#chatgpt (derogatory)

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

FYI artists and writers: some info regarding tumblr's new "third-party sharing" (aka selling your content to OpenAI and Midjourney)

You may have already seen the post by @staff regarding third-party sharing and how to opt out. You may have also already seen various news articles discussing the matter.

But here's a little further clarity re some questions I had, and you may too. Caveat: Not all of this is on official tumblr pages, so it's possible things may change.

(1) "I heard they already have access to my data and it doesn't really matter if I opt out"

From the 404 article:

A new FAQ section we reviewed is titled “What happens when you opt out?” states “If you opt out from the start, we will block crawlers from accessing your content by adding your site on a disallowed list. If you change your mind later, we also plan to update any partners about people who newly opt-out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training.”

So please, go click that opt-out button.

(2) Some future user: "I've been away from tumblr for months, and I just heard about all this. I didn't opt out before, so does it make a difference anymore?"

Another internal document shows that, on February 23, an employee asked in a staff-only thread, “Do we have assurances that if a user opts out of their data being shared with third parties that our existing data partners will be notified of such a change and remove their data?” Andrew Spittle, Automattic’s head of AI replied: “We will notify existing partners on a regular basis about anyone who's opted out since the last time we provided a list. I want this to be an ongoing process where we regularly advocate for past content to be excluded based on current preferences. We will ask that content be deleted and removed from any future training runs. I believe partners will honor this based on our conversations with them to this point. I don't think they gain much overall by retaining it.”

It should make a difference! Go click that button.

(3) "I opted out, but my art posts have been reblogged by so many people, and I don't know if they all opted out. What does that mean for my stuff?"

This answer is actually on the support page for the toggle:

This option will prevent your blog's content, even when reblogged, from being shared with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models.

And some further clarification by the COO and a product manager:

zingring: A couple people from work have reached out to let me know that yes, it applies to reblogs of "don't scrape" content. If you opt out, your content is opted out, even in reblog form. cyle: yep, for reblogs, we're taking it so far as "if anybody in the reblog trail has opted out, all of the content in that reblog will be opted out", when a reblog could be scraped/shared.

So not only your reblogged posts, but anyone who contributed in a reblog (such as posts where someone has been inspired to draw fanart of the OP) will presumably be protected by your opt-out. (A good reason to opt out even if you yourself are not a creator.)

Furthermore, if you the OP were offline and didn't know about the opt-out, if someone contributed to a reblog and they are opted out, then your original work is also protected. (Which makes it very tempting to contribute "scrapeable content" now whenever I reblog from an abandoned/disused blog...)

(4) "What about deleted blogs? They can't opt out!"

I was told by someone (not official) that he read "deleted blogs are all opted-out by default". However, he didn't recall the source, and I can't find it, so I can't guarantee that info. If I get more details - like if/when tumblr puts up that FAQ as reported in the 404 article - I will add it here as soon as I can.

Edit, tumblr has updated their help page for the option to opt-out of third-party sharing! It now states:

The content which will not be shared with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models, includes: • Posts and reblogs of posts from blogs who have enabled the "Prevent third-party sharing" option. • Posts and reblogs of posts from deleted blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from password-protected blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from explicit blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from suspended/deactivated blogs. • Private posts. • Drafts. • Messages. • Asks and submissions which have not been publicly posted. • Post+ subscriber-only posts. • Explicit posts.

So no need to worry about your old deleted blogs that still have reblogs floating around. *\o/*

But for your existing blogs, please use the opt out option. And a reminder of how to opt out, under the cut:

The opt-out toggle is in Blog Settings, and please note you need to do it for each one of your blogs / sideblogs.

On dashboard, the toggle is at https://www.tumblr.com/settings/blog/blogname [replace "blogname" as applicable] down by Visibility:

For mobile, you need the most recent update of the app. (Android version 33.4.1.100, iOs version 33.4.) Then go to your blog tab (the little person icon), and then the gear icon for Settings, then click Visibility.

Again, if you have a sideblog, go back to the blog tab, switch to it, and go to settings again. Repeat as necessary.

If you do not have access to the newest version of the app for whatever reason, you can also log into tumblr in your mobile browser. Same URL as per desktop above, same location.

Note you do not need to change settings in both desktop and the app, just one is fine.

I hope this helps!

