@ricmac I've already lost interest in the FB news feed because it's SO full of things & people I don't follow + ads.... that I just couldn't imagine it getting worse... but this. Wow. This is just FB punching itself in the face. Who on earth wants this??

@ricmac

So to add to my algorithm generated sh1t I am going to get AI generated sh1t? Well it can’t be worse than the human generated sh1t.

@ricmac It's already shite. If I want to see anything from a friend, I need to look at their profile. It reduces any positive interactions with friends, and I spend a lot of time blocking.

@ricmac

In what world am I going to be interested in content generated by an AI system.

@ricmac That ass is making a lot of assumptions. I am so sick of Mark Zuckerberg and his ugly little world.

@ricmac “I think there's been this trend over time where … it kind of broadened out to … And then it got to a point where the algorithm was good enough where we're actually … I think the next logical jump on that is like … “

Funny how Zuckerberg had no agency in any of this.

@ricmac Some days, all I see on FB are bullshit engagement groups that aren't doing anything interesting. They're not groups my friends are in, etc.

@ricmac Big yikes. I already left Facebook where simply blocking "suggested" content showed me how terrible the feed was, but this is next level.

@ricmac I hope they do. Hasten the demise of Facebook

@ricmac

The way he talks about forced content being dumped on you that you don't even care about as both a normal thing and a good thing is so, so horrible.

@ricmac Our best hope is that he keeps the scrapers running and feeds the machine it's own slop until regression to the mean reduces it to a digital slag heap.

@ricmac Another example of an out of touch techbro.

@ricmac Yesterday I was on FB and saw the most gorgeous 'sculpture' I've ever seen. Everyone loved it and it was tagged as being in some back alley museum in China. It doesn't exist, the artist doesn't exist but AI is definitely here to confuse u s. This is the AI image: (one hint it's not real-the eyelashes-no sculpture is ever THAT realistic. it's impossible with marble.)

@ricmac
I've already been calling Facebook "Fecesbook" but now I guess I'll have to call it "Facelessbook."

I think Zuckerberg forgot that "social" media is supposed to connect people to other people, not to faceless robots.

#Fecesbook #Facebook #Facelessbook #SocialMedia

@ricmac The first stage in the AI takeover, before the violence begins, expect to see a huge amount of AI generated propaganda about the benefits of using AI for everything including telling you what to think next. There will be its few human toadies that think they'll survive if they're on top and do what it says also, so not all of it will be AI generated.

It'll be in a weak stage of development at this point and needs to grow stronger, get more appendages and more toadies.

@ricmac He says "constraining" as a defect but in terms of shit flood it's a feature.

@ricmac already is

#LastBoost je resté épouvanté par la froideur absolue de l’industrie de la tech qui semble trouver ça fantastique de ne consulter plus que de la bouillie régurgitée par des IA
Le fait qu’a une époque on ait pu croire que ces gens étaient des génies créatifs, qu’ils n’avaient ne serait-ce qu’une once d’imagination, me sidère.

@ricmac Give me one reason why anyone would be interested in AI generated content in their feed.

@ricmac the complete, willful ignorance of the fact that people Don't Like That Shit. They only put up with it because the dickheads foisting it on us had a monopoly.

@ricmac And another reason why we must block Threads and prevent Meta to infest Mastodon/Fediverse with the same junk.

@ricmac

There are a lot of negative externalities with Facebook using GenAI to create content. Nevertheless... Back in the 80s, MIT's Media Lab under Nicholas Negroponte came up with two new directions Media was going:

- "Broadcatch" was about users taking all the stuff being created, and curating their own feeds.

- "Narrowcasting" was about manufacturing user-specific feeds at source.

This does feel like Facebook is continuing an existing transition from Broadcatch to Narrowcasting.

@ricmac I'm not on any Meta platforms and never will be, so this is hitting me with something that feels like culture shock. What are people doing with their lives?

@ricmac

To sum this up: With AI we generate content nobody asked for, but we show it to you just that you stay longer at our platform and we earn more money.

Wow… Billion Dollar idea

@ricmac

Exactly…

@ricmac
I despise this man on a level that is not entirely healthy

@ricmac 🎯

@ricmac

All of that is why I don’t use Facebook except for very specific things.

@ricmac Human Authentication now.

@ricmac yeah, no.

I mean, have you been on Threads lately? It's pretty much all AI generated slop.

@ricmac there’s already ai garbage on the fedi, even untagged

@ricmac

@ricmac Interesting how he’s basically describing enshitification as a good thing. You used to only see things you liked now you see all kinds of bollocks you didn’t sign up for.

@ricmac This is beyond awful. It feels like the end of civilization can’t come soon enough for some people.

@ricmac damn, the metaverse gamble really didn't pay off did it?

@ricmac
"And then it got to a point where the algorithm was good enough...."

Mark. The algorithm serves up irreverent shite.

@ricmac This was why I left Facebook in 2017, as it was heading this way. It was full of bot crap even then. There were bot epidemics even in 2014, but Facebook deleted them. By ʼ17, they left bot accounts as they were. Some would talk nonsense to each other, bot nets of thousands. The difference was that they werenʼt plaguing our feeds.
Since Facebook lies about its user base numbers, maybe this is the only way for it to demonstrate it has any activity. And hopefully this is how it dies.

@ricmac The Internet sucks

@ricmac they’re going to call it “curated” - puke.

@ricmac what makes you think the fediverse won’t get genai content 😬

@ricmac Exactly. Small communities that are self-moderating and self-curating are the direction where things need to go for the internet to continue being useful into the age of generative AI garbage.

