korrents · piece

The Dark Forest and Generative AI

Maggie Appleton · 31 Dec 2022

Others here said this too

The web is being flooded with coherent, generic, generated text that buries the writing worth reading.

Their wordsThese new models are poised to flood the web with generic, generated content.

Also said by Molly White, Anil Dash

Read the piece on maggieappleton.com ↗

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Maggie Appleton did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
The web is being flooded with coherent, generic, generated text that buries the writing worth reading.
Mental modelValue moves to what stays scarce

Their wordsThese new models are poised to flood the web with generic, generated content.
Our reading
The volume of generated content arriving is different in kind from the spam the web already had, and we are not prepared for it.

Their wordsBut I think the sheer volume and scale of what’s coming will be meaningfully different. And I think we’re unprepared.
Our reading
Once generated text is everywhere, readers will become sceptical that there is a person on the other end of anything they read online.

Their wordsEvery time you find a new favourite blog or Twitter account or Tiktok personality online, you’ll have to ask: Is this really a whole human with a rich and complex life like mine?
Our reading
Writing that is specific, local and grounded in a real life is the cheapest available proof that a person wrote it, because models default to generics.

Their wordsReferencing obscure concepts, friends who are real but not famous, niche interests, and recent events all make you plausibly more human.
Our reading
The way to show a reader you are not a language model is to think critically and originally, because that is the one thing the models cannot yet do.

Their wordsEasier said than done, but one of the best ways to prove you’re not a predictive language model is to demonstrate critical and sophisticated thinking.
Our reading
Machine-generated writing raises rather than lowers the bar for people: once a machine can produce a competent summary, there is no value in a person producing one.

Their wordsIn a world of automated intelligence, our goalposts for intelligence will shift. We’ll raise our quality bar for what we expect from humans.
Our reading
Language models have codified formal written language at a moment in time, which leaves informal, inventive, in-group speech as the place where humanness still shows.

Their wordsWe have designed a system that automates a standardised way of writing. We have codified la langue at a specific point in time.
Our reading
People who want unoptimised, personal conversation have retreated from the open web into closed rooms, and that retreat is a real loss.

Their wordsAs the forest grows darker, noisier, and less human, I expect to invest more time in in-person relationships and communities. And while I love meatspace, this still feels like a loss.

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