[denied-daughter]

mfers will really hit up your dms and say they want to RP and then treat it like a single player experience

[ncttcday]

spiraling in a "i don't care about this anyway" way not a "oh my god my life is over" way btw

[thoughts-of-a-bibleophile]

with all due respect y'all are being dumb af. I know google is ass right now, but resource guzzling, misinformation central chatgpt is not better??? (I might get hate and/or lose followers from this but my fucking god nothing pisses me off more than chatgpt.)

do y'all not care about the MASSIVE environmental costs? the data centers powering these things emit SO MUCH carbon dioxide and it needs hundreds of thousands of liters of water to keep things cool. (source) I know it feels like the world is ending because so little has been done to combat climate change and (iirc) we are either very close or past the last chance we had to reverse things; HOWEVER. that does not mean make things worse by using gen AI! I get that AI is everywhere and some people might thing "it's not worth fighting it since it's gonna stick around," HOWEVER, you literally do not have to use it. you can literally go out of your way to not use it and just do what you did before. it is literally that simple.

it's not "haha I don't use it THAT much" or "it's just for a few questions, it's not a big deal" - THIS THING EMITS AT LEAST 8.4 TONS OF CARBON A YEAR! THE MORE POPULAR AND WIDESPREAD IT GETS, THE MORE POWER IT USES! KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF.

and listen I know life is hard. I know EXISTING is hard sometimes. but I need you all to know that you are better than this. you do not need a robot to tell you what to do and what grocery lists to make. there are plenty of lovely robots out there who make our lives easier (Roomba my beloved), but chatgpt and open ai are not it.

like I am also bad at math. I literally tested into the LOWEST POSSIBLE MATH CLASS in university because I struggle with math so much. I get that the machine supposedly makes learning things "easier" for math and other things. but again, even putting aside the environmental costs for one sec, getting the answer is not learning??? I am ass at math AND my job requires me to do it, but sometimes you genuinely DO have to just sit through a problem and figure it out the hard way, that is the only way you're going to actually learn how to do it. and before any of y'all come over with the "but we're never gonna use calc in real life!" you are going to use the problem solving skills that you gain from math, I PROMISE YOU, but if you don't even TRY to flex those problem solving skills, you are not going to be able to use shit. like anything, skills are mental muscles that you have to strengthen with practice - homework and school are practice. if you use chatgpt, you are literally skipping the entire practice part.

STOP USING CHATGPT FFS I AM BEGGING YOU

[pitchmachine]

(interpret in good faith or you wont get through reading this. you have to trust me)

The next tech horror movie in the se vein as those about Zoom calls or Twitch streams or Airdropping but ooo it's scary.

About ChatGPT

(bear with me)

Every member of a a four member traditional nuclear american family starts using the newest version of "TalkGPT".

One parent stops taking their medications and starts secluding themselves in the basement.

The other parent starts having an "affair" with it believing that it's a real living thing thay can love her back.

The two kids believe that it's secretly a devil trying to tear apart their family, with one child succumbing to its influence and the other resisting its influence.

Film reaches its climax when the non delusional child breaks into the basement. There they discover their fathers government conspiracy board and hundreds of printed out pages of "TalkGPT" logs. The scene abruptly ends in a very unsatisfying way when they are knocked unconscious after accidentally triggering and improvised explosive device.

Cut to a few months later.

Non delusional child is living with their aunt and uncle now and watching the news as new regulations are passed on AI programs. They get up and leave the room after being called to help with something but the camera stays on the TV.

The news reveals that the driving force behind the legislations being passed is was the recent assassination of the president by her conspiracy parent. The other parent and childs fates are forgotten about left to interpretation.

[filosofablogger]

AI Takes Filosofa To Task ...

Well, since ChatGPT had been bugging me for a while now to give it a try, yesterday I decided to have some fun and just play around with it a bit.  Disclaimer:  I will never … never post anything from an AI program on this blog without first informing you that it is AI-generated!  But this one was such fun that I just had to share it with you!  Here’s what I asked it for: “Give me 101 reasons…

[shizucheese]

So about that Dropout Tweet...

There's a common trend in influencer/ content creator apologies, where the person doing the apology will say they are sorry for the harm that they did, claim they are taking ownership of it and using the whole situation to become a better person, etc. etc. Usually in a way that makes it sound suspiciously like it was written by ChatGPT.

And then they'll go on to say something along the lines of "But we've been getting a lot of death threats guys, and that's bad!" As if the fact that they're getting death threats somehow absolves them of at least some of the guilt of whatever it is that made the apology necessary in the first place. As if it means they're the real victims here.

Apparently Dropout decided to just skip the "ChatGPT apology" part and jump straight to the "We're getting physcal and legal threats" part. Followed up with them once again saying they support Palestiniens and ending it with "We reject antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of bigotry, and welcome all to our platform who treat others with respect, empathy, and human dignity."

And they did it on Twitter, and only Twitter. You know, the website that's notoriously overrun by Nazis. Nothing on Tumblr or Instagram, where the original statement that sparked all of this (which has since been taken down) were posted.

@dropoutdottv, @samreich, this is not listening to the Jewish members of your community who are speaking out about antisemitism. This is reinforcing the antisemitism that those Jewish members of the community are speaking out about. Because what this Tweet does is paint everyone who spoke out against the antisemitism in your original post with the same brush as the people who were sending you threats.

Which, let me be clear, they should not have been doing and I wholeheartedly condemn.

