How Does AI Affect Your Online Shopping?

[Brendan Byrd]

AI only creates slop?

Oh wait, sometimes AI writes so well that we can't tell the difference between what you, and experienced RPG author writes and AI? So is AI slop or is what you write slop?

I think perhaps too much emotion and not enough consideration before replying? Or is the first response an emotional statement and not a qualitative one?

Guess we need to define slop.
A now infamous AI written guide to edible mushrooms — has resulted in actual harm to actual people. That, in my opinion, is slop.
For myself, sludge, presents as poorly written and reasoned.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Oh wait, sometimes AI writes so well that we can't tell the difference between what you, and experienced RPG author writes and AI? So is AI slop or is what you write slop?

Answering for myself, not Morrus, I think you’re missing another option. Right now, there’s a pretty vocal contingent of people who believe they can always tell the difference between AI-created content and content created by humans. And like transvestigators, their error rate is pretty high.

I’ve seen them accuse people of using AI for images when in reality it was older pictures (predating AI) edited by Photoshop or even using simple digital or physical filters.

The same goes for written passages. An unusual turn of phrase, an unfamiliar word, and suddenly, the writer was “clearly” using AI.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm not hostile in principal to some application of AI tools, but like most things, bad product is bad no matter whether it was human, machine or hybrid produced.

 

[GrimCo]

I don't have problem with product made by using AI. If the product is good, does what it says it does, solves my problem, all good, i'll buy it.

AI tools are becoming better and better. I'm using some in my side business and it's great, saves me bunch of time. Should i charge less because i use AI instead of doing most of "legwork" myself? I don't think so. I'm charging for finished product/service.

I'll make parallel with education industry. People pay tons of money for various seminars. All info they get from those seminars, they could get themselves online for free. But, someone did all the legwork, found information, systematized it, organized it, and delivered it. You don't pay for information, you pay for someone doing all the research for you.

 

[Cergorach]

I found AI price tracking very helpful for figuring out what Black Friday sales were actually good deals.

And that would be a function I wouldn't trust LLMs with, most things outside of 'creative' writing I wouldn't trust an LLM with. Why? Because I don't know the actual answer, never ask a LLM a question you don't know the answer to, so you can check the actual output.

Guess we need to define slop.
A now infamous AI written guide to edible mushrooms — has resulted in actual harm to actual people. That, in my opinion, is slop.
For myself, sludge, presents as poorly written and reasoned.

So, if a book actually harms people, it's considered 'slop'? So the bible should be considered 'slop', just as most religious texts? What about a military report that results in action that harms people?

Or should we talk about the products made by people that have been recalled because they harmed actual people? Things range from all kinds of cars, stuff with batteries, food items, etc. LLM products that harmed humans pale in comparison. It's actual humans that thought up the scheme that they will only recall dangerous products if the costs for that are lower then the potential lawsuit costs...

People writing books that are inaccurate or straight up untrue are legion, they still outnumber LLM 'slop' by a wide margin. When people's knowledge isn't correct, when their beliefs are different, when they disregard other sources, when they make mistakes, and no one knowledgeable about the subject matter checks the work thoroughly you get human made problems. How many RPG/game books have issues with with writing, editing, rules consistency, readability, etc.

Heck people complain about writing that's too verbose. Have you ever read a rulebook by games workshop from a decade ago? They wrote two paragraphs were one sentence would suffice for three decades (+). GW now has a value as a company 72.5% that of Hasbro (WotC)... Do you remember the discussions about stealth, hiding, and invisibility when D&D 5e 2024 PHB came out? That was not due to it being well written, consistently checked, and very clear. And let's not even go near all the editions Shadowrun has...

The problem with LLM isn't the LLM, it's the people using it. Just because a typewriter was used to create all kinds of bad stuff, do we blame the typewriter or the person using it? Imho the same goes for LLM, you use it to make a bad product, it's a bad product. If you use it to make a great product, it's still a great product, no matter what tools were used.

 

[Umbran]

I think perhaps too much emotion and not enough consideration before replying?

Mod note:
You are addressing what you think of the speaker's emotional state - making the discussion personal.

Please stop doing that.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Because there are few ways to use LLMs for creative purposes that don't require theft, I would morally choose to not support any RPG products that use it.