Y’all gotta stop posting alt text like people can see or read what you’re referencing when you add commentary. lol that’s like, the whole point of the alt is for people who can’t interact with what is being referenced in the image.
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Well that's sent me scuttling off to Google to find out how to use Alt Text well. Tbh, I've just muddled along having read other accounts' Alt text descriptions, which is probably not the best way to learn how to do it..
Just pretend you're describing the image to someone who isn't looking at it. Thats it. Pretend to call a friend on the phone and describe the photo to them. Bam. You just did perfect alt text.
How about don't promote the use of ChatGPT for alt text as a way of solving this problem.
NO ONE should be feeding images into ANY LLM, *ever*, unless they own those images explicitly. And even then, they shouldn't be using plagiarized text. Period.
The problem is that writing alt text isn’t feasible for everyone. Hell, sometimes it’s a real struggle and time consumer for me to do alt text because of my disabilities. I still primarily try to do it, but the few times I’ve just had AI do it has been so incredibly helpful in saving a lot of
Is the alt-text generator on this site ai or just one of the many text in image recognition softwares that have existed for over 20 years and have nothing to do with LLMs?
literally how? I’ve used alt text generators on images maybe once or twice? It’s quite the assumption to make that I do this all the time when I quite literally stated that I’ve done it very few times. And also, you’re also just assuming it wasn’t on MY OWN images
But to be like “hey fuck these disabled people who are using a tool to try and help other people with different disabilities have accessible content” is an interesting, albeit unsurprising stance.
ChatGPT itself doesn't invent text for you. It uses the millions of texts that were fed into it like a hypersophisticated magic 8-ball, and it only has the robust vocabulary/turn of phrase that it does through vast amounts of theft.
Because a weird amount of people who aren’t disabled who do disability “advocacy” have horse blinders on and actively shame and be ableist to those with disabilities that conflict with how they perceive things *should* be done
There's a hashtag called Alt me (I think) you can use to have volunteers do the alt text for you o.o But be careful because if the alt text ends up being too long...You'll end up on a mute list like me >.> lol
Which, while true, there’s probably some images that people would prefer not to have others alt text, especially if it’s something like a selfie and they’re self-conscious about how others describe them. Which is where I could see the AI being the best way to do that
Maybe consider that there are a wide range of support needs and a wide range of solutions without sliding into my mentions with some kind holier than thou response. There are many problems with LLMs and generative AI, I am aware. To assume I don’t is arrogant.
If you understand the issue then you would have not amplified it. That is genuinely fucking alarming thing to advocate when people upload all kinds of images that don't belong to them onto this site, so forgive me if my tone isn't perfectly diplomatic.
No one is asking for perfection. Not every image is stolen. Some are original. Just because some people abuse or misuse a potential access tool does not mean everyone does. If you want to have a serious or nuanced conversation about all the problems of ubiquitous AI use then I’m happy to have one.
The vast majority of data going into LLMs was taken and used without the consent of the authors. This is true across the board for *every* type of generative AI currently in business. The models *cannot function without mass theft*.
Getting all amped at me isn’t a great way to start that conversation. Also, a common internet adage is retweets are not endorsements. Boosting things can have many purposes. If you don’t agree with the things I share that is fine. But the assumptions and demands are kinda whack.
I don't think it's that out of bounds to react strongly to RT'd advice to feed images into an LLM without any comments on 'you should only really do this with images you own/consent to getting potentially mulched, and even then understand that you're dealing with plagiarized text.'
There's a lot of healthy reasons to be skeptical of LLMs claiming to solve problems, especially in light of how unhinged the hype machine has gotten, but this particular example seems like a legitimately useful accessibility win. I don't see the downside.
I’m a critic of technochauvinism and technoableism (shoutout @ashleyshoo.bsky.social). I do think these tools can be bad or dangerous. And definitely don’t think they will solve all problems. I think acting like they can’t provide some help or access isn’t very helpful.
This is honestly a problem with Bluesky's interface. The alt text should not be shown to people without screen readers. They're treating it like a caption, which is not what alt text is for.
i think they should just add a separate secret joke caption box. (real) alt text is still useful for people who don't use screen readers i think, ex. colorblindness
If you have ChatGPT 4 subscription - you can upload your image, and tell it to describe it. It's not ideal, but it will write bulk of text for you, often you only need minor corrections.
Question if you feel like answering- is it generally acceptable to reference a visual by name if it’s fairly well known, like “the Eiffel Tower” or “a young Leonardo DiCaprio”? And then describe the rest of the scene, or the time of day, or whatever other key visual information?
It depends on the person. Alt text and image descriptions are normally different but it kinda blurs on socials. Some folks are more descriptive than others. Being concise and accurate is valuable. The important details and context for the post matter more than describing every little thing.
It was funny when XKCD did it 10 years ago, but that was more like an easter egg to the comic than the joke itself. Alt text definitely shouldn't be used for the purpose of a joke. I can imagine somebody using screen reading software and thinking "What in the hell was that about?"
I am a very visual persont. NGL, it took me a while to get my head around the entire concept of trying to textually describe an image for an unsighted person in a way that is useful. I hope I'm doing an okay job of it, but if I'm not, I won't take offense if someone points out where I'm fucking up.
well, it made me go back and check because i did totally write that in a deliberately bizarre order and i was worried i’d hit character count and didn’t and then got distracted and was like, “i wonder if…” and i totally didn’t copy the part of it that grounded it in reality. so either way.
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i update this feed daily with excellent examples of alt text i see on Bluesky
NO ONE should be feeding images into ANY LLM, *ever*, unless they own those images explicitly. And even then, they shouldn't be using plagiarized text. Period.
That isn't merely an imperfect instrument.
But things like making alt text better seems like a small way to claw back some shadow of the usable, accessible, pre-platform-driven web.
We've seen things like that before.
The alt text: *snarky joke that doesn't describe the image at all*
Every time 😩