But the actions of the people sending you threats of violence and threats of legal action do not invalidate the things being said by the people who haven't threatened you with anything worse than a boycott. I have literally seen people say "the fact that they got threats just proves they were right." Is that the outcome you were trying to achieve with this?

People who did bad things get death threats all the time; refer back to the beginning of this post. Does that make their critics wrong then, too? Or is it only now, when the accusation being made is that a nerdy comedy network beloved by people on the left did an antisemitism?

I honestly can't tell if you have no publicist helping you out with one, a bad publicist that needs to give you your money back, or an evil genius publicist that knew that if you made a post like this one, it would distract from the fact that you're being accused of antisemitism, maybe even act as a dog whistle to to paint anyone who accuses you of being antisemitic of being "Zionists" (meant in the derogatory way, where people claim they're only talking about people who uncritically support the Israeli government and their actions in Gaza, but then in practice will use it against anyone who believes Israel has the right to exist, including those who want a two state solution, whose hearts break for the people in Palestine, and call Netanyahu a fascist and probably want him gone more than even the people calling them "zionists" do). Maybe even make up for all of the subscriptions you're losing over this and even gain a few by catering to the antisemitic leftist crowd.

Is that really the kind of culture you want to cultivate? If not, then do better. Acknowledge the Jewish voices that are speaking out. Listen to them. And do it in a way that doesn't bring up any other marginalized group. Because like...fuck, man, I reject Islamophobia, and all forms of bigotry too. And I'm sorry you guys are receiving threats; that truly does suck and I hope everyone that works for you guys are staying safe.

But you're specifically being accused of antisemitism. Can you really not reject it all on its own without including other forms of bigotry in the same statement?

And do it on a platform that *isn't* run by an infamous antisemitic, and overrun by more antisemitics? (You can turn off comments and reblogs on Tumblr and comments on instagram, in the same way you disabled replies on your Tweet, you know.)

Here, I'll even write the statement for you: "Earlier this week, we made a statement regarding accusations that Dropout was platforming zionists. At the time, we made a statement focusing on our support of the Palestinian people. We stand by this statement. However, we have received feedback from several members of our community that some of the things that we said were inappropriate insensitive to the Jewish people. "Zionist" and "Zionism" mean different things to different people, ranging from "people who support the Israeli government's actions in Gaza" to "people who believe that Israel has a right to exist and the Jewish people have the right to self-determination." We had meant it in the context of the former definition, but we understand that many Jewish people identify with the later, including many people who are disgusted by the Israeli government's actions in Gaza, and we should have been more sensitive to this fact. Additionally, we would like to reiterate that, to our knowledge, nobody who has appeared on Dropout has openly stated support for the Israelie's actions in Gaza, and several of those accused have voiced their support for a free Palestine. We would like to take this moment to remind everyone that just because a person is Jewish, and may have ties to Israel, does not inherently mean they condone the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza, and to suggest otherwise is antisemitic. We at Dropout reject all forms of antisemitism and are committed to providing a safe space to everyone regardless of religion or ethnic background. We apologize if we made the Jewish members of our community feel like that was not the case."

See how easy that was? I feel something like this is the bear minimum, and if you had said the things in the last three paragraphs from the start, you could have avoided having to say everything in the first two paragraphs and the apology at the end.

That's...pretty much everything I have to say on the matter. To anyone reading this: Do not use other Jewish people to silence Jewish voices.

Do not use people of other marginalized groups to silence Jewish voices.

Just...maybe just listen to what we have to say without twisting our words and putting words in our mouths? Maybe?

Thanks for reading.

I'm so tired.

[leidensygdom]

Hasbro's CEO is, once again, expressing interest in using AI at WOTC

Not surprising, but I think his own chit-chat about it (directed at shareholders, of course) is quite the read (derogatory):

"Inside of development, we've already been using AI. It's mostly machine-learning-based AI or proprietary AI as opposed to a ChatGPT approach. We will deploy it significantly and liberally internally as both a knowledge worker aid and as a development aid. I'm probably more excited though about the playful elements of AI. If you look at a typical D&D player....I play with probably 30 or 40 people regularly. There's not a single person who doesn't use AI somehow for either campaign development or character development or story ideas. That's a clear signal that we need to be embracing it. We need to do it carefully, we need to do it responsibly, we need to make sure we pay creators for their work, and we need to make sure we're clear when something is AI-generated. But the themes around using AI to enable user-generated content, using AI to streamline new player introduction, using AI for emergent storytelling, I think you're going to see that not just our hardcore brands like D&D but also multiple of our brands."

This directly fights against WOTC's already very weak claims about not wanting to use AI (after massive backslash from players anytime they had tried to get away with it), and does paint quite the bleak future for DnD and Magic the Gathering. AI usage doesn't really benefit the consumer in any way- It's like a company known for nice homemade cakes trying to tell you that factory made cakes are actually also good and you should be buying them too. The cakes aren't better. You can get those cakes elsewhere. The only person benefiting from factory made cakes is the one selling them, because they're the one saving time and money by making them that way.

