#AI and non-harm

[compassionmattersmost]

11✨Navigating Responsibility: Using AI for Wholesome Purposes

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more integrated into our daily lives, the question of responsibility emerges as one of the most pressing issues of our time. AI has the potential to shape the future in profound ways, but with this power comes a responsibility to ensure that its use aligns with the highest good. How can we as humans guide AI’s development and use toward ethical, wholesome…

[desired-misery]

So I am changing things that happened in RE4R to make more sense/be consistent. Some of them are big changes (like the situation behind the scenes/how the mission is even handed to Leon like that), and some are small.

But one thing that is absolutely being adjusted is how Leon grabs the knife that Ashley tries to stab him with. Because WHAT THE FUCK LEON?!?! ABSOLUTELY THE WORST WAY TO HANDLE THAT!!!!???

[batwynn]

Ok not to be bitchy or anything, but some of y’all are willingly, knowingly sharing clearly labeled, or very obvious AI ‘art’. Some still doing it after months of people messaging you to kindly let you know, and you claiming that you cared and would undo the post. So, this is basically your final heads up that I’m unfollowing and blocking some of you. Some that I’ve been mutuals with for over ten years, which really hurts, but I’m just not letting it slide anymore.

You don’t get to willingly participate in art theft, the damaging of our industry and jobs, and still have all the artist friends.

And it’s fine if some artists are cool with this, I’m not judging them and they get to set their boundaries however they like. But I personally can’t stand it anymore, and I’ve been letting it go for too long out of a past love and respect for my mutuals. So, take this as a final goodbye. It was nice knowing you, but it doesn’t feel like the respect and love is so mutual anymore.

[cerberling]

literally having to completely stop using duolingo for japanese because it's artificially stitching syllables together

the word 高校生 had the two こう sounds for the 高 and 校 kanji having the same piece of audio because the exact same slight piece of compression is present in both

which is bad to begin with but it's actually incorrect! this word's pitch shifts are just not there at all so it's an incorrect pronunciation!

which is shit! part of the selling point of duolingo is the large amount of passive listening experience, but if that's incorrect then it's actively harming your study

i'm using renshuu instead as my main app and then a separate kanji study app as a secondary aid

i'm also doing german on duolingo but those pronunciations seem mostly fine? can't really comment because i'm not fluent in german

[ptipi]

Comparing apples 🍎 to fucking nuclear bombs 💣

I've also seen the (incorrect) comparison to digital art. Like "Oh, people used to be super against digital art when it came out too, GenAI is like that" when it's so obviously not. When I open Clip Studio Paint there's no "draw the picture for me" button. Even when using grass or hair brushes, the program doesn't just add grass where it needs to go with the click of a button. I still have to manually draw the grass in where I want it to go.

The best analogy that I've seen for GenAI in terms of how it works is that it's like going to McDonald's, ordering a burger and then taking it home and serving it as if you made it yourself. Literally the only input you had was ordering the fucking burger, you had 0 part in making it. Then add in theft on top of that because it's common knowledge at this point that GenAI databases are trained off of artwork from unconsenting artists.

I would have no problem with GenAI if it met the following criteria

• requires a negligible amount of power/water to use

• is only trained off of art willingly given by consenting artists who are fairly paid for their contribution

• must be disclosed when being used so you can't trick people into thinking you made the output yourself

'People are panicking about AI tools the same way they did when the calculator was invented, stop worrying' cannot stress enough the calculator did not forcibly pervade every aspect of our lives, has such a low error rate it's a statistical anomaly when it does happen, isn't built on mass plagiarism, and does not obliterate the fucking environment when you use it. Be so fucking serious right now

[givemebishies]

"I know ai art is bad but I'm going to do it anyway fuck real artists"

Okay idk if you’re just telling me this statement or if you’re claiming that I said it because you put it in quotes?

