Writers are a hell of a lot cheaper than the "suck up the energy of the oceans to give you plagiarism" machines. Atlantic, hang your head in shame. Shame!
GPT isn't very good for content, at least not yet. I use it as a cheap RA. That doesn't put anyone out of work, because the alternative is no one. And it doesn't diminish my writing. Also, it doesn't speak when not spoken to.
I was a game writer. Now I edit, a contract job without benefits for less than half what I was making before. And I’m one of the lucky ones. I know too many colleagues whose resources are running out, who don’t know what they’re going to do. It’s fucked up.
And for those who remain, salaries are now at 2010 levels. Not adjusted for inflation, the actual dollar amounts down tens of thousands from what folks made pre-pandemic.
Would have loved to see the meeting that led to these agreemnts. The Atlantic Board Member 1: Gosh, AI is going to destroy the news business, according to the AI bros. What do we do? ABM #2: Let's talk to Altman. He's a trustworthy guy. ABM #3: At least the bots will read the news.
This is about OpenAI paying media organisations for content they will surface in their chatbot. It's interesting since this is precisely what Facebook refuses to do as they pivot away from news. Media organisations are desperate for new income streams, so it's not surprising.
this is why i’m not trying to get another FT editing / copyediting job. i know i have a lot of valuable skill, experience, and discernment there, but the thought of being forced to work alongside this crap sounds incredibly soul-crushing.
it really sucks. it turns out i’m much happier making art (kinda neglected it for 10 years, which oddly 🧐 lines up with graduating and moving across the country and needing to make money to survive)…
but i still feel guilt for not wanting to try to change media from within anymore
i should say written media. my art can still contribute. but it feels like a less direct way to me (probably something i need to work on unlearning a bit)
Tbh vox and the Atlantic have become such dogshit publications that I'm not sad to see them become the ones that will prove what an awful idea this is. If we're lucky it will just ruin these mags in time to save journalism and the rest of the internet. 🤞
well this is irritating. Talking with or about AI is one thing but I am just gonna completely stop listening to @vox.com stuff if they're going to actually partner with and pay money to ChatGPT. So irritated as a long time listener.
In fairness, every Atlantic writer could be replaced with a broom with a sign that says "Palestinian children deserve to die" and "college students who annoy me are Pol Pot""
Isn’t that why some of them are acting like total nutcases? They know they’re getting away with crime, they want to make sure it stays that way, so they’re lining up behind the most corrupt politicians they can find.
i mean they do this wholly without threat so i don't think the threat is what motivates them
rich people motivated by genuine threat of uprising are, historically, a lot more likely to propose limits on wealth/power because appeasement does, in fact, work on The Poors, and is better than death
Society has a long and ubiquitous tradition of violent uprising against repression -- and equally violent repression of uprisings.
We are either going to sleepwalk into vats of goo or go down with one hell of a fight, but all signs indicate an exacerbation of this absolute garbage AI culture.
If that’s who I think it is, I love that he’s trying to get the others to wake up to the literal “eat the rich” threat before they force it to become inevitable.
Is this the same AI that keeps bouncing my applications for Atlantic senior editor roles without even an HR screener, or is that a different LLM designed to take jobs in a much less direct sense?
I really believe all these partnerships with AI are crap. AI can’t think yet so it makes me wonder—- what kind of deals are they making?
Writing is an art and AI can’t replace your expression.
Pretty sure a lot of these organisations feel that OpenAI is going to scrape their content anyway and they don’t have resources to fight so are just throwing in the towel. Absolutely devastating for our information infrastructure and for anyone working as a writer
I think it’s funny that AI needs us to survive but it’s going to replace us. Now that everyone has stolen all our intellectual property and they are feeding AI—- do they really think it won’t be dead in the water once we stop contributing??? It will only have it’s own gibberish to program itself
I agree. We don’t have quantum computing yet but because they want funding… all AI companies act like it can think but it cannot. It’s mostly just used as a glorified answer machine that knows a few prompt words.
Comments
but i still feel guilt for not wanting to try to change media from within anymore
https://bsky.app/profile/brainnotonyet.bsky.social/post/3ktggbngzj324
oh well
But we need a critical mass of Billionaires to believe that it’s happening any second now.
Taxes and equal treatment under the law.
rich people motivated by genuine threat of uprising are, historically, a lot more likely to propose limits on wealth/power because appeasement does, in fact, work on The Poors, and is better than death
We are either going to sleepwalk into vats of goo or go down with one hell of a fight, but all signs indicate an exacerbation of this absolute garbage AI culture.
Nick Hanauer* wrote about it in 2014
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014/
*The only billionaire I wouldn't eat
Writing is an art and AI can’t replace your expression.