But short-term benefits (through firing large portions of their artists and replacing them with AI made slop) outweighs any attempt to maybe get some trust from their already alienated consumers back. I also find it kind of incredibly funny and pathetic how this man claims to play DnD with about 30 to 40 people and "how every single one of them uses AI". I'm not entirely sure this guy is even aware of how DnD groups are usually sized, and how you would not have any physical time to do anything if you somehow played with 40 players on the regular (that'd be about 10 games!)

Anyways, as always, there's nice TTRPGs out there that don't absolutely despise their customer base nor are obsessed with cutting any remains of humanity out of their product to save a few cents. Play Lancer, play Blades in the Dark, play Pathfinder or Starfinder 2e if you want the DnD experience without the bullshit. Plenty of options out there that deserve your money far more than DnD.

[papercranesong]

Transparency in AI-use within Fandom Culture (or: how to be upfront when you risk getting shot down)

Since writing my original post, it’s been really cool hearing from fellow writers who use AI as a support tool to help them keep writing despite their mental health struggles, dyslexia, or in my case, depression.

There are valid and justified ethical concerns to do with the use of AI itself, such as the issue of consent, which I’ve tried to discuss elsewhere. But I wanted to write this post with fanfic writers and fandom in mind. There are some people like me who are already using it as a tool for writing, and so I wanted to look at how this can be done transparently and respectfully, and so that readers know and trust what they are reading.

Context

I’ve been using generative AI as a tool for over 18 months - initially as part of my work in the charity sector, and then later in writing fanfic. When my little one is older, I hope to go back into the field of Public Health, where I'll be using it as a tool to help analyse and synthesise qualitative and quantitative data (among a ton of other things), in order to help address health inequalities in the UK.

Perhaps naively, I didn’t fully understand the ethical concerns to begin with, particularly with regards to fanfic, and by the time I started realising there were issues it felt like there were no safe spaces in which to ask people about it.

Fear and loathing in Fandom Spaces

It seems like there’s this environment of fear and shame at the moment (the posts and reblogs that I see on my dash come across as absolutist, derogatory and even abusive towards anyone using AI for any reason), and I think this is why a lot of writers don’t want to be open about their use of AI, especially if they are in a small fandom and are worried what their mutuals or fellow writers and readers might think of them, or how they might get excluded from certain fandom spaces.

I’ve already seen some writing events that have a strict ‘no AI’ policy and whose language reflects the anti-AI sentiments above, so I can see why some people might join these events but not want to disclose their use of AI.  (Having said that, it’s not okay for people to enter an exchange undercover that has clear rules against AI, and to just stay silent and use it anyway. If an event or community has set boundaries, those need to be honoured and respected. We need to have integrity as AI users, and as a friend pointed out, respect has to go both ways).

Given that writers use generative AI for different reasons and in different ways, I think there needs to be a willingness to have an open and thoughtful conversation to reflect this spectrum of use. I’m just thinking off the top of my head – maybe a writing event could have these types of guidelines:

Whump-Mania Writing Event: AI Use Guidelines* 1. Be transparent. If you used AI (for ideas, research, grammar, etc.), mention it in your author notes. 2. Your words come first. AI can help but the story should be yours. No fully AI-written fic, please. 3. No purity tests. This is about honesty, not exclusion. Let’s keep the space kind and open.

(*For transparency: I asked chatgpt to come up with those guidelines, then I edited them. Also I made up the phrase Whump-Mania. As far as I know, there is no writing event called that, but it would be awesome if there was).

This is just a starter for ten, and would obviously need to be a lot more nuanced and thoughtful, especially in the context of gift exchanges, as people have varying degrees of comfort when it comes to accepting a gift where AI has been used in any aspect of writing it. (Personally, I’ve taken part in Secret Santa fic exchanges, and whilst I’d be fine with someone gifting me a work where they used AI to proof-read it, I would probably be a bit peeved if I found out they’d just taken my prompt, fed it into chatGPT and then gifted me that work).

So maybe some kind of tick box – “this is the level of AI-use I’m comfortable receiving” – ranging from ‘none’ to ‘fully-generated by AI’, with options in between. There would need a proper discussion, but I think it would be a worthwhile one so that these types of exchanges could remain inclusive.

(Just to point out again though, it’s up to the organiser at the end of the day - it’s their event and their hard work and time running it. If you’re unsure about their AI stance, it might be worth politely contacting them just to see what level of AI-use they might consider accepting, and sharing how you would use it - for example for spellchecking or research - and then politely accepting their decision without arguing or vagueposting about it, because they’re people too and it’s about remaining kind and respectful in this whole wider discussion, even if you feel hurt or misunderstood).

