "just a word" defense. If any word can be made to mean anything else just because a government or corporation says so, what does that say for our shared reality?
Sure, I don't disagree. But what use is any of that if people don't know what exactly you are protesting? At what point do you abandon idealism in favour of pragmatism?
I disagree with this post and with Stallman.
LLMs are AI. What people are actually confused about is what AI is and what the difference between AI and AGI is.
There is no universal definition for AI, but multiple definitions which are mostly very similar: AI is the ability of a software system to perform tasks that typically would involve human intelligence like learning, problem solving, decision making, etc. Since the basic idea is basically that artificial intelligence imitates human intelligence, we would need a universal definition of human intelligence - which we don't have.
Since this definition is rather broad, there is an additional classification: ANI, artificial narrow intelligence, or weak AI, is an intelligence inferior to human intelligence, which operates purely rule-based and for specific, narrow use cases. This is what LLMs, self-driving cars, assistants like Siri or Alexa fall into. AGI, artificial general intelligence, or strong AI, is an intelligence equal to or comparable to human intelligence, which operates autonomously, based on its perception and knowledge. It can transfer past knowledge to new situations, and learn. It's a theoretical construct, that we have not achieved yet, and no one knows when or if we will even achieve that, and unfortunately also one of the first things people think about when AI is mentioned. ASI, artificial super intelligence, is basically an AGI but with an intelligence that is superior to a human in all aspects. It's basically the apex predator of all AI, it's better, smarter, faster in anything than a human could ever be. Even more theoretical.
Saying LLMs are not AI is plain wrong, and if our goal is a realistic, proper way of working with AI, we shouldn't be doing the same as the tech bros.
The term “Artificial Intelligence” has historically been used by computer scientists to refer to any “decision making” program of any complexity, even something extremely simple, like solving a maze by following the left wall.
"Slop Constructors" is what I call them. It's good to remember that calling them "AI" helps with the fake hype.
I like slop constructors lol
This is why I call chatbots "LLMs" and refer to image and video generators as "slop generators". It isn't AI, a software can't be intelligent.
That's what I do, too. I've also taken to call the "bubble" a scam, because that's what it really is.
I support Stallman's take. I think just saying "Fuck AI" is going to have almost zero effect on the world. I think we need to add nuance, reasoning, be accurate... Tell people WHY that is, so we can educate them. Or convince them to do something... Understand how these things work and why that's good or bad to form an opinion... "Fuck AI" alone isn't going to do any of that.
There's literally nothing you could possibly do from an internet forum to have an effect on the world. This is for fun.
Brother if you ain't shaping discourse you're being shaped by it
Hah, I love this. Stealing it.
Spicy autocorrect
Standard disclaimer: I do not want to grow up to be like Stallman.
That said, every time I have thought that Stallman was too pedantic about terminology and the risks involved, I have been wrong, so far.
He's a good barometer to check in with and guage how far we've strayed from a lot of the idealism of the 1980s. Someone has to keep the flame alive.
I think it’s AI. The artificial part is key. There’s no real intelligence there, just like there’s no real grass in an artificial lawn.
The term "AI" has been used for decades to refer to a broad spectrum of things, often times including algorithms that had nothing to do with machine learning or inference.
Technically, what most of us have a problem with isn't "AI" as a whole, but just LLMs and how companies are trying to replace people with them. I agree that people should be specific, as there's a lot of practical application for machine learning and AI that has nothing to do with LLMs.
But you're not going to get anywhere by trying to change the words people use for these things. We saw a similar thing happen with "smart" home automation devices, and before that it was people complaining about "smartphones" not being actually "smart". But both of those terms are still in common use.
I don't think you'll convince anyone by trying to police the terminology for technical accuracy. The focus should be on the specific problems and harmful effects of how the technology is being used
I like LLMbeciles myself.
I like orphan crushing machine best.
someone said to call it "computer rendered anonymized plagiarism" so i have that in my clipboard.
Fuck LLMs
Gartner refers to it as GenAI
I call them random sentence generator
"AI" was around way before LLMs, and they were used for good stuff, like discovering new proteins and amino acids among many other specialized uses.
I would say there are different categories of AI and I disagree with the statement that LLMs are not AI.
All LLMs are AI, but not all AI are LLMs.
LLMs are trash.
I say LLMs or GenAI but neither exactly rolls off the tongue
I do the same and I agree, but that's why I do like "generators".
I think even generative/generators is giving too much credit. It's really regurgitative AI.
"Electronic regurgitators"
Debating whether to call it "AI" or "sparkling humanity killer" is kind of orthogonal. Even before LLMs and the like, "AI" was loosely defined and not widely understood. You're not going to fix that longstanding issue when also trying to stop the LLMs from stealing the work and creativity of people while cooking the planet.
Fuck Big Corp?