Reddit became too corporate, blocked 3rd-party apps, restricted views that didn't align with their advertisers, sold user content to AI farms, etc. That's why I'm here. There will always be a place like Lemmy, where AI-generated content will be filtered through real, intelligent, moral, empathetic people. So we'll continue to block and analyze and filter as much of the churn as we can...
this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
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There will always be a place like Lemmy, where AI-generated content will be filtered through real, intelligent, moral, empathetic people. So we’ll continue to block and analyze and filter as much of the churn as we can…
As much as I appreciate the optimism, that's not realistic seeing how fast technology is going.
If you amped up indistinguishable-from-real bot activity by 1000 or a million times, there would be no effective filter. That's what I know is coming, to every corner of the internet.
Other options such as paywalling, invite-only, and other such barriers only serve to fragment and minimize the good that the internet can do for humanity.
AI generated content, which now includes incredibly convincing videos of people, will grow exponentially over the next weeks, months, and years.
At some point, the majority of the content you see will be fake, and any usefulness or connection to humans will be lost.
(...)
To that end, when will the internet be so untrustworthy, “soulless”, and useless to you that it crosses the tipping point?
Depends what you read. Blogs are still a thing and on many there is not the slightest hint of AI and in some there is even not even a single ad to be seen. It's still people talking about what they truly care. Not people trying to farm likes or views by spreading some low-effort shit content, be it videos, pictures or text.
The corporate/marketing-owned Web is filled to the brim with utter crap but that's not new, and it has been so well before AI became a thing. I've quit bothering about its existence a decade ago or so. So, I would not even notice it that corporate-owned Web was to suddenly vanish back into the nothingness it never should have left.
But the human-made web is still a thing. It's just not promoted as much as it once was and certainly it's not promoted where nowadays crowds gather to get spoon-fed content. Aka, in those handful of places that are all owned by corporations, corporations that don't want people to go see elsewhere. But corporations not wanting to promote human-made web doesn't make that human-web go away.
It's there for anyone to taste and, if they're willing to, to participate in. But it's up to those people to move their ass and change their habits. If they don't do that effort to try to go see elsewhere, well, they'll the only one losing out on a potentially more interesting (and less faked) content.
It's out there. One just needs to open the door or jump the fence to get the fuck out of their walled garden and start exploring the World Wide Web.
edit: clarifications.
Depends what you read. Blogs are still a thing and on many there is not the slightest hint of AI and in some there is even not even a single ad to be seen. It’s still people talking about what they truly care. Not people trying to farm likes or views by spreading some low-effort shit content, be it videos, pictures or text.
To illustrate my point: Say, five years from now, you come across a "blog". It's got photos of a friendly person, she shares images and video of her and her family, and talks about homesteading.
What if that entire "person" was just AI generated, and the "blog" was just fake AI stories? How would you even know? Would you want to spend time even reading blogs, knowing that it may not even be written by an actual person?
We will be at that point very soon. You will never know who's real and who's fake (online), because their entire life can be faked.
The corporate/marketing-owned Web is filled to the brim with utter crap but that’s not new, and it has been so well before AI became a thing.
While true, and I agree, at least it was people being evil/greedy. And the speed at which they could be evil/greedy was capped.
With AI, you could generate a lifetime of greedy/evil corporate/marketing-owned web in a matter of hours, and just flood every corner of the internet with it.
It's a very different threat.
But the human-made web is still a thing. It’s just not promoted as much as it once was and certainly it’s not promoted where nowadays crowds gather to get spoon-fed content.
Per my point above, you'll never know what's human-made in the very near future. At some point, bots with human identities will flood websites, then what?
What if that entire “person” was just AI generated, and the “blog” was just fake AI stories?
I don't live in the future so that I could not tell.
What I can tell is that AI of today smells very much like AI (which is to say, by grossly over-simplifying, that AI 'creates' content that is a severely neutered content and that shows) and, seeing how people are asking for more of that shit content, it doesn't look like they will need to invest that much more to make AI better to make it an economical success. So I doubt it will ever reach a point where we can't tell teh difference. But if it was to get to that there would still be:
- real people, to meet and talk with and do stuff with.
- a bazillion books published waiting to be read. Printed books I mean, not ebooks as those can too easily be altered (here again, to please the crowd... or maybe one day to be 'AI-optimized'). There are more books waiting to be read than I would be able to read even if I was to live for a thousand years. So, I don't need to Web to access fascinating content, I just need (my own or any public) Library. And what about younger people that have not been taught to enjoy reading books and can only consume videos or look at pictures instead? Well, imho the first thing they should do is ask their parents why they failed so badly at giving them such a basic education as enjoying reading. Then, and that's the good news, it's never too late to start reading. Those younger people still can decide to switch gear and start opening a book from time to time ;)
So, if that ugly AI-Web was to take over what I call the human-made Web, I would simply quit using the Web.