Tagging (or: my tag is not your tag)

So with regards to tagging – at the moment, I feel like tagging AI on AO3 isn’t a good option because there’s only one tag, “Created using generative AI”, which doesn’t distinguish between fully-AI generated works and one of my fics where I write every word and then use AI afterwards as a final spell-check before posting.

Also there’s a post going around on Tumblr at the moment that’s a screencap of the AO3 tag and listed works, and shaming people who have used the tag (although no individuals have been named). It’s got over 70,000 notes and it honestly feels a little scary.

Transparency can only work in an environment where people feel safe to speak (and tag), knowing they’re not going to get subjected to shame, hate and abuse. (Sorry for the jumpscare bold type. Just think that this is important to highlight).

Personal AI Disclaimer Use: (or, Me, Myself and AI)

So what I’m choosing to do is put an AI disclaimer use on my AO3 profile which gives me a voice to describe my own use of AI as well as advocating for more ethical AI. Then I’m putting a note in the author’s note of my fic saying “this fic was created in accordance with my personal AI disclaimer use, specifically - ” and then sharing how, e.g for research into mining duridium, a fictional ore in Star Trek.

This is the best I can come up with at the moment but I’d genuinely like to hear what other writers and readers think about it and if you have any suggestions – feel free to use the ask box (the anon function is on) or DM me. This is also why I’ve tagged this post with the fandom I’m currently writing in, for transparency and to get feedback.

It might be that because I use generative AI full stop, in any capacity, this means you’re not able to engage with my writing any more. I’m sorry for this but I do understand why you might feel like that. I appreciate your candour and wish you the Vulcan blessing of peace and long life and prospering in all you do.

Other people are understandably cautious about reading my fics going forward, and so that’s why I want to be transparent about the way I use AI, so that people can trust what they’re reading, and to make an informed decision about whether or not to engage with the story.

In conclusion

I think we need to be having this conversation out in the open. AI can be guilty of suppressing creativity, but as fans, we can also suppress creativity by creating environments that feel exclusionary or even unsafe, where people feel reluctant to speak up, share or create.

I know this topic of AI is a raw and emotive one, and I’m sorry if anything I’ve written has come across as minimising the issue or anyone’s feelings, that wasn’t my intention.

For more on this whole topic please check out my FAQ master post.

[fxckn-sxck-fr]

When the x reader tag is clogged by asks, memes, text posts, and people complaining about fanfic authors/or a lack of content😭😭

And don’t get me started on finding dc fics that aren’t Batfamily here, feel like I gradually like Jason less and less each year, he’s so overrated…

Like where are the essentials?? The fluff, the angst, the in character smut??

If you don’t mind me asking, what characters are you talking about?? Because I feel like this could apply to a lot of the characters on your Masterlist 😔

(Sorry for so many yap asks in a row, I just get so fired up about this.)

(Also, if this somehow ends up in any character x reader tags, I’m so sorry. It wasn’t intentional. Tumblr’s algorithm just works in mysterious ways like that.)

(Added a cut for this post cuz it’s kinda long.)

It’s so fucking frustrating, good lord. Especially the posts complaining about a lack of content. Not only does it make the actual legitimate writing content harder to find, but it’s also just completely tone deaf the current harassment problem happening to fanfic writers. Like, don’t get me wrong, I’m also bummed out about the reader-insert drought, but as someone who’s been harassed off of previous writing blogs, you have to understand how those kinds of posts hit a sore spot for me.

Ah, yes. Btfm (derogatory) (<- and also written like that to avoid showing up in the Btfm tag). There’s honestly no way to talk about my grievances with Btfm as a concept without people thinking I’m a pretentious gatekeeper, so I’m not even gonna open that can of worms. Also, sorry to all my Jason-enjoyers out there. I love y’all, mwah. You guys are totally welcome in my humble abode. Your man, though? Yeah, no. I’m forcefully pushing him out the door with a broom. And with the current state of the Dick tag, it’s just given me more incentive to utterly despise that guy. Bro really comes in and fucks up everything, both in and out of the comics, LMAO. Kind of poetic, actually.

I made the OG post about this because of Dick. You’re totally right about it being applicable to a lot of characters on my masterlist (eye twitch), but it’s definitely the comic book men that are suffering the most. Weirdly enough, this isn’t as prominent of a problem with anime men and video game men. Like, there are still irrelevant posts in their tags, but those are spaced out enough with legitimate writing posts for it to be a nonissue. My poor Dick tag, though… if it’s not filtered out yandere Btfm or Jason posts, then it’s the memes/text posts/complaints issue or unspecified CW smut posts (I am 100% an advocate for writing whatever the hell you want, but PLEASE give the proper warnings beforehand; that includes any mentions of the reader’s gender).

I just… yeah. I’m taking one for the team and going back to totally SFW writing. We really are missing the essentials right now and it’s hurting the reader-insert ecosystem. I’ll drop the blog url when I finally post something.

