After watching OpenAI's presentation and, even more, an excerpt from Google's presentation yesterday, I asked myself: is this AI, according to the big tech companies (especially Google - for OpenAI it's their core business, so I understand their perspective), truly what users want and need, or is it just another method to lock people into using their technologies, which are not easily self-hostable?
I'm not arguing for or against it, but I noticed that (almost) the entire Google I/O yesterday was focused on this...
Tech brands like Logitech, Nothing, and Microsoft are adding AI-related features to their gadgets, but are these features truly necessary? The rush to integrate AI raises questions about the actual benefits for users.
I wish to reinforce: Automattic may be the primary focus of this blogpost, but there's barely an exception across the entire tech industry. Which I agree is atrocious!
@alcinnz
The so called Tech Industries definitely understands the meaning and implications of Consent, they just don't give a damn about it, that's all. 😒
We are also working directly with select AI companies as long as their plans align with what our community cares about: attribution, opt-outs, and control.
Emphasis mine
This is not the tech industry’s most egregious lack of understanding of consent in recent years. That dishonor belongs to LegalFling: A blockchain app for sexual consent.
However, this is still pretty stupid, and the result of an insidious trend that doesn’t get questioned enough in software engineering circles. So I’m asking that my readers shout this from the fucking rooftops.
Opt-Out Is NOT Consent
Opt-out is “our lawyers told us to make this an option to cover our ass, but we don’t want you to actually do it”.
Opt-out is “if you missed the memo, we assume we have your consent”.
The default state of any decision regarding user data should be opted out. Users should instead be required to opt in for your decision to take effect, and they must not be coerced into doing so.
If consent is not explicitly given by an informed user, you haven’t received consent at all, and to pretend otherwise is unethical.
Your users don’t fucking care about opt-out. We care about opt-in.
“But Soatok, That’ll Hurt Our Revenue”
If you have to make money doing unethical things, or by following dubious practices that don’t actually respect other users’ autonomy, then you should go out of business.
End of.
What Automattic Should Do
If Automattic wants to make things right, they must do two things and could do a third thing (but I’m not holding my breath):
First, nuke the existing opt-out mechanism and replace it with an opt-in mechanism. If nobody checks it, then don’t include their data in the sale to Midjourney or OpenAI.
Second, they should make the permission for third-parties more granular. Some of us don’t care about third parties, but do NOT want “AI” companies using their data to enable plagiarism.
Third, if you want to go the extra mile, add support for a plugin that uses Nightshade on all hosted media in all WordPress.com plans, including free plans, to increase your users’ protection against LLM scrapists.
This is my open challenge to Automattic leadership to do better.
This Issue is Bigger than Automattic
The tech industry has gotten very bad at respecting users’ consent lately. Your options are no longer “Yes” and “No” anymore. Instead it’s “Yes” or “Maybe Later”, without a “Never” option.
ugh not even @signalapp is safe from the unstoppable deprecation of consent in favour of “not now” pic.twitter.com/sW4Ss2pqMb
It does keep going. I’m going to skip a few, but check it out.> the unstoppable deprecation of consent in favour of “not now”, episode 18 pic.twitter.com/CRdfujOBZt
Yes, even Linux is affected.Even worse, you can rarely uninstall the crapware that nags you with these consent dialogs.
This needs to stop. It’s a toxic mentality and it cultivates a culture that doesn’t respect humanity. (Which is kind of funny to write as a furry blogger.)
If you work in the tech industry, scream very loudly about properly implementing human-respecting consent controls into your software.
Just because it’s widespread doesn’t mean it’s inevitable. Push back against it. Your less privileged, less technical neighbors deserve better.
With limited job options during the pandemic, graduates from Pakistan took on content moderator roles for Chinese video-sharing apps. Now, due to the stigmatization in the tech industry, they find themselves unable to get work outside of a career many of them are overqualified for.
Austin sees mass exodus of ex-Silicon Valley tech companies. Many startups are now choosing to leave the capital city they once flocked to because of the rising cost of living, low funding, and lack of diversity.
Every single ‘software engineer’ I know who has ever over-valued their own work over blue collar work has, without fail, turned out to be MAGAs or incels. They tend to be the people who have their self worth wrapped up in their compensation and status, and are quick to anger when transit workers or delivery drivers, who work long hours in ways that are taxing in every way, break their narrative for themselves
Tbf, my husband is a Network Engineer. He has to get expensive certifications & training at various times, in order to stay competitive in the #TechIndustry. Those can cost thousands of dollars, depending on which one he needs.
Another aspect of the pay range is that most of the #ITjobs seem to be contract with no #HealthInsurance, so those people have to factor in #HealthCare among their expenses, which lowers the value of their paychecks in the long run.
My husband is limited in which jobs he can pursue, because he & I need health coverage. Once you figure in private health insurance for those contract jobs, his net pay would be... unimpressive.
But that's the way many new #TechJobs seem to be going in the USA lately.
I do agree #delivery jobs are crappy & deserve MUCH better pay. My dad was a mailman, and I know the stories of delivering in snowstorms and heat.
But don't dismiss complaints from other industries, just because they might sound unsympathetic.
I agree with most of this, but it’s too little, too late in 2023. Musk has been lying through his teeth for years, the entire tech press has known it, and they kept incessantly covering him—usually uncritically. He wouldn’t have his mystique without them.
Former and current tech employees are putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboards to create fiction that explores the complex emotional experience of working in the tech industry. In a refreshing focus away from CEOs and founders, their protagonists showcase the challenge of balancing happiness and morality with financial security and purpose, as they navigate the tech workforce and life's big milestones.
I am completely convinced that AR-style extended reality is the thing that can someday replace desktop computing for a lot of people, if it is not hobbled by poor management and ecosystem decisions before it gets there. Keep your physical keyboard and trackpad, but virtualize your monitors and your macOS environment. If Apple's headset really is on a path, however many years away, towards becoming traditional glasses, this all seems inevitable. Perhaps eventually you won't even need the glasses
@stroughtonsmith
While some folks have interpreted my ideas to be a #SciFi story idea, when I've mentioned it in the past, it wasn't (although it could be used as one):
Contact lenses used for displays, and nail polish used for sensors to interact with the software/internet. You can even type if you prefer a keyboard to a pen, because the nails are all polished with the #nanotech that interprets your finger motions to be typing. Or you can use a pen to write on air. It's all the same idea.
The only reason this probably won't be aggressively researched in the near future as real #tech, imo, is because so much of it would require feminine adornments. The #TechIndustry is very male-oriented and not comfortable with wearing nail polish.