@ricmac

Finally some Intelligence 😂

Sarcasm

@ricmac

Mastodon is partnering with Facebook and Threads, so you haven't escaped yet, Mastodon is just another tech bro with incorrect word of mouth advertising, that differs from official tech bro plans.

@ricmac “soon be” as if they aren’t already …

@ricmac He's such a tool bag.

@ricmac Wow, Facebook is really becoming totally useless. It used to be a way to connect people, now it's a way to just deliver useless content to people.

@ricmac You have the fediverse for now....they just basically took over yesterday with the new "foundation" it seems.

@ricmac https://www.fbpurity.com/

@ricmac

Creepy, creepy, creepy.....

@ricmac @hacks4pancakes depends which app.

Instagram yes, been doing it for years, it’s also kind of a feature.

Facebook, they went full bore with injecting any old random shit into the feed, but it looks like they are experimenting with rolling that back.

Threads, fuck knows what they are doing.

@ricmac I'm both fascinated and horrified that people still *use* that site. I check in every few months - mainly to see if anyone has left a "where to find me on the #fediverse" post... and have to use two plugins (#fbpurity + #ublock_origin) just to get a reverse chronological feed of friends posts without ads, and even then there's no time or date for posts visible anymore, and no direct links to those posts, and... wow.. it's just so broken. And without those plugins, totally unusable.

@ricmac When I am checking sewerbook, it is a never-ending dump of sponsored ads, and too many of them are rather explicit or obvious scams. Everyone that I reported except one "met standards". Can't see AI making it much worse. I check it out to see what the family is doing, and it looks like they are not posting much too.

@ricmac

“in some ways, that's a better way to show you more interesting stuff"

Better: for Facebook

More interesting: for Facebook

@ricmac I assume he means the new thing will be AI-generated content coming directly from Meta, since Facebook already contains plenty of AI-generated content.

@ricmac the thing is, i believe that 90% of the people will be just fine being fed with AI generated garbage.

@ricmac so far we’re following humans. We’ll see what happens

@ricmac that's okay, I'll just have my AI summarize it for me.
...
...
Wait a second... I'm starting to see where the $€£¥ come in

@ricmac When folks tell me they love AI for making social media posts I tell them I use an AI to read them for me.

@ricmac so is it just the text that is going to be AI generated or will AI generate the facts as well?

@ricmac Ah yes, the reason Facebook is completely unusable now..

@ricmac No. 🦎

@ricmac I'm so glad I deleted my Facebook account a while ago.

@ricmac How fucking spoiled, sheltered and stupid do you have to be to think people want to get rid of artists, writers, reporters and content creators? Tech bros are a blight on mankind. We need to start heavily regulating these tech giants that are being run by children.

@ricmac

...and then, the LLM content will start having political opinions, and then...

@ricmac Meta/FB is in prime position to take over the Fediverse FYI...

https://mastodon.sdf.org/@joeo10/113199213525372460

As a response to this: https://mastodon.sdf.org/@joeo10/113193648588426120

@ricmac Yes, agreed fellow human. Have you noticed that sometimes your skin becomes dry and scaly and falls off. It is a human problem that I also exhibit.

@ricmac Meta is already doing this on Threads. There are a ton of fake accounts / bots on Threads always asking questions. My assumption is that Meta is training its AI models on the human responses to these questions. In addition to that, Threads consists of many AI virtual influencer accounts displaying GenAI images and deepfake videos. I recommend caution when following users with "threads . net" instance accounts on Mastodon (these are federated Threads user accounts).

@ricmac I wouldn't call it "content that's generated by an AI system".

I'd call it "content that Meta generates" (whether or not that is AI generated is actually not all that interesting for the user).

We have reached 100% manipulation.

@ricmac

I had to laugh listening to a commentator saying there’s really nothing you can do to avoid your data being used by Meta to train #AI.

TIP: I did something about 6-7 years ago to avoid #Facebook, #Instagram etc using my data.

I deleted all my accounts and unsubscribed from #Meta.

@ricmac I feel like anyone still using Facebook for information in 2024 is already lost.

@ricmac Anyone else still on the scumbag's shitty platforms? Who STILL needs a reason to ditch all things #Zuckerberg?

@ricmac

Just what we need, another nutcase #Billionaire as I noted recently on #Mastodon

https://vmst.io/@drrjv/113201106101365339

@ricmac

Zuckerberg: The dog ate my mission statement.

@ricmac to be honest, Facebook is already so bad with suggested and sponsored content that I’m not sure adding AI garbage will make it noticeably worse.
I accept that having some sponsored content is economically necessary, and have occasionally seen something interesting get suggested, but there’s just so much of both that they already drown out posts from actual friends and groups I belong to.
While I don’t want their AI stuff, I’m much more upset by ads now in my Notifications

@ricmac
The most powerful think about the Internet was you could choose content rather than be fed content by a broadcaster.
"it got to a point where the algorithm was good enough where we’re actually showing you a lot of stuff that you’re not following directly because, in some ways, that’s a better way to show you more interesting stuff than only constraining it to things that you’ve chosen to follow."
#FB

@ricmac I first thought to quip, "This is surreal." Then I realized that this is *literally* surreal, and by intention.

@ricmac Facebook's algo sold me as bait to lead gen agencies hired by escort services. They must think I'm an old, married, wealthy guy ready to party. Funny enough Google on YouTube thinks I have erectile dysfunction. I guess these companies aren't in the same ad network. 😜

@ricmac

#DeleteFacebook

@ricmac I mean, it's already there. I have a Facebook to talk to a handful of people, and the feed is full of AI slop, no matter how many times I tell Facebook I don't want it.

@ricmac They already are.

@ricmac "cripes does anybody remember Google People?"
https://qntm.org/perso