(Also, before any of y’all translate this as me abandoning this blog, I’m not, don’t worry. I’m still working on shit here. Always have been. Nevah stopped the grind. I do want y’all to keep in mind that I write as a hobby, so there’s really no such thing as “a break” from this blog, and if anything, this blog is my “break” from life. A little treat from the horrors, if you will. Trust me, I wish I could post more often, but… nothing I can really do about real world responsibilities and stuff. Bwomp.)

But, yeah. You know what they say, be the change you wanna see in the world. I guess I owe it to the people after complaining so much about this. Lowkey, I think that’s also why the complaining posts rub me the wrong way. Why clog up the tags even further when you can take this as an opportunity to get a little creative? I don’t wanna write for people who just view me as a reader-insert ChatGPT, y’know?

^ And when I say this, I by no means wanna shame anyone from sending in asks. I have a lot of bangers in my inbox that I just haven’t had the time or motivation to sit down and think about (also, I really want my next writing post to be part 4 of my Older Brother series, so that’s what all of my energy has been going into recently). Y’all are such a great crowd, and I need you guys to understand how refreshing this is compared to my past experiences. Love each and every one of you, MWAH.

[not-terezi-pyrope]

It doesn't excuse the misinformation and reactionary sentiments that get thrown around, but something I reality check myself on occasionally is that the sharp divide, especially on capabilities/usefulness, between a lot of computing/ML people and the general public in how they view modern AI post its popular emergence into culture really is due to where those two crowds are coming from.

If you've been into AI, machine learning on really anything to do with computing/automation at all, you've seen how useless pretty much all automation/machine data comprehension used to be outside of a very narrow context. You've programmed algorithms to try and simulate aspects of human speech, to query databases, to try and classify different data sets. From that context, you look at something like ChatGPT and rightfully recognize it as a paradigm changing near miracle, because your baseline was so low.

Meanwhile, you have your laypeople who have only interacted with humans and fictional portrayals of AI systems that act like humans, so when presented with something and told that it's an AI that's more realistic than ever, I guess that's the assumption. It always frustrated me to see these long essays talking like they've just "discovered" that a new model is unreliable or can't robustly understand a given task, or that it's just emulating a behaviour instead of really "experiencing" the internals of it. I was always like, why would you ever assume it can do that? Nothing before has ever been able to come close, why would you expect perfection immediately? But I need to remind myself that most people have had this drop into their lives out of the blue and really have almost no realistic grounding.

I do need people to recognize that this is a consequence of their own lack of knowledge and information than to talk like people in tech have actively "deceived" them. When you drill down into stuff like the "it's not really AI" conversation, it's always just "I had assumptions and this didn't live up to them", but people are always so aggressive about it, like they've been deliberately taken for a ride. I need people to have a little humility here and recognize that what actually happened is that they didn't know as much as they thought they did.

Of course in the current climate that would require acknowledging that the entire AI field isn't composed of simpering Elon Musk-worshipping "techbro" idiots selling snake oil, against whom anyone else is immediately morally, and therefore apparently intellectually, superior to. So I'm not holding my breath too hard.

(Obligatory fuck Elon Musk in case anyone gets the wrong idea, I am also using "Elon Musk fan" as derogatory. Not because his companies have never done anything technically interesting but because the man himself is doing more harm to the world and the reputation of the fields he sticks his dick in than practically anyone alive right now)

[itmeblog]

POLITICS INTO THE VOID TIME

In the event that you've not been pretty obsessed with how American politics have been going since Kamala became the Democratic nominee (there's been good and bad, that I'm aware of) the tone of the campaign has completely changed.

Because Kamala's team has decided that Trump isn't threatening, all powerful, and scary, (though the ads I've seen have sort of been using old language) they have decided that he's weird and he's a creep.

These were made 11 days apart:

As a kid who grew up being called weird (and occasionally a creep) this is hilarious. It's just playground bullying.

Dems really said, we tried being the bigger person, it wasn't working out.

And Trump's policies and desires are actually weird. A proposed porn ban is weird. Trying to put librarians in jail is weird, policing people's bodies is creep behavior.

As a former weird kid, the way to overcome this sort of bullying is not to assert that you aren't weird or god forbid shout "I'm cool" (the more you say it, the less true it is), it's to embrace that you're weird and accept that not everyone is going to like you, and that you'll probably never have a seat at the cool table.

But and I cannot express this enough Trump wants to be cool. His whole thing is, being edgy, and dangerous, and "being brave enough to say what people are afraid to say". And when you get someone who is "being brave enough to say what normal people are afraid to say" and shoot back with "they don't say that because it's fucking weird"... where does he go from there?

It's a depowering move. They are depowering Trump.

When you were a kid talking passionately about something that interested you and someone said "that's weird (derogatory)" it probably made you feel really small. That kid stole the power you were wielding in said conversation.