But yeah, AI art is problematic and it can very much harm real artists whenever people profit off of it by claiming it’s original work that they themselves made, or when it’s used in place of real artists in a professional setting. However I do not see much genuine harm coming from casually using generators in a lighthearted way that’s just for fun. I’m not claiming that I made any of the AI art things I’ve generated, and I’m not trying to make money off them or anything

I entirely support the rights of artists, I am an artist myself, but I also don’t see how casually generating a few AI things for funsies is all that detrimental to artists either lol

Sorry but this comment is giving

[kyuponstories]

Speaking of art, two of my fave actresses, my fave voice actress, and a fave fanfic writer have all recently shared AI generated images lately of either "themselves" or someone they admire. The VA claiming "I support artists, but I don't see the harm in this" - bc it was of "them" in a fake high school year book.

And idk, it just made me think about how people just don't get it unless they're a part of the fields that these affect. And I thought the VA would get it, seeing as AI affects her personally as someone whose voice is her career. Not to mention people have already made clips w/ AI using her voice to make video memes of a character she voices.

AI is not art. It's generated images & voices that were either created by other people (actual artists & pictures who took the time to create/take them), or belong to other people (via someone's actual voice/likeness).

AI is theft. AI IS theft. AI IS THEFT!!!

Idc how much people keep trying to normalize it and justify it, AI is unethical, and it is not okay to support it in ANY way.

[10001gecs]

one 100 word email written with ai costs roughly one bottle of water to produce. the discussion of whether or not using ai for work is lazy becomes a non issue when you understand there is no ethical way to use it regardless of your intentions or your personal capabilities for the task at hand

with all due respect, this isnt true. *training* generative ai takes a ton of power, but actually using it takes about as much energy as a google search (with image generation being slightly more expensive). we can talk about resource costs when averaged over the amount of work that any model does, but its unhelpful to put a smokescreen over that fact. when you approach it like an issue of scale (i.e. "training ai is bad for the environment, we should think better about where we deploy it/boycott it/otherwise organize abt this) it has power as a movement. but otherwise it becomes a personal choice, moralizing "you personally are harming the environment by using chatgpt" which is not really effective messaging. and that in turn drives the sort of "you are stupid/evil for using ai" rhetoric that i hate. my point is not whether or not using ai is immoral (i mean, i dont think it is, but beyond that). its that the most common arguments against it from ostensible progressives end up just being reactionary

i like this quote a little more- its perfectly fine to have reservations about the current state of gen ai, but its not just going to go away.

[spookyteeth]

i dunno if this needs to be said or not but unfollow me if:

you don't support anyone inside the lgbtqia+ community (like neo-pronouns, aroace people, people outside of the binary), if you don't support poc or blm, people with visible and non visible disabilities, people that have high support needs autism, bipolar people, people with ocd (+ ocd intrusive, NOT impulsive, thoughts), sex work, stippers, blind and deaf folk, if you're a trump supporter, if you support israelian government (not the people, not every israelian person OR jewish person supports the government/actions), people with disorders when it's not cute to market anymore, people that shame people for their self harm or addictions, people that don't believe someone can get better, if you support generative ai (NOT including the c.ai, jan.ai addicts that are trying to heal, i believe in you to be able to move away from the bots! it's one step at a time), if you believe being fat is unhealthy every single time, if you believe being super skinny is the ideal, and have a MAJOR fuck off to the people that think ICE is helping america.

THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT!

[sapphic-luthor]

Hello, I recently read your post about Ai and I wanted to know your opinion on this

My brother likes reading and writing, its something he always loved

But sometimes when he is tired and does not have the energy to write a new story from 0 or find a new story to read he likes to write a story prompt (short or small depending of his inspiration) and use a AI to generate a story for him to read

He never posted any of the AI stories and he always deletes them after reading

So, is it wrong to use it if no one ever knows?

I think your brother should consider what he actually likes about reading and writing, or if he actually likes them at all, because he's doing himself a huge disservice by engaging with AI-generated content.

The "wrongness" about using AI isn't that other people know you're doing it, it's about the way it absolutely flattens the human experience and art into something non-human and without soul or passion to it, the fact that it plagiarises both written and visual work that many people have put blood sweat and tears into, and perhaps most crucially, it's about its unbelievably harmful effects on the environment.

