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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)

    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
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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)

      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.

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      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.)

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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)

            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.

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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)

              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
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                • 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
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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)

                    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
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                    • 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"

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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)

                          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...

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                          • 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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                            • Jürgen HubertJ Jürgen Hubert shared this topic on

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