Kovid Goyal, the primary dev of ebook management tool Calibre, has spat in the face of its users by forcing AI “features” into it.

the article headline: “Chatbots are now rivaling social networks as a core layer of internet infrastructure”

Counterpoint: “vibe coding” is rotting internet infrastructure from the inside, AI scrapers are destroying the commons through large-scale theft, chatbots are drowning everything else through nonstop lying

I’m a bit more familiar with Case - I mainly knew her for making web games like :the game: trilogy, Nothing to Hide and We Become What We Behold.

Fucking sucks to see she’s bought into this shit.

Dexerto has reported on an unnamed Japanese game studio weeding out promptfondlers (by having applicants draw something in-person during interviews).

Unsurprisingly, the replies have become a promptfondler shooting gallery. Personal “favourite” goes to the guy who casually admits he can’t tell art from slop:

And it was inspired by Sword Art Online

That is a pretty solid point - constant updates are something online systems need on a regular basis.

AFAIK FOSS has avoided being slopified by AI, so we should hopefully be pretty far from that point

To (somewhat) reiterate a potentially extreme position of mine, shit like this is why society needs to actively avoid adopting new software for the time being, if not actively cut back on software usage whenever possible.

Whilst the IT industry was already a failure-ridden mess which actively refuses to learn before AI was a thing, the rise of AI and “vibe coding” has made things so much worse in practically every regard. At this point, any new software should be treated as a liability until proven otherwise.

Major RAM/SSD manufacturer Micron just shut down its Crucial brand to sell shovels in the AI gold rush, worsening an already-serious RAM shortage for consumer parts.

Just another way people are paying more for less, thanks to AI.

They are trusting a “tool” that categorically cannot be trusted. They are fools to trust it.

New and lengthy sneer from Current Affairs just dropped: AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself

I mean, trust but verify is a thing for a reason.

And it just so happens that chatbots discourage the “verify” part by design…

I’m not sure will ever escape “move fast and break things” this side of a civilisation-toppling catastrophe. Which we might get.

Considering how “vibe coding” has corroded IT infrastructure at all levels, the AI bubble is set to trigger a 2008-style financial crisis upon its burst, and AI itself has been deskilling students and workers at an alarming rate, I can easily see why.

Amazon tried introducing an AI dub for hit anime Banana Fish, and were forced to shitcan it after it got ripped for being dogshit.

Cooling in space is an absolute arse. Space is an excellent insulator for heat. That’s why a thermos works. In space, thermal management is job number one. All you can use is radiators. Getting rid of your 200 kilowatts will need about 500 square metres.

To drive home how easy this is to work out, the Codex for the Mass Effect series¹ explicitly points out that radiation is the only way to cool off in space, and goes into detail on how in-universe spaceships (civilian and military) deal with heat buildup.

BioWare did their homework on this shit for a series of sci-fi RPGs which started in the early days of the Xbox 360 and the PS3. That the startup bros, tech co’s and billionaire CEOs pushing this have failed or refused to recognise this shit is goddamn negligence.

So space is a bit hard. A lot of the sci-fi guys suggest oceans! We’ll put the data centres underwater and cooling will be great!

The only way I see that idea working is if humanity works out underwater cities (e.g. Rapture from the original Bioshock) first. That’d make the issue of maintenance easier to deal with, even if getting new parts from the surface would remain a PITA.

¹ Specifically “Starships: Heat Management”, under Ships and Vehicles, in the Secondary Codex"

A philosophy professor has warned the deskilling machine is deskilling workers. In other news, water is wet.

Considering the sorry state of the software industry, plus said industry’s adamant refusal to learn from its mistakes, I think society should actively avoid starting or implementing new software, if not actively cut back on software usage when possible, until the industry improves or collapses.

That’s probably an extreme position to take, but IT as it stands is a serious liability - one that AI’s set to make so much worse.

Starting things off with some unsurprising news: Major AI conference flooded with peer reviews written fully by AI

Found a fitting lament for our current era:

alt text: “Kinda hate that we live in a world where any new F/OSS tool or operating system that gets buzz needs to be vetted for Nazi entanglements.”

Found a primo sneer aimed at a slop supporter’s unofficial manifesto today:

https://chronicles.mad-scientist.club/tales/you-probably-shouldnt-block-ai-bots-from-your-website/

(Don’t mind the title, its ironic)

The CIA wouldn’t be able to torture this kinda shit out of me. Jesus, Linehan.