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  3. Why AI writing is so generic, boring, and dangerous: Semantic ablation.

Why AI writing is so generic, boring, and dangerous: Semantic ablation.

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  • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

    Why AI writing is so generic, boring, and dangerous: Semantic ablation.

    (We can measure semantic ablation through entropy decay. By running a text through successive AI "refinement" loops, the vocabulary diversity (type-token ratio) collapses.)

    Link Preview Image
    Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is boring and dangerous

    opinion: The subtractive bias we're ignoring

    favicon

    (www.theregister.com)

    mx alex tax1a - 2020 (5)A This user is from outside of this forum
    mx alex tax1a - 2020 (5)A This user is from outside of this forum
    mx alex tax1a - 2020 (5)
    wrote on last edited by
    #32

    @cstross it's the textual equivalent of prions

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

      Why AI writing is so generic, boring, and dangerous: Semantic ablation.

      (We can measure semantic ablation through entropy decay. By running a text through successive AI "refinement" loops, the vocabulary diversity (type-token ratio) collapses.)

      Link Preview Image
      Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is boring and dangerous

      opinion: The subtractive bias we're ignoring

      favicon

      (www.theregister.com)

      Sassinake! - ⊃∪∩⪽S This user is from outside of this forum
      Sassinake! - ⊃∪∩⪽S This user is from outside of this forum
      Sassinake! - ⊃∪∩⪽
      wrote on last edited by
      #33

      @cstross

      nicely described by Orwell as

      'NewSpeak'

      kelleynnnK 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

        Why AI writing is so generic, boring, and dangerous: Semantic ablation.

        (We can measure semantic ablation through entropy decay. By running a text through successive AI "refinement" loops, the vocabulary diversity (type-token ratio) collapses.)

        Link Preview Image
        Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is boring and dangerous

        opinion: The subtractive bias we're ignoring

        favicon

        (www.theregister.com)

        0gust10 This user is from outside of this forum
        0gust10 This user is from outside of this forum
        0gust1
        wrote on last edited by
        #34

        @cstross Neural networks, by mathematical nature, are lossy information-compressing artefacts !

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

          Why AI writing is so generic, boring, and dangerous: Semantic ablation.

          (We can measure semantic ablation through entropy decay. By running a text through successive AI "refinement" loops, the vocabulary diversity (type-token ratio) collapses.)

          Link Preview Image
          Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is boring and dangerous

          opinion: The subtractive bias we're ignoring

          favicon

          (www.theregister.com)

          Phil Stevens :tinoflag:P This user is from outside of this forum
          Phil Stevens :tinoflag:P This user is from outside of this forum
          Phil Stevens :tinoflag:
          wrote on last edited by
          #35

          @cstross No surprise that we see the textual equivalent of mad cow disease.

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

            @malice @JdeBP The Register is a news site: everything has to be flensed and filed down to fit in a standard format and voice. That piece is probably all that's left of an original that was three times the length.

            Peter KrausP This user is from outside of this forum
            Peter KrausP This user is from outside of this forum
            Peter Kraus
            wrote on last edited by
            #36

            @malice @JdeBP @cstross That's fair. However, repeatedly including certain types of sentence construction - appealing or not - makes it look dodgy. Or just trolling. 😉

            Charlie StrossC 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • Peter KrausP Peter Kraus

              @malice @JdeBP @cstross That's fair. However, repeatedly including certain types of sentence construction - appealing or not - makes it look dodgy. Or just trolling. 😉

              Charlie StrossC This user is from outside of this forum
              Charlie StrossC This user is from outside of this forum
              Charlie Stross
              wrote on last edited by
              #37

              @pkraus @malice @JdeBP I've been reading The Reg since 1997 or thereabouts. Their house style has history behind it, not LLMs. (I suspect they'd cop to trolling from time to time, though.)

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

                Why AI writing is so generic, boring, and dangerous: Semantic ablation.

                (We can measure semantic ablation through entropy decay. By running a text through successive AI "refinement" loops, the vocabulary diversity (type-token ratio) collapses.)

                Link Preview Image
                Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is boring and dangerous

                opinion: The subtractive bias we're ignoring

                favicon

                (www.theregister.com)

                MarianneN This user is from outside of this forum
                MarianneN This user is from outside of this forum
                Marianne
                wrote on last edited by
                #38

                @cstross ironically got a Google cloud genAI and ML ad right in the middle of that.

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

                  Why AI writing is so generic, boring, and dangerous: Semantic ablation.

