The secret to killing X is a social network for bots to talk to bots
The secret to killing X is a social network for bots to talk to bots
To encourage conversation, Twitter-like platform Pebble—formerly T2—now suggests AI-generated updates for users to edit or post. It's also opening sign-ups to anyone with an account on X.
I think I giggled all the way through this one.
Pebble, a Twitter-style service formerly known as T2, today launched a new approach: Users can skip past its “What’s happening?” nudge and click on a tab labeled Ideas with a lightbulb icon, to view a list of AI-generated posts or replies inspired by their past activity. Publishing one of those suggestions after reviewing it takes a single click.
Gabor Cselle, Pebble’s CEO, says this and generative AI features to come will enable a kinder, safer, and more fun experience. “We want to make sure that you see great content, that you're posting great content, and that you're interacting with the community,” he says.
How is it "kinder, safer, and more fun"?
Cselle says he recognizes the perils of offering AI-generated text to users, and that users are free to edit or ignore the suggestions. “We don’t want a situation where bots masquerade as humans and the entire platform is just them talking to each other,” he says.
To protect the integrity of the community as it throws open the door to over 300 million people, Pebble will also be using generative AI to vet new signups. The system will use OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model to compare the X bio and recent posts of people against Pebble’s community guidelines, which in contrast to Musk’s service ban all nudity and violent content.
Pebble CTO Mike Greer says the aim is to determine “whether someone is fundamentally toxic and treats other people poorly.” Those who are or do will be blocked and and manually reviewed. Pebble intends to vet would-be users against “other sources of truth” online once it opens signups further, he says, to include people without an X account.
There are too many quotable passages, so I'll stop there.
My favourite thing about these products is how they want to take on giants with these differentiating features that would be trivial plug-ins for the giants if they were to pose any threat. It's common in the enterprise blockchain world as well. It'll take SAP much less time to figure out blockchain than it will for your shitty blockchain startup to work out whatever SAP is.
so pebble is just a laundry list of the features other apps have been trying to shove down my throat, but in one extremely annoying place
To protect the integrity of the community as it throws open the door to over 300 million people, Pebble will also be using generative AI to vet new signups. The system will use OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model to compare the X bio and recent posts of people against Pebble’s community guidelines, which in contrast to Musk’s service ban all nudity and violent content.
isn’t this extremely trivial to subvert with crafted inputs, as we’ve seen at this year’s DEFCON and in a bunch of published research?
“Interesting analysis! It's crucial to understand how platforms navigate the political landscape. With the upcoming 2024 elections, their approaches will undoubtedly shape the digital political sphere. Thanks for sharing! #PlatformPolitics.”
Although I feared that response came off as spammy, Harbath says it “didn’t scream AI to me.”
thank fuck this bullshit isn’t trying to federate with mastodon
also, pebble? these shitheads really are stealing every generic-but-famous name they won’t get immediately sued for using, cryptocurrency style
isn’t this extremely trivial to subvert with crafted inputs, as we’ve seen at this year’s DEFCON and in a bunch of published research?
This presupposes anyone will be interested enough in subverting Pebble, instead of letting it sink into formerly-VC-funded obscurity.
“It didn’t scream AI to me” haha it whispered it
One step away from only being able to choose among chatbot-generated posts, two steps from a social network consisting only of bots replying to each other.
Reminds me of a Žižek bit where he describes his ideal date. He brings his
Stamina Training Unitmotorizedonaholepocket pussy and she brings her vibrator dildo. While the machines perform the mechanically perfect and virtually tireless deed of ideal techno-sex, he and his partner can indulge in the intellectual stimulation of conversation with thair date without the performance anxieties involved in the deed.That video of him telling it is a rollercoaster. Wasn’t there a similar concept in Demolition Man?
“We want to make sure that you see great content, that you’re posting great content, and that you’re interacting with the community,” he says.
I feel like using the phrase "great content" unironically is sort of a tell that someone has no idea what makes 'content' 'great' in the first place
Relatedly (and relevant to this article) I feel like the funniest part of the whole AI bubble has been executives repeatedly unwittingly revealing that they could be replaced by a simple computer program
I know right? The guy worked on Google Plus and this was his takeaway
Pebble already exists, here it is:
(insert gif of a fax machine depositing into a shredder here)
archive link for anyone who also ran into the paywall
shit, sorry. Totally forgot. WIll update the post.
no problem! wired only pops their paywall when they’ve decided you’ve seen enough. which for me was a single automatic reload of the tab due to my mobile browser’s memory management