Sometimes I am jealous of these people. They arent doing the corporate grind, and they arent even really doing the startup grind. They are shilling stuff on the internet and avoiding spending their lives working. I know a few, they live great, though frugal lives. I go to my job at prestigious big Co and often wonder who the smart one is, me or them
"One of the handful of things Twitter still has going for it is that it’s the main place people are talking about A.I"<p>This is a really strange way to start an article, because I can tell you that here in small town middle of nowhere America, even the old guys down at the VFW hall are talking about AI. I can't get through a full day without someone at random (at Rotary, in the grocery checkout line...) talking about it. Which tells me there's probably as much "get rich quick" and other "gold rush" type BS happening here as there is good computer science.
> Underrated aspect of paid checks and longer tweets with amplification is that Twitter 2.0 has basically recreated LinkedIn broetry.<p><a href="https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/1650265151227174912" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/1650265151227174912</a>
This is so funny. I've noticed these lame influencers shilling AI strategies on twitter even though I don't follow them. But the algorithm sees engagement from others so it thinks I'll like it too.<p>There's a pattern developing on twitter (and other socials).<p>Life coach types, just shill the next big thing.<p>It was Crypto, then NFTs, now AI.<p>Wonder what will be next?
This post spends a lot of time criticizing the "pointless line breaks" but not a lot of time on why this is a problem or "must be stopped". Block or mute the people that annoy you and move on; problem solved.
1. If you're still on bird-app, I feel it's important to ignore the "For you" tab and strictly look at the "Following" view, and follow only people whose posts you consistently appreciate. The noise ratio is so high now, and not just about AI.<p>> What they share across platforms and fields is less any particular insight and more a deep and abiding faith in the accuracy and power of a still-developing technology about which not much is known (and where what little is known is often kept secret by the private companies developing it).<p>2. I think specifically _because_ most people won't understand it at a deep level, and it is still a bit inchoate but with potentially wide scope, it _invites_ influencers who don't know or don't care to know what they're talking about in the same way as crypto, the web, DNA sequencing, or nuclear fission. We were promised nuclear cars and planes, medical care tailored to our personal genetics, a global computer that democratizes access to all human knowledge, and useful and ubiquitous digital currencies. Even when the tech is really transformative, the early pundits aren't going to have an accurate view of what the transformation will look like. And it doesn't help that we didn't hold the line on saying "ML" instead of "AI".
Why do we need to stop them? I despise these chumps too, but I also control the content I consume. Non-technical business types have always made lofty promises online, you can avoid them by not using for-profit soapbox platforms like Twitter, Substack and Medium.
The term "AI" is only ~60 years old and less in the public awareness. There's a chance of it's public connotations being overloaded by the success of scammers transitioning from "crypto". It's yet another hot market selling things that most people don't and won't understand so the same tricks apply. When people hear about "crypto" now they think of the highly public scams (effective pre-mines, nft, "stable" coins, etc) instead bitcoin.
I'm not really concerned.<p>More likely, we are currently experiencing a calibration phase for a new technology, during which individuals are attempting to gauge others' understanding and interest in it.<p>Right now, everybody is shouting "You have to look at this awesome thing!!", while in fact others are already aware of it, or even tired of it. Hence the complaints. This will pass quickly.
Not to be dismissive but it seems like a skill issue to me. I have the thread emoji muted, that does 90% of the work. I had to click “don’t show me this guy” (<i>not</i> “don’t show me this topic”) on maybe half a dozen that slipped through, and then it seems like the algorithm got the message. Just curate better and the problem goes away.
"It’s obviously not the only place--there’s lots of activity on the homepage of the rationalist-terrorism cell LessWrong"<p>This made me curious what the general consensus of LessWrong is outside of LessWrong.
Stuff like this is why people want to block Blue badges.<p>But hucksters on Twitter have been around since well before the acquisition. AI is just the latest snake oil they're selling. Previously it was NFTs, blockchain, dropshipping, 101-level coding 'tips'.<p>Social media algorithms have always embraced bullshittery. There's a reason why "influencer" is a 4 letter word.
To me, this is an issue with the recommendation system. Twitter having fired so many of their engineers is barely functional as it is and is hardly in a position to devote engineering talent to improving feed quality when the kitchen sink is on fire.
AI hype is the successor to crypto hype, which in 2022 flamed out. I think at least AI has more practical applications compared to crypto and is not nearly as scammy. Many investors lost huge money with crypto; I do not see the same for AI.