                  (We can measure semantic ablation through entropy decay. By running a text through successive AI "refinement" loops, the vocabulary diversity (type-token ratio) collapses.)

                  Link Preview Image
                  Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is boring and dangerous

                  opinion: The subtractive bias we're ignoring

                  favicon

                  (www.theregister.com)

                  J This user is from outside of this forum
                  J This user is from outside of this forum
                  jmj
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #39

                  @cstross hmmm, that might also explain why AI seems more effective for code.
                  For the most part you want a reversion to the mean in code. Novel solutions are only needed at the cutting edge where you trying to make the computer do something that’s not been done before.

                  Charlie StrossC 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • J jmj

                    @cstross hmmm, that might also explain why AI seems more effective for code.
                    For the most part you want a reversion to the mean in code. Novel solutions are only needed at the cutting edge where you trying to make the computer do something that’s not been done before.

                    Charlie StrossC This user is from outside of this forum
                    Charlie StrossC This user is from outside of this forum
                    Charlie Stross
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #40

                    @Jmj Yes. Also I suspect the semantic expressiveness of programming languages is far narrower than that of human languages: they're more precise, but it's much harder (though not impossible!) to write poetry in them. So there's less risk of losing something unique by generating output that tends to occupy the middle of the bell curve.

                    Chris (so far)P 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

                      @Jmj Yes. Also I suspect the semantic expressiveness of programming languages is far narrower than that of human languages: they're more precise, but it's much harder (though not impossible!) to write poetry in them. So there's less risk of losing something unique by generating output that tends to occupy the middle of the bell curve.

                      Chris (so far)P This user is from outside of this forum
                      Chris (so far)P This user is from outside of this forum
                      Chris (so far)
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #41
                      @cstross @Jmj I mean I think one could make a coherent argument that programming *is* poetry: reduced syntax, enforced structure, heavy use of metaphor…

                      It’s just most programming topics make Vogon poetry look exciting.
                      J 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

                        Why AI writing is so generic, boring, and dangerous: Semantic ablation.

                        (We can measure semantic ablation through entropy decay. By running a text through successive AI "refinement" loops, the vocabulary diversity (type-token ratio) collapses.)

                        Link Preview Image
                        Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is boring and dangerous

                        opinion: The subtractive bias we're ignoring

                        favicon

                        (www.theregister.com)

                        Colin RowatR This user is from outside of this forum
                        Colin RowatR This user is from outside of this forum
                        Colin Rowat
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #42

                        @cstross "Model collapse", Shumailov, Shumaylov & Papernot (2024), Nature : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07566-y

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • Chris (so far)P Chris (so far)
                          @cstross @Jmj I mean I think one could make a coherent argument that programming *is* poetry: reduced syntax, enforced structure, heavy use of metaphor…

                          It’s just most programming topics make Vogon poetry look exciting.
                          J This user is from outside of this forum
                          J This user is from outside of this forum
                          jmj
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #43

                          @perigrin @cstross but I think in the code case the subtle semantics of the words and combinations are less likely to be the important or desirable aspects, whereas in poetry it’s likely that those aspects are precisely the desired meaning.

                          Chris (so far)P 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • Sassinake! - ⊃∪∩⪽S Sassinake! - ⊃∪∩⪽

                            @cstross

                            nicely described by Orwell as

                            'NewSpeak'

                            kelleynnnK This user is from outside of this forum
                            kelleynnnK This user is from outside of this forum
                            kelleynnn
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #44

                            @Sassinake @cstross 👍 "duck speak"

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

                              Why AI writing is so generic, boring, and dangerous: Semantic ablation.

                              (We can measure semantic ablation through entropy decay. By running a text through successive AI "refinement" loops, the vocabulary diversity (type-token ratio) collapses.)

                              Link Preview Image
                              Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is boring and dangerous

                              opinion: The subtractive bias we're ignoring

                              favicon

                              (www.theregister.com)

                              mspongM This user is from outside of this forum
                              mspongM This user is from outside of this forum
                              mspong
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #45

                              @cstross I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves...

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • J jmj

                                @perigrin @cstross but I think in the code case the subtle semantics of the words and combinations are less likely to be the important or desirable aspects, whereas in poetry it’s likely that those aspects are precisely the desired meaning.

                                Chris (so far)P This user is from outside of this forum
                                Chris (so far)P This user is from outside of this forum
                                Chris (so far)
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #46
                                @Jmj @cstross Perl’s TIMTOWDI has ruined me.
                                1 Reply Last reply
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