Exactly like we quit owning (and watching) a TV in the early 00s my spouse and I, when we realized we had had enough of being asked to pay money in order to watch unskipable fucking ads and what we considered always shittier content (read: 'politically correct' content a bit like that AI-crap of today, as we both prefer to be challenged by what we watch and what we read, not so much being nursed or feeling validated by it).
With AI, you could generate a lifetime of greedy/evil corporate/marketing-owned web in a matter of hours, and just flood every corner of the internet with it.
They could flood the Web they own with that shit and, imho, that's 100% what they will do and so will do Hollywood and Netflix (it will be much cheaper/quicker to produce and there will be less risk of getting lynched for offending this or that part of the population). That they will do, I'm willing to bet. But they still won't be able to flood my part of the Web (I pay for it, I own it, I decide what's (not) published on it), as well as on many other small parts of the Web owned by other people like me. To get rid of us they first would need to make it illegal (or too costly) for mere individuals like us to own a domain and publish content. If that was to happen (and it could very well) it would take them a lot of work to achieve, and that would give us, the mere people willing to keep our freedom of expression (and willing to remain not-owned in any way) the opportunity to search for some other place... including moving back to analog media and IRL/in-person meetings.
I mean, humanity has shared stories for thousands of years. The Internet? It's approx 40 years old. So, yeah, we should be able to find some alternatives ways to express ourselves without relying on such a shitty web if things were to become that bad.
Per my point above, you’ll never know what’s human-made in the very near future. At some point, bots with human identities will flood websites, then what?
See what I just said.
Sure, there will most certainly be a web like the one you're describing and realizing how lazy most people are it will most certainly be a huge hit. But no matter how successful it is it will still be 100% of no interest to me and to people like me. So me and those other people we would focus our time (and money) on a man-made Web without worrying how machines monkey humans. And if one day they make it so that it's not possible to access any man-made content online, well, we will fall back on IRL-meeting, with real people. Like going to church, or to a book club, go to concerts or make some music in a band, go listen to poetry, go places to play board-games, whatever.
We don't need our lives to be online at all time. As a matter of fact, we used to not spend it online at all up until very recently ;)
Thank you for your thoughtful reply.
I grew up when the internet was still dial-up, so I think I could adapt to going back to the "old way" of doing things.
But unless society moves in that same direction, it would seem that things would become more and more difficult. We can't rely on old books and already-created content to move us forward.
I've been finding more value in IRL contact with other people these days. But I don't think everyone has that luxury, I'm afraid.
But unless society moves in that same direction, it would seem that things would become more and more difficult. We can’t rely on old books and already-created content to move us forward.
100% with you on this. And this is a real issue.
Note that people are still writing books, making music and so on. Some even still go to school in order to be educated—they're just not as trendy anymore ;)
I’ve been finding more value in IRL contact with other people these days. But I don’t think everyone has that luxury, I’m afraid.
It's becoming unusual but it's not a luxury. As a matter of fact it's often cheaper than to use online services to go meet someone at a local place: one needs no subscriptions and no is not (not that much) tracked to be monetized either. The real issue, imho, is that people have been very quickly 'un-educated' about living IRL/together to the point it's now starting to become not only unusual but also... odd to be willing to meet (and talk) IRL, not through an app (it's really noticeable among the young).
Thinking about it, it's almost feels like if humanity was trying to commit suicide: we only exist as a species because we devised 'societies' aka the art of living/working/being together.
I don't think you can take for granted most things will be ai generated. Why are you? Old or something?
It sounds more like you are referring to the web: I'll probably keep visiting until there's nothing worth visiting anymore. Then I guess I'll find other stuff to read.
I suppose it's like with the boiling frog syndrome. Temperature increases gradually. But there is no such point when we all jump out.
Maybe the internet already was tainted before generative AI, with all the tracking, selling of userdata, big soulless services, the attention economy.... Maybe that was it and we're way past it already?
I'm an out of work web developer, so in theory if I starve to death then I'll have to quit the internet.
when it quits bring entertaining.
It's utility for the original purpose, communication without limits, (or checking for coffee) is being diminished, and at some point, ill stop using it for that. But as long as there are jokes and titties, it will still be a source of entertainment.
I grew up on the intent, I live on the internet, I die on the internet. Every website eventually dies or enshits and gets replaced. Same old song, new fully automated singer.
Outside is not a world of hope, happiness, and belonging.
Not as long as there are videogame wikis.
I don’t care what’s AI generated and what isn’t tbh. Cool pictures are still cool pictures no matter who made them. Funny videos are still funny videos. A someone who’s smart enough to not believe everything they read on the internet, fake articles etc don’t bother me.
“soulless”,
That would be nice: as soon as cats and celebrities become "connection to humans will be lost", useless people will leave. Influencers, corporations and bots will follow. And we, engineers, will again have a place to discuss our boring "soulless" things among us, engineers. Without CoCs, hysterical artists-vegans-SJW-whatever.
Can't wait until it happens.