Why internet searches are serving up 'AI slop' | RNZ News
These days it feels like hardly a news bulletin goes by without some sort of mention of AI technology and its power to do things in seconds that might have taken us hours without it. But our understanding of how it does those things still is not great, by and large, and there are still the things that it is doing which we simply are not aware of. Meanwhile, so-called "AI slop" is coursing through the internet all over the place - unwanted, unloved and perhaps even unstoppable.
The Impact of AI on Social Media
Danyl McLauchlan, author and IT systems consultant at Victoria University of Wellington's School of Biological Sciences, said science fiction has foretold what happens when such content is left to spread unchecked. Neal Stephenson… describes nations in the future as having been 'Facebooked', which is… that kind of phenomenon of being completely swamped by meaningless gibberish," he told RNZ's Saturday Morning. He also highlighted the concept of 'metaverse' as portrayed in Jorge Luis Borges' The Library of Babel.
The pace of development in generative AI has skyrocketed in the past few years. It began in earnest in the late 2010s following the publication of a paper called 'Attention Is All You Need' by eight Google scientists, which introduced a new machine learning technology known as a 'transformer'.
Concerns about AI-generated Content
Generative AI broke into the wider public consciousness with the release of Open AI's ChatGPT in late 2022, making it accessible to anyone with an internet connection. However, the misuse of generative AI to create fake content for profit has raised concerns. From plagiarized books to deepfake celebrity voices, the internet is flooded with meaningless content.
The Impact on News Media and Creators
The rise of AI-generated search results poses a threat to real creators, including the news media. Google's AI-generated summaries may reduce clickthroughs to articles, impacting online revenue from ads. This shift could have dire consequences for the already struggling news industry.
Looking to the Future
While the solution to the AI slop problem remains unclear, exploring the sci-fi literature that inspired the technology could provide insights. Realizing the potential consequences of unchecked AI usage is crucial in addressing the challenges posed by AI slop.
Copyright © 2024, Radio New Zealand
