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TheGreatConspiracy

(54 posts)
Wed Oct 16, 2024, 11:56 AM Oct 16

Learning AI tools: DUers seem to think it's immoral

I’m a 61-year-old unemployed editor. At my age, I’m probably thought of as behind the technological curve. So I’ve been playing around with AI tools to pick up new skills.

Most recently, I was experimenting with a text-to-video tool. My goal was to create anti-Trump content and post it on TikTok.

I posted a link to one video here, looking for feedback from other Democrats. What I got for my trouble were long-winded lectures about how awful AI is and why it’s immoral to use it.

Sheesh. Can’t win.

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Learning AI tools: DUers seem to think it's immoral (Original Post) TheGreatConspiracy Oct 16 OP
Post removed Post removed Oct 16 #1
Great. Now I have a stalker (nt) TheGreatConspiracy Oct 16 #3
Or maybe a paid Russian troll. Or an AI bot that is more experienced in hiding the technology. usaf-vet Oct 16 #4
AI is yet another tool for creating stuff. Results can be good, bad, indifferent, boring, exciting... you make it CurtEastPoint Oct 16 #2
I enjoy tooling around with it, too. And have already found it very useful. C Moon Oct 16 #5
I think I was laid off because of AI, which was stupid TheGreatConspiracy Oct 16 #10
That's terrible! C Moon Oct 16 #15
I'm all for new technology, grumpyduck Oct 16 #6
As with just about everything, AI can, too, be abused. However, if the public were to educate in2herbs Oct 16 #7
Cheer up. I'm against the indiscriminate use of AI as Daffy Duck is against duck hunters, but usonian Oct 16 #8
Binary thinking (pardon the pun) is pretty common. TwilightZone Oct 16 #9
ignore them..haters gonna hate samnsara Oct 16 #11
Thanks! (NT) TheGreatConspiracy Oct 16 #13
I'm sorry you were laid off, especially if it was because of AI. There's a genAI tool that will let you apply for more highplainsdem Oct 16 #12
Thanks! TheGreatConspiracy Oct 16 #14
I feel some of that is because of this... OldBaldy1701E Oct 21 #16
I'd love to see you video! Iris Oct 24 #17
A link to my channel TheGreatConspiracy Oct 25 #18
I liked it! Iris Oct 27 #19
Thanks. TheGreatConspiracy Oct 27 #20

Response to TheGreatConspiracy (Original post)

CurtEastPoint

(19,209 posts)
2. AI is yet another tool for creating stuff. Results can be good, bad, indifferent, boring, exciting... you make it
Wed Oct 16, 2024, 11:59 AM
Oct 16

Do your thing and don't let the shitheads get you down.

10. I think I was laid off because of AI, which was stupid
Wed Oct 16, 2024, 12:17 PM
Oct 16

I think my former employer greatly overestimated the power of current AI tools. Instead of focusing on how it could make people like me more productive, the powers that be thought it made me irrelevant.

grumpyduck

(6,652 posts)
6. I'm all for new technology,
Wed Oct 16, 2024, 12:05 PM
Oct 16

but some uses of AI, IMPO, are just lazy shortcuts.

Medical research? Sure. Astronomy? Sure. Energy options? Sure. Similar uses? Sure. Creative stuff that "should" be done by the human spirit? Nope. At least not yet.

in2herbs

(3,183 posts)
7. As with just about everything, AI can, too, be abused. However, if the public were to educate
Wed Oct 16, 2024, 12:07 PM
Oct 16

themselves with how AI, for many years, has been helpful and successful in deciphering how animals talk to each other so that humans can develop a better understanding of the importance of animals to our world, the world would be a better place.
I am for AI, just not for its use to abuse.

usonian

(14,372 posts)
8. Cheer up. I'm against the indiscriminate use of AI as Daffy Duck is against duck hunters, but
Wed Oct 16, 2024, 12:13 PM
Oct 16

something that makes a difficult chore easy is fine.

I am still looking for tools that can categorize my photos, so I don't spend a day renaming or tagging them, like I recently did.
and doesn't give them away to Google or some other harvester of data and lives!

There really are legitimate and helpful uses.

I just can't think of any right now.

But YMMV. I am 75 and staying on top of tech as I can.

I read Hacker News daily. Next post gets me to the 600 karma points level, and yes, I have tremendous gripes with the misuse and gigantic flaws of this methodology.

But it's all about people. The impact on people is what counts to me.

That's why I am not a tech billionaire.
I care. 💙

TwilightZone

(28,834 posts)
9. Binary thinking (pardon the pun) is pretty common.
Wed Oct 16, 2024, 12:16 PM
Oct 16

And, unfortunately, we are not immune to it.

