Will AI/Machine Learning cause the death of "free" (as in beer) internet?

ScatmansWorld

ScatmansWorld

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Oct 27, 2019
As I was browsing YouTube, I came across a new video by CGP Grey with the news that he would attempt to make commenting on his videos exclusive to channel members from that point on. His reasoning was that YouTube's bot spam problem wasn't improving and that it could very well get worse in the future.



This comes just 5 days after Elon Musk announced that only verified accounts would be shown in the "For You" tab of Twitter, claiming that it is the only way to prevent AI bot spam.

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With all that being said, it seems the main method for filtering bots that people are turning to is monetization, and that other methods like CAPTCHA's are becoming less effective, or at least people do not have as much faith in them. Will this lead to every website becoming a subscription service? Is the death of "free" (as in beer) internet upon us?
 
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Absolutely. You are witnessing the final death knell of the Internet. Even if bots aren't a problem it's a very convenient excuse to turn basic features like commenting or user feedback into a source of monetization or require a identity verification. The Internet has become a sterile environment where algorithm bureaucracy dictates everything. Even before the introduction of large language models like GPT-3 a lot of content was already bot generated to begin with. The primary concern of platforms is to optimize profit. The primary concern of "content creators" is to optimize profit. This results in sort of a vaccum of any real content. The Internet is going to eventually reach a point where it becomes no different from a subscription TV service. The way out of this is communities and networks at a local level and building alternative infrastructure on both the physical and network layer to support it.
VargReallyDidNothingWrong said:
What the fuck does "free (as in beer) internet" mean? I've re-read the phrase multiple times and cannot parse it at all.
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It's a term commonly used in the context of open source software. Free can have two meanings. The comparison is "free beer" versus "free speech".
"as in beer" means there is no monetary cost. - i.e beer being handed out at a party. OP is using this term in this context to talk about the monetary cost of the Internet to use.
"as in speech" means the liberty to do so. When you talk about free speech you are not talking about speech that costs money, but rather the liberty to speak freely.
The reason it's used is to distinguish the meaning behind "free" when it comes to software.
An example is something like WinRAR. WinRAR is a free program to use but you cannot modify it or look at it's source code. This is an example of "free as in beer".
A software like Audacity is both free to use and free to modify or change the source code. This is free as in "free speech", because you have the liberty to not only use the software for free but to modify it.
en.wikipedia.org

Gratis versus libre - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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VargReallyDidNothingWrong said:
What the fuck does "free (as in beer) internet" mean? I've re-read the phrase multiple times and cannot parse it at all.
Click to expand...
It's just to emphasize I meant free like "no monetary cost". It's also a common saying for software devs, where software can be "free as in freedom" (open source) or "free as in beer" (no-cost but closed source)

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I don't think that Musk is concerned about bots that much, he just wants more people to hand over their cash. Also, I don't think that putting a paywall will help, cause bot owners usually have a financial incentive, so they will pay to get verified and to be able to keep posting.

IMO, what we should really be concerned about is dead internet theory becoming a reality. When the AI is so advanced, good luck distinguishing between a real person and a bot.
 
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One may think that AI and automation could eliminate or reduce scarcity, and thus cost.

Instead, the opposite could happen. This world may not exactly be the best of worlds...
 
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Sorry to be off-topic for a moment, but isn't CGP Grey one of those faggots who made a video about how the Electoral College is bad because muh democracy and shit?
Either way, it's still fucking gay that CGP Grey even has to think about limiting his comment section to only paid members because of AI bots sucking dick.
 
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NO DOGS, NO IRISH, AND NO BOTS!
THIS IS A HUMAN WEBSITE, BOTS KEEP WALKING!
HUMAN SUPREMACY NOW, HUMAN SUPREMACY FOREVER!
 
On it's face this isn't really a major issue from my perspective, at least as advertised. It's only a problem if you take the net deadly serious and or worry about what is said. Factoring in those who do, and the likely efforts to combat AI posting... that I am worried about. Since they are likely to hyperventilate the issue into a matter of "survival" and mass subversion threat. Which OC in practice means conservative, right wing, religious, centrist or any other opinions they the left and elites don't like. (i.e. russian bots 2.0)

I wouldn't mind this making social media and centralized net society a lot less popular or useful. Bring back the second era of the forum and dedicated web site! Especially for media, official media and fandoms! Which have all suffered under that stupidity of current net theory. Particularly fandoms and niche media fandoms. Which have been taken over in whole by the drive to move to sites that make specific detailed discussion impossible and without even the most minimum of normies/ideologue filters of registration and finding the sites. (and in the case of normies and their attention span, the lack of general content to keep them around.. at least when it's not in the news)

That all said.. The two AI issues I am a little worried over are AI video editing/creation (nothing can be trusted) and efforts to keep a lid on them. (i.e. keep the masses from being able to us it themselves in unapproved ways) Governments are already talking about regulating away the ability for open source and big tech is actually talking about hardware restriction as a method of action. (which is an angle that potentially solves the mystery of how they could try to justify hardware bans and the general push to cloud/streaming PCs and everything else)
 
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While i want to give Grey the benefit of the doubt regarding the bot issue, that fact one of the deciding factors in this test was "Strikes" leads me to believe this is more of a monetary decision than actual concern regarding bots, which while a issue are vastly overblown in regards to youtube comment sections.
While i doubt Grey has fully malicious intentions, it sets a very dangerous precedence that creators can just take away a key point of discussion for reasons that are on the line of seriousness.
 
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