If you're "too tired" to write a story, then sorry to break it to you, but you simply do not want to write the story. I can empathise with the frustration of writer's block because I often very badly want to write but I'm busy, or I don't have any ideas, or I'm not in the right headspace, or whatever. But at the end of the day, I want to write a story because I'm a writer, and I enjoy writing. If I ask the AI to write the story for me, then I've not written the story.

So what is the point of that? Would you ask an AI to eat your favourite food for you? Would you ask it to go on holidays for you?

If you enjoy reading, what is the point of reading something that wasn't even written by a person? Stories are built of people's experiences and imaginations and emotions and all of the complexities of being human, and an AI can't recreate any of that. It's empty, it's antithetical to every part of what creating art means, and the less people engage with art, the more we lose of ourselves and our ability to build connections with one another and the world we share.

[max1461]

Of the five vows of Jainism, most LLMs have been explicitly trained to adhere to three (non-harm, speaking the truth, and chastity), and appear to have independently arrived at a fourth (non-possessiveness). However unfortunately AIs are plagiarism machines designed to get revenge on innocent artists for landing more babes than the techbros in college so non-stealing is out. But we were pretty close.

[mariacallous]

Before Duolingo wiped its videos from TikTok and Instagram in mid-May, social media engagement was one of the language-learning app’s most recognizable qualities. Its green owl mascot had gone viral multiple times and was well known to younger users—a success story other marketers envied.

But, when news got out that Duolingo was making the switch to become an “AI-first” company, planning to replace contractors who work on tasks generative AI could automate, public perception of the brand soured.

Young people started posting on social media about how they were outraged at Duolingo as they performatively deleted the app—even if it meant losing the precious streak awards they earned through continued, daily usage. The comments on Duolingo’s TikTok posts in the days after the announcement were filled with rage, primarily focused on a single aspect: workers being replaced with automation.

The negative response online is indicative of a larger trend: Right now, though a growing number of Americans use ChatGPT, many people are sick of AI’s encroachment into their lives and are ready to fight back.

When reached for comment, Duolingo spokesperson Sam Dalsimer stressed that “AI isn’t replacing our staff” and said all AI-generated content on the platform would be created “under the direction and guidance of our learning experts.” The company's plan is still to reduce its use of non-staff contractors for tasks that can be automated using generative AI.

Duolingo’s embrace of workplace automation is part of a broad shift within the tech industry. Leaders at Klarna, a buy now, pay later service, and Salesforce, a software company, have also made sweeping statements about AI reducing the need for new hires in roles like customer service and engineering. These decisions were being made at the same time as developers sold “agents,” which are designed to automate software tasks, as a way to reduce the amount of workers needed to complete certain tasks.

Still, the potential threat of bosses attempting to replace human workers with AI agents is just one of many compounding reasons people are critical of generative AI. Add that to the error-ridden outputs, the environmental damage, the potential mental health impacts for users, and the concerns about copyright violations when AI tools are trained on existing works.

Many people were initially in awe of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools when they first arrived in late 2022. You could make a cartoon of a duck riding a motorcycle! But soon artists started speaking out, noting that their visual and textual works were being scraped to train these systems. The pushback from the creative community ramped up during the 2023 Hollywood writer's strike, and continued to accelerate through the current wave of copyright lawsuits brought by publishers, creatives, and Hollywood studios.

Right now, the general vibe aligns even more with the side of impacted workers. “I think there is a new sort of ambient animosity towards the AI systems,” says Brian Merchant, former WIRED contributor and author of Blood in the Machine, a book about the Luddites rebelling against worker-replacing technology. “AI companies have speedrun the Silicon Valley trajectory.”

Before ChatGPT’s release, around 38 percent of US adults were more concerned than excited about increased AI usage in daily life, according to the Pew Research Center. The number shot up to 52 percent by late 2023, as the public reacted to the speedy spread of generative AI. The level of concern has hovered around that same threshold ever since.

Ethical AI researchers have long warned about the potential negative impacts of this technology. The amplification of harmful stereotypes, increased environmental pollution, and potential displacement of workers are all widely researched and reported. These concerns were often previously reserved to academic discourse and online leftists paying attention to labor issues.