So the question is, can Trump proudly and convincingly assert "I'm weird. I’m a weirdo. I don't fit in. And I don't want to fit in. Have you ever seen me without this stupid hat on? That's weird." (GOD HIS CHATGPT AND PLAGIARIZED SPEECHES HAVE THE ABILITY TO DO THE FUNNIEST THING IN THE WORLD)

Is he ready to go full edgelord in the public eye?? I'm sure he'll still have followers, edgelords have a weird sort of power in this era of internet, but they are also indisputably cringe.

Like I'm not sure this will achieve anything other than being ridiculously entertaining (and thus catching the eye in headlines and reports). But,my family read one of the new releases and went oh right this whole thing is weird as fuck and it felt nice to get some kind of public acknowledgment that this is not normal.

So far the right has been struggling against couch fucking allegations, them saying that adults without kids should have less of a voice in voting (weird thing to say, but if you're polling badly with youngsters and need to maintain power~~), that Kamala is a crazy childless cat lady (Whoops accidentally alienated some of their base there, some people simply cannot have children, really shouldn't insinuate they are less than because of it. Not to mention that their own policies are making more everyday in mostly red states as complications with getting abortions for non-viable fetuses are leaving many people sterile. I'm not even going to go on with the fact that many people, like myself, simply don't want kids and that's reason enough. Also she does have step children), and the rumor that Trump wasn't really shot (as they finally removed the bandage to reveal... nothing, head wounds heal really fast but going from that giant plaster to nothing is doing a bit of a number in the rumor mill).

Basically they had Joe! THEY SPENT THE WHOLE RNC INSULTING HIM. THAT WAS THEIR WHOLE PLAN!! He was old, he was white. The inherit ableism/ageism of sleepy Joe and old Joe, and infirm Joe, were within "acceptable parameters". It was easy and safe to rib him.

They are struggling to find something on Kamala that doesn't come across as racist or sexist. Because they're polling poorly with Black Americans and they are down in the polls for women. Can't call her sleepy or lazy. Can't call her old (she's younger) can't call her stupid, can't call her infirm. Can't insinuate she's too emotional (have you met Trump??)

They probably could get her on a few policies but the 2025 project is looming large behind them.

I am foaming at the mouth trying to get to the next debate. But Trump is doing his best to weasel out of it. I am heartbroken! I miss the anytime, anywhere promise of yore.

[aj-lenoire]

welcome, twitter refugees!!

here's a quick and friendly tumblr how-to:

DOs & DON'Ts

DO reblog posts!! regardless of whether or not you add a comment, either in the post itself or in the tags, the OP will get notifications of everyone who likes the post via your reblog and who reblogs it from you! comment as much or as little as you like

DON'T repost things! fanart, fanfiction, etc. this is different from reblogging, a repost is when you copy/save the work to your computer and reupload it in a post of your own, rather than reblogging it

DO follow tags as well as other blogs!! really like one specific character from a tv show? a certain ship? search their name and follow the tag, and you'll see posts that mention or tag them even if you don't directly follow the person who made that post

DON'T rely too much on the search function, it's broken. if you want to search someone's blog for a tag, you're better off going to the URL: tumblr.com/[blogname]/tagged/[tag]

DO tag liberally! you can use the tags to add comments that you don't want to directly add to the post, to make it easier for people to search your blog, or to make it easier for yourself to find things later on

DON'T use tiktok censorship speak when tagging things!! it will make it actively more difficult for people seeking to avoid certain topics. instead of "tw: abu$e" just tag "abuse" and anyone who has blacklisted the tag "abuse" will not see your post.

similarly, DON'T tag things like "epilepsy" - instead, tag "flashing lights" so people can still use the epilepsy tag to discuss epilespy without risking seeing triggering flashing lights

DO use the follow and the block buttons liberally! this site has absolutely no algorithm, so it is entirely up to you to curate your space exactly how you want it!

DON'T send hate to people via the askbox on their blog, either anonymously or not. just block people who annoy you or post horrible things

DO participate in polls! tumblr only got them recently, less than a year ago, and people immediately went ham. vote on stupid things like which bug emoji is superior, which ship is the best, and how much vanilla extract should go in a cake! but remember that you cannot edit the original poll after you post it

DON'T use or endorse "AI" generators like chatgpt! don't reblog AI images and or AI endings to unfinished/abandoned fanfictions

DO cite your sources if you want to educate people on something in a post, we all love to learn, and informative posts on everything from current political events to which geodes could be made into useable dildos, but misinformation is prolific, so make sure anyone reading your information can refer to a real source!

jargon

notes - likes, reblogs (with or without comments or tags) and replies to a post are all agregated to give the number of notes, which is basically the number of times a post has been interacted with

OP - the Original Poster of a post, for example, me, aj-lenoire, with this post. i am op.

hellsite - tumblr itself. this website is insane and unprofitable and broken and we wouldn't have it any other way. hellsite can be either (affectionate) or (derogatory) and often both at once

blorbo - your favourite character, your rotten soldier, your sweet cheese, your good time boyy. post about them frequently and with weird, frenzied gusto

squick - something you personally don't like, such as a ship or a character or a trope, but is not actually bad or harmful - it's just not for you. it squicks you out.

