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SouthBayDem

(33,419 posts)
56. Profitable, because we are a post-literate society.
Wed Jun 10, 2026, 11:49 PM
10 hrs ago

When I joined DU in 2009, I was a tech optimist, believing that websites like this and social networks like Facebook would enable a true marketplace of ideas. Barack Obama is said to be the first social media president.

Unfortunately in retrospect I should have been less naive. I remember seeing plenty of ill-informed blogs, personal websites, and chainmails in the 2000s and early 2010s. But those were the kid's meal compared to the sewage on modern day Facebook or Twitter.

As was written in a blog in 2016:

Populism is great and can be an engine of change, but one ought to worry when the “ordinary working people” are poorly educated, and a quarter of your base is dead wrong on simple facts, that there is also potential for disaster.


Same goes for AI and chatbots.

Recommendations

1 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Wow, this is a great ruling. I hope it holds! SunSeeker 17 hrs ago #1
Outside of the issue of defamatory statements... reACTIONary 16 hrs ago #2
You can find them useful. Doesn't change the fact that AI isn't necessary for the task, which these companies are all Karasu 16 hrs ago #4
Nobody is forcing users to use AI.... reACTIONary 16 hrs ago #13
Um..yes, they are. "Scrolling down" doesn't change that. Companies forcing the use of AI goes MUCH farther than simple Karasu 15 hrs ago #17
Unless you check everything in the AI overview - every alleged fact, every quote, every source - you highplainsdem 16 hrs ago #5
It's not really that hard to check it out.... reACTIONary 16 hrs ago #12
LOL! In other words, you don't check. And it sounds as if you'd use AI overviews you hadn't bothered highplainsdem 13 hrs ago #31
If you look at a page from a "regular" web page search, do you.... reACTIONary 13 hrs ago #34
I've seen news stories including studies about the links in AI overviews often not actually leading highplainsdem 13 hrs ago #36
I'm focused on the value AI brings to .... reACTIONary 11 hrs ago #50
AI search on the internet is a parasite killing its host. There's no value in that. The errors make its highplainsdem 10 hrs ago #51
Well then, if that's the case, eventually..... reACTIONary 10 hrs ago #52
Of all the silly comparisons. Calculators would never have been widely used if they were as error-prone highplainsdem 10 hrs ago #57
I sometimes post AI search results here, and.... reACTIONary 9 hrs ago #58
The whopper is everything you've said suggesting people should trust AI results. Even AI companies highplainsdem 9 hrs ago #61
The problem with AI overviews is that they're not reliable. ShazzieB 16 hrs ago #14
I think they are more reliable than some make them out to be.... reACTIONary 15 hrs ago #16
There are still whoppers aplenty. cab67 12 hrs ago #38
Plain search used to do that Cirsium 15 hrs ago #18
Your experience with "plain search" and with... reACTIONary 15 hrs ago #19
it isn't a matter of opinion Cirsium 15 hrs ago #20
It seems to be a subjective judgement to me.... reACTIONary 15 hrs ago #23
OK Cirsium 14 hrs ago #30
Wow! Thanks.... reACTIONary 13 hrs ago #32
Thank you Cirsium 9 hrs ago #60
I sometimes find them amusing. cab67 13 hrs ago #37
And you just admitted you have to wade through irrelevant junk... paleotn 12 hrs ago #42
Then one has to verify that it's not inaccurate slop GenThePerservering 11 hrs ago #46
We were able to do it just fine (in fact, better) BEFORE this immensely destructive shit came along. Karasu 16 hrs ago #3
Yes. Search was much better before. highplainsdem 16 hrs ago #6
The quality of their searches declined significantly. hunter 14 hrs ago #27
AI "search" Be Leave On 16 hrs ago #7
Profitable, because we are a post-literate society. SouthBayDem 10 hrs ago #56
Fuck Google! caballojm 16 hrs ago #8
DuckDuckGo has an AI, but they actually allow you to completely turn it off, and they have a version of their site that Karasu 16 hrs ago #10
Same here. paleotn 12 hrs ago #43
Everyone getting those commercials claiming we need a million data centers Bengus81 16 hrs ago #9
Here's what's wrong with the massive data centers ... FakeNoose 1 hr ago #65
Their wanting to put one up around Garden City,Ks and it's projected water use Bengus81 50 min ago #66
Kick dalton99a 16 hrs ago #11
I want to know how Progressive dog 16 hrs ago #15
I have not seen contradictions, but I think vanlassie 15 hrs ago #22
I have seen something worse than a contradiction. pnwmom 15 hrs ago #24
Yea that's bad. I would never accept personal info vanlassie 14 hrs ago #28
You could find it just as easily with a 'precisely composed query' GenThePerservering 11 hrs ago #47
I've been a heavy user of the internet for many years. vanlassie 9 hrs ago #62
Even more reprehensible... GiqueCee 15 hrs ago #21
Yes. People need to realize that every single writer, visual artist, photographer, singer, musician, highplainsdem 12 hrs ago #44
Nailed it! GiqueCee 11 hrs ago #45
It's human nature to expect the biggest reward for the lowest cost. SouthBayDem 10 hrs ago #53
So the AI bros ripping off the world's intellectual property is just human nature? highplainsdem 9 hrs ago #59
Republicans will pass a law making it illegal to restrict AI search Bobstandard 15 hrs ago #25
'Almost Intelligence' trains from anything it can find (within reason, supposedly) 3825-87867 14 hrs ago #26
"Imitation Intelligence" is a good name. hunter 14 hrs ago #29
It's pretty easy to tell if Republicans are lying!--- Jack Valentino 13 hrs ago #33
I call it a fancy shorthand for Anti-Intellectualism. SouthBayDem 10 hrs ago #54
I wish this was here. Figarosmom 13 hrs ago #35
I probably don't ask complicated questions, but I find the Google AI helpful Bluetus 12 hrs ago #40
I've asked about current news events Figarosmom 12 hrs ago #41
That's an astute judge. But it goes beyond that. Bluetus 12 hrs ago #39
This is something a lot of people don't understand GenThePerservering 11 hrs ago #49
very insightful. that's why hallucinations will never go away altogether. nt scipan 10 hrs ago #55
People still use Google? It's a spy agency that sells your data. I stopped ages ago. usonian 11 hrs ago #48
Type -ai at the end of your search and you'll find out how little you need AI Bengus81 2 hrs ago #63
AI regurgitates a lot of garbage and presents itself as fact. Historic NY 2 hrs ago #64
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