An amazing thing happened today on Mastodon - somebody updated a post with more information when the story changed. Like, who does that? In the history of the internet, who does that? Strange times, my friends. Strange times.
That said, the story that got updated was this: a whistleblower posted on Reddit with all kinds of terrible insider information about an unnamed food delivery app. AI-assisted “desperation” scores to pay drivers less, company diversion of money to drivers, some really terrible stuff. Wholly-believable stuff, too. Who doesn’t think there are executives who would gladly leverage AI to screw gig workers out of an extra 70 cents?
That said, the update was a well-researched and documented story by a legit news source basically debunking the whole thing - turns out the whistleblower was making it all up and then using AI to generate fake evidence when challenged.
You see the common theme, though, right? AI is undermining our ability to identify truth - it’s undermining our perception of reality. Now maybe the endgame is general artificial intelligence actually being the Buddha returned, but that’s for another day (I’m kidding, man). I genuinely do believe, however, that there’s going to be a rebound effect. As AI renders information on the internet meaningless, people are going to start engaging with the real world more - and I think that’s a good thing.
I can’t tell if a Twitter account or a Reddit user is actually an AI bot - but I can tell if the guy next to me at the brewery is real, you know? I don’t know if that song on Spotify is just AI-generated noise, but I can tell if the chick with the guitar at the local open mike is actually there and actually making art.
From the article:
If there’s anything that gives me comfort here, it’s that old journalism-school maxims can still help us see through the scams. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. If your mother says she loves you, check it out. Always get a second source. And one more from the social media age: you should always be at your most suspicious online when someone is baiting you into outrage.
More and more, we understand we’re being played. Even my wife quit Facebook when she finally got tired of being mad all the time. Maybe we can claw this thing back, friends. Let’s meet up for beers and talk about it.