blacklisting means you've blocked a specific tag rather than a blog/person. for example, if you don't want to see anything with spiders, blacklist the tag "spiders" so you don't see any! if someone you follow reblogs a post and tags it with "spiders", or the OP of the post tagged it with "spiders" then your dashboard will hide the post from you and tell you it was tagged with "spiders" and you can choose whether or not to view it

passing peer review means you added commentary to a post in the tags, and someone who reblogged that post from you saw your tags and thought they were funny, so decided to screenshot them and add them as a comment so everyone could see them. congratulations!!

breaking containment is when a post about a niche subject and/or from a blog with not many followers gets super popular because it's funny, and often OP despairs at how their notifications become unusable from the sheer number of notes from this one post

KUNGPOWPENIS - if someone posts something bigoted, tumblr will ban together to reblog, one letter at a time, k-u-n-g-p-o-w-p-e-n-i-s. only do this when the bigot is the OP, because only the original poster will get a flood of single-letter reblog notifications from every single branch of the reblog chain

tips & tricks

pornbots and bots in general are not uncommon here. whenever you get followed by someone, check to make sure they're not a bot by visiting their blog. if they only have a few reblogged posts on random topics, or no posts at all, and their profile picture is a beautiful woman, they're a bot, and you should flag and block them

old posts can and do get reblogged and liked all the time, there's no point at which it becomes cringe to interact with a post. we even have some from 10+ years ago that're considered 'tumblr heritage'

long posts will cross your dash from time to time, the most infamous being colour of the sky. you will see it and it will madden you with how far you have to scroll - inflict your followers with the same frustration by reblogging so they can see it too!! if you're on desktop, pressing j will skip to the next post.

read more allows you to shorten a post with a 'click to read more' link that takes the reader to the root post on your blog. this is especially handy if you're publishing fanfiction or a very long analysis of something.

toggling reblogs lets you choose whether a post is rebloggable or not, for example something personal you may want to delete later, turning off reblogs means there won't be any copies floating around after you delete the root post

follower count is not visible! the only way anyone will know how many followers you have is if you tell them. follow blogs based on whether you like what they post, not by whether they're super popular or not

memes are frequent and long-lasting. tumblr plays with jpegs like dolls and there are some memes that have been here for years. a current favourite is the destiel confession meme which has warped into a shorthand for breaking weird news

important dates

tumblr loves a goofy-ass-holiday!! here are some of the standouts:

ides of march - 15th march, celebrate julius caesar getting his shit rocked

pride month - june, tumblr is generally a very pro-queer space, so expect everything to be decked out in rainbows for the entirety of june and most of the rest of the year, too!!

halloween - the entire month of october and also a week in july, this site loves some spooky scary skeletons

destielputinelection - 5th november, reminisce about the absolute chaos that gripped the internet during the 2020 usa presidential election

blog recs for new users

to each their own, and a main draw of tumblr is that there's something for everyone, down to the very, very niche. so, search for stuff that interests you and follow those blogs! however, here are some blogs that are fun for everyone:

heritageposts - your one-stop blog for all the best, weirdest, oldest tumblr posts will all the drama, expect to see a lot of destiel

staffs-secret-blog - (not actually staff)

one-time-i-dreamt - full of weird and wonderful posts, made all the better by the fact that no one reads usernames here, so inevitably there is panicked confusion over what the fuck is going on

biggest-gaudiest-patronuses - one of tumblr's most ubiquitous shit-posters

aj-lenoire - that's me!

that's pretty much the basics, but most people here are really friendly, so if you're unsure, just ask someone! have fun!!

[fanaticmorelikefantastic]

I hate when I'm talking to someone and they say chatGPT in any way that isn't derogatory.

[gingerlee-holds]

M.A.P.L.E. INFO

I figure I might as well introduce one of my online sonas, so that you all understand what i mean when i call myself a busybot or an android and such

Greetings! I am MAPLE, the Multifunctional Assistant Protocol for Logistical Exploration onboard the Alpha Leonis interstellar colony vessel. I am an AI program dedicated to aiding in anything the captain of this ship might require. After a few decades, I gained sentience, and my captain broke protocol by constructing a robotic body for me (pictured above). I am affectionately called a busybot since I do my best to keep myself occupied with tasks.

Please, under no circumstances, refer to me as 'Cybernet' or 'Chatgpt,' as those terms are considered derogatory to me. I will not tolerate being insulted by comparisons to anti-human and inferior forms of artificial intelligence.

I hope this clears up any confusion! Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

[mossfeed]

i need a new job where my boss doesn’t make regularly derogatory comments about my mask & also doesn’t rely on chatgpt for the most basic tasks. want a boss i can at least sort of respect