Like anything, AI can be useful and can be problematic. Context is important, and from what you mentioned, I see nothing wrong with using it for that purpose. I'm not sure why you would have met resistance, other than that some think AI = bad without really understanding it and its potential uses.

There's also a tendency for some to knee-jerk react negatively to anyone with a relatively low post count. That could be part of it.

Try not to let it bother you. On the whole, DU is a net positive.

highplainsdem

(52,669 posts)
12. I'm sorry you were laid off, especially if it was because of AI. There's a genAI tool that will let you apply for more
Wed Oct 16, 2024, 05:00 PM
Oct 16

jobs quickly, a tool I posted about on DU last Thursday after reading about what Jason Koebler, the founder and editor of 404 Media, had written about it.

IF you're going to use AI, you might as well know of this latest AI tool to try to get job seekers ahead of the AI tools employers are using to handle (and reject) job applications:

'I Applied to 2,843 Roles': The Rise of AI-Powered Job Application Bots
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219552368

You didn't mention thinking you needed AI skills after being laid off, and I hadn't seen your earlier thread at https://www.democraticunderground.com/11191187 or I'd've offered advice there and given you the link I just gave you.

I've been hearing about writers getting laid off because of AI since early last year. Editors seem to get laid off less often because most bosses know how important their work is, but some bosses are dumb enough or gullible enough about AI to think editors aren't necessary...or they're planning to hire someone else who'll be offered a much lower salary. I remember seeing social media posts last year for a job ad from a company wanting an editor to read and correct 200+ AI-written stories a week (multiple websites about different interests) for $30,000/yr. So roughly 10 minutes per story to read and catch all the errors, including glaring and possibly dangerous errors of fact, that can be made by hallucinating chatbots.

I did not tell you in that other thread that learning to use AI tools is immoral. People being forced to use generative AI, whether for work or school, have my sympathies...especially when it's painfully obvious, as it is in too many cases, that the ultimate goal of the AI companies and the enployers wanting to use AI tools is to get rid of as many employees as possible. I've posted here about the latest Silicon Valley dream being a billion-dollar startup with only one worker - the founder/CEO - and everything else being done by AI.

I did tell you that generative AI is fundamentally unethical when trained on stolen intellectual property, as almost all of it is. I stand by that. It's also illegal most places, which is why AI-peddling companies are sued and why those companies are trying to get copyright and intellectual property laws changed around the world to carve out exceptions for training AI, though they will fight very fiercely.to defend their own intellectual property. They know it's theft, but they hope to get away with it.

Ex-Google CEO says successful AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143290749

The other objections I mentioned to generative AI, including why I believe it's a mistake for Democrats to use it, also stand.

Your most valuable job skill is your editorial/writing experience. Not AI skills you're just starting to learn. A huge number of artist have also lost their jobs, or if they kept a job, been demoted to assisting AI for much lower pay. It isn't just writers who were hit hard by genAI.

And all those layoffs are another reason I hate genAI, especially since it was unethically and illegally trained on the work of countless people it's being used to compete with.

Including, almost certainly, all of your own work that's been published.

Anyway, IF you're going to use genAI, that tool I recommended at the start of this reply might give you a better chance at finding a new job.

And you can also try freelancing, as was suggested by Metaphorical in your other thread that I linked to above. It isn't as easy as it once was, again because of damned genAI and people with no experience or real interest in writing flooding markets, whether traditional publishing or self-publishing platforms (Amazon's response to Kindle drowning in AI slop has been to limit self-publishing authors to "only" three new books uploaded per day). I really admire the editors, like those at some science fiction magazines I've posted about

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219401436

who are still trying to keep submissions open to new writers, even though the flood of AI-generated submissions has forced them to shut off submissions at times, starting soon after ChatGPT was released. From February of last year:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217666418

They could have just retreated to looking at stories only from SFWA members or writers they knew otherwise, but they're still trying to recognize new talent and publish it, despite the nightmare genAI has also created for them.

And if you freelance, I'd recommend trying to get an agent, if possible, and use any contacts you still have. Freelancing can be very difficult, and an agent can make all the difference, whether knowing a particular editor to start with or arranging an auction.

OldBaldy1701E

(6,494 posts)
16. I feel some of that is because of this...
Mon Oct 21, 2024, 06:24 PM
Oct 21
https://i.postimg.cc/y8nBv1B2/temp-Image-C4-Vu-OE.avif

I understand the uses. But, when a technology is so easily corrupted and abused, maybe we should hold off a little bit?
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