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Maggie Appleton

Maggie Appleton

@maggie-appleton · 9 positions · On ppll ↗

Designer, anthropologist and illustrator who writes about the web, tools for thought and generative AI on her digital garden at maggieappleton.com. Her 2022 essay "The Dark Forest and Generative AI" put the reverse Turing test -- proving you are not a language model -- into the vocabulary of the independent web.

Maggie Appleton did not write this page.

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  1. Our reading

    We are on the verge of a golden age of home-cooked software, made by a new kind of developer: the barefoot developer.

    Their wordsThe slightly bold theory I put forward in this talk is that we’re on a verge of a golden age of local, home-cooked software and a new kind of developer – what I’ve called the barefoot developer.

    ↗Home-Cooked Software and Barefoot Developersmaggieappleton.com

  2. 17 months earlier

  3. Our reading

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

    LLMsAI slopAI writing

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

    ↗The Dark Forest and Generative AImaggieappleton.com 1st of 8 in this piece

  5. 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.

    AI slop

    Their wordsBut I think the sheer volume and scale of what’s coming will be meaningfully different. And I think we’re unprepared.

    ↗The Dark Forest and Generative AImaggieappleton.com 2nd of 8 in this piece

  7. 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.

    AI slopAI writing

    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?

    ↗The Dark Forest and Generative AImaggieappleton.com 3rd of 8 in this piece

  9. 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.

    writingAI writing

    Their wordsReferencing obscure concepts, friends who are real but not famous, niche interests, and recent events all make you plausibly more human.

    ↗The Dark Forest and Generative AImaggieappleton.com 4th of 8 in this piece

  11. 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.

    LLMs

    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.

    ↗The Dark Forest and Generative AImaggieappleton.com 5th of 8 in this piece

  13. 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.

    AI and human skillAI writing

    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.

    ↗The Dark Forest and Generative AImaggieappleton.com 6th of 8 in this piece

  15. 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.

    LLMs

    Their wordsWe have designed a system that automates a standardised way of writing. We have codified la langue at a specific point in time.

    ↗The Dark Forest and Generative AImaggieappleton.com 7th of 8 in this piece

  17. Our reading

    People who want unoptimised, personal conversation have retreated from the open web into closed rooms, and that retreat is a real loss.

    social media

    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.

    ↗The Dark Forest and Generative AImaggieappleton.com 8th of 8 in this piece