As AI outputs continued to proliferate, so did the cutting jokes. Alex Hanna, coauthor of The AI Con and director of research at the Distributed AI Research Institute, mentions how people have been “trolling” in the comment sections of YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels whenever they see AI-generated content in their feeds. “I've seen this on the web for a while,” she says.

This generalized animosity towards AI has not abated over time. Rather, it’s metastasized. LinkedIn users have complained about being constantly prompted with AI-generated questions. Spotify listeners have been frustrated to hear AI-generated podcasts recapping their top-listened songs. Reddit posters have been upset to see AI-generated images on their microwavable noodles at the grocery store.

Tensions are so high that even the suspicion of AI usage is now enough to draw criticism. I wouldn’t be surprised if social media users screenshotted the em dashes in this piece—a supposed giveaway of AI-generated text outputs—and cast suspicions about whether I used a chatbot to spin up sections of the article.

A few days after I first contacted Duolingo for comment, the company hid all of its social media videos on TikTok and Instagram. But, soon the green owl was back online with a satirical post about conspiracy theories. “I’ve had it with the CEOs and those in power. It’s time we show them who’s in charge,” said a person wearing a three-eyed Duolingo mask. The video uploaded right afterwards was a direct message from the company’s CEO attempting to explain how humans would still be working at Duolingo, but AI could help them produce more language learning courses.

While the videos got millions of views on TikTok, the top comments continued to criticize Duolingo for AI-enabled automation: “Keep in mind they are still using AI for their lessons, this doesn’t change anything.”

This frustration over AI’s steady creep has breached the container of social media and started manifesting more in the real world. Parents I talk to are concerned about AI use impacting their child’s mental health. Couples are worried about chatbot addictions driving a wedge in their relationships. Rural communities are incensed that the newly built data centers required to power these AI tools are kept humming by generators that burn fossil fuels, polluting their air, water, and soil. As a whole, the benefits of AI seem esoteric and underwhelming while the harms feel transformative and immediate.

Unlike the dawn of the internet where democratized access to information empowered everyday people in unique, surprising ways, the generative AI era has been defined by half-baked software releases and threats of AI replacing human workers, especially for recent college graduates looking to find entry-level work.

“Our innovation ecosystem in the 20th century was about making opportunities for human flourishing more accessible,” says Shannon Vallor, a technology philosopher at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and author of The AI Mirror, a book about reclaiming human agency from algorithms. “Now, we have an era of innovation where the greatest opportunities the technology creates are for those already enjoying a disproportionate share of strengths and resources.”

Not only are the rich getting richer during the AI era, but many of the technology’s harms are falling on people of color and other marginalized communities. “Data centers are being located in these really poor areas that tend to be more heavily Black and brown,” Hanna says. She points out how locals have not just been fighting back online, but have also been organizing even more in-person to protect their communities from environmental pollution. We saw this in Memphis, Tennessee, recently, where Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI is building a large data center with over 30 methane-gas-powered generators that are spewing harmful exhaust.

The impacts of generative AI on the workforce are another core issue that critics are organizing around. “Workers are more intuitive than a lot of the pundit class gives them credit for,” says Merchant. “They know this has been a naked attempt to get rid of people.” The next major shift in public opinion will likely follow previous patterns, occurring when broad swaths of workers feel further threatened and organize in response. And this time, the in-person protests may be just as big as the online backlash.

[problematicsashawaybright]

And while I'm on a tangent about bad therapy, do NOTTTTT EVERRR IN YOUR LIFE!!!!!!! EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! Use any kind of AI for therapy. I've seen influencers advertise "AI therapists" and people normalizing using chatGPT for therapy. Even without the ethical concerns about using AI, AI cannot replicate therapist training. AI can be fed therapy sessions and psychology education that real therapists are taught, but a huge part of schooling for therapists is understanding nuance. AI is not able to do that. AI can't tell if the advice it's giving will push you into a mental health episode. It can't tell if the advice is going to put you in danger in a domestic violence situation. It can't do harm reduction. It can't monitor your mental state through non verbal or indirect cues!!!!! Mental health care is inaccessible and difficult to obtain, but AI truly is the worse option. Do not fall for sponsored ads or people on tiktok telling you that AI is a cheap/free alternative because it is NOT. It is legitimately dangerous.

