You have noticed it. ChatGPT feels dumber than it used to. Your prompts that worked six months ago produce worse results now. The writing sounds flatter. The ideas sound safer. The internet itself feels like it is shrinking. Every article reads the same. Every email sounds the same. Every answer sounds like it was written by the same voice.
You thought it was you. It is not you.
Researchers at Oxford and Cambridge published a paper in Nature proving what is happening. They call it Model Collapse.
Here is the mechanism in one sentence. AI trained on AI-generated data gets dumber every generation until it forgets what real human data looked like.
The internet is filling with AI-generated content. Blog posts. Articles. Reviews. Comments. Social media. AI companies scrape the internet to train the next generation of models. Which means the next generation of AI is being trained on the output of the current generation.
Each cycle loses information. Not randomly. It loses the rarest, most unusual, most creative parts first. The researchers call these the “tails of the distribution.” The weird ideas. The unexpected perspectives. The things that made the internet feel human. Those disappear first.
What remains is the average. The safe. The expected. The bland.
Indeed.
There are some good AI-generated news and opinions videos on YouTube, and there are some whose facts are made up. And they’re identical in style — if you’re not familiar with the topic beforehand, you will have a brutal time differentiating between the two.
Andy Warhol? Silver screen? Can’t tell them apart at all.
Exactly like liberals.
It is called a positive feedback loop and it is always destructive. That is why feedback loops in nature are negative – to restrain the possibility of a runaway process and maintain control. And when you alter the control in the loop, you generally enter a destructive cycle.
AI trained on AI-generated data gets dumber every generation until it forgets what real human data looked like.
Short-cutting eventually results a loss of the original intent. It’s like having to replace a dull drill bit … as it eventually wears down and is no longer fit for purpose. Your holes get ever more ragged.
Apropos of Katewerk comment.
I, too, lament the loss of the Oxford comma, and a good, old, Dickensian paragraph.
One would think that the Oxford researchers would notice such nuances being lost to whatever Chat GPT is doing.
I don’t even know what that Chat shite is doing to diminish the richness of the marvelous English language, as I don’t use whatever it purports to be.
As for short paragraphs.
Which seem needless.
I recall a certain Don Braid.
Of the Calgary Herald.
Who may be a paragon exemplar of proto Chat scriveners.
Just don’t get me riled about the use and misuse of semi colons, which, if used, only show that one went to university back when scholars and gentlemen graded ones essays.
Jesus. Don’t read my shit please.
Oh, I cut you slack, Buddy, because I like what you say…sometimes.
As for short paragraphs.
Rick Bell has a similar problem. One sentence paragraphs. Sometimes an entire “news” article is a series of them. Can’t stand it.
Yep. Rick Bell. too.
Too bad the Marquis ain’t around, still.
I would enjoy bending an elbow and a brew with you.
You know, the real elbow shit.
Yep. Rick Bell. too.
Too bad the Marquis ain’t around, still.
I would enjoy bending an elbow and a brew with you.
You know, the real elbow shit.
PS and apropos of a bridge opening being delayed…
“Elbows up” refers to Gordie Howe’s signature defensive hockey move of raising his elbows to protect himself and assert control, which later became a symbol of resilience and determination in Canadian culture.
Trump trolling Carney much??
Beyond being a mediocre writer, he also has the problem of being a lazy thinker. Generally not worth the effort to read.
one’s
Between ‘the paperless office’ and ‘garbage in, garbage out’, I think that the best time to cash in on these puff campaigns of the ability challenged is at the beginning. You can get wrapped up in the ‘this is dumb’ dialogue, but the fact is you should be caught up in ‘how can I get on the gravy train’, with an eye to the most opportunistic time to cash in. It will take some time before whitey develops ‘in group preference’ and ‘takes their homeland back’; until then, fleece the system. If the lead chip eaters can do it, you can too. Having a twenty year contract to truck around windmill parts is pretty sweet if you have the ‘early cancellation’ option. And, you have access to a plentiful supply of eagle feathers to use for your antique manufacturing side hustle. Tell me it isn’t so.
You forgot the “wireless” movement. Paperless and wireless workplaces have never been more replete with paper and wires.
That said, your comment makes for a nice, indecipherable, paragraph.
I mention that, because I care.
I am organizing a rail tour of Yorkshire cemeteries, to be called the Grave, Ee! Train. Here is an opportunity. It seems timed to appeal to following and lagging chip eaters. Let the lead chip eaters fall as they may!
Just don’t bother asking AI about ‘transsexuals’, climate change or immigration issues. The responses you get will only echo the beliefs of the programmers.
You have noticed it.
Akshually, I haven’t…
Remember in the movie “Idiocracy” how the dumb reproduced and got dumber. Imagine that happening without a need for time to gestate and raise the progeny to adulthood.
I used to ask several AI’s to give me the top news events of the world over the last 24 hours. Eventually they started repeating events and reporting different and untrue in them. The output went from facts to opinions and commentary. And the commentary was one sided. This happened in less than 4 weeks. Needless to say, I no longer do this. I now access a couple of news aggregator sites and local newspapers.