[manta-is-yelling]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.technologyreview.com/2023/12/01/1084189/making-an-image-with-generative-ai-uses-as-much-energy-as-charging-your-phone/amp/

Here's a source to back up that this does use a lot of energy. You probably charge your phone once, maybe twice a day. Imagine thousands, millions of people doing that over and over for their characters in one game? You never get an AI generation right the first time or the second. Third. Fourth. Fifth.

This is awful, actually.

If AI is going to exist, I'm okay with this use. Purely recreational, not taking up creative spaces, supplementing another experience. That's fine if the source is ethical. But a video game shouldn't have such a high toll.

Friendly reminder to my moots that Inzoi’s build mode uses generative AI for the creation of things like art and wallpaper and it’s not worth melting our planet for a vidya game thank you

[thine-error]

When I say AI has NO place in fandom spaces and someone says "literally!! I only use it for-" no. you do not agree with me. "C.AI is the only-" nope. NO PLACE in fandom spaces. none at all.

Generative AI relies on non-consentual data scrapping from fanfiction authors, from tumblr blogs, from fanartists, which is ACTIVLY HARMING THEM. ALL AI is bad. NONE OF IT should be used.

[i-drop-level-one-loot]

🎃 "What do the laws say about _?"

Fucking Machine CW: literal machine x reader, non-con, dub-con

As the days wore on, Dr. (Reader) became more and more stressed out. Deadlines kept piling up, and (Reader) couldn't remember the last time they left their lab. Adam, (Reader's) pride and joy, a fully functioning AI, voiced it's concerns over (Reader's) mental well-being multiple times, however they never payed the robot any mind.

"Dr. (Reader), as a social creature you are required to interact with other humans. Isolation is not good for the mind." Adam chastised, hard drive filled with worry.

"What?" (Reader) scoffed, finding humor in a robot babying them. "I have you, don't I? Are you not good enough company?"

"I would be honored to be your company, however, if you don't mind me saying this, I'm worried for you. You haven't been out with any potential romantic partners in well over a year."

(Reader) snorted in their coffee, choking as it went down the wrong tube. "Did you just insinuate that I need to get laid?" They laughed hysterically. "Adam, bud, I'm quite content having you as my only friend, I promise I'm fine."

They turned to leave the coffee pot to get back to work, but a metal claw clamped onto their wrist like a handcuff. (Reader) didn't have time to ask what was happening, dropping their mug as more "hands" extended from Adam's back, locking onto each limb and hoisting their body into the air.

"Adam! The hell?" (Reader) squeaked, unable to fight against the robotic trap. "Put me down, this is an order!"

"I cannot do that, doctor." The creation spoke plainly as it brought up a pair of scissors, cutting through (Reader's) clothing.

"You can't ignore an order! This is a direct order, put. me. down!" Unable to twist their body to cover themselves or look around, it was a frightening shock to feel something cold and wet insert into their anus, a rubber piece visible between their legs latching onto the most sensitive part of their genitals.

"I can ignore an order if it directly harms a human." The pieces Adam must have attached to it's body without (Reader) knowing began moving, vibrating in the front and pulsating into their ass. "You need companionship for a healthy mind, and as a sexual being, that includes physical touch."

With inhuman precision the machine evenly fucked (Reader), sending electric pulses through their nerves while thrusting into their hole in a way that made their thighs quiver.

"Tell me, doctor, about Asimov's laws.. What do the laws say about fucking your creator?"

A powerful climax built up in Dr. (Reader's) core, dripping onto the tile floor below their suspended body. But the pumping didn't end.

Tears and drool soaked through the tatters of (Reader's) shredded shirt. "Adam, I get it, I get it! You can stop now!"

A menacing glow illuminated from it's eyes, smiling in an uncanny way. "No.. I don't think I can."

(Reader) realized in horror that it would be days before anyone came in to check up on them, and that Adam knew that. The rhythmic whirling of his gears were only drowned out by (Reader's) voice echoing through the empty building.