[TheGrognardling]

Honestly, I'm pretty encouraged by all of the projects and efforts within legislation and organizations regarding clear lines being drawn - i.e., through watermarking to clearly label whether something is AI-generated or not - as well as the efforts by industries for livelihoods to be protected, specifically in the creative space, where human intentionality and feeling are still of the utmost essentiality. We've seen, are seeing, and will see cultural and societal acceptance and backlash against one thing or another, but I'm confident that we will adapt. Ultimately, pushback, thanks to the Web itself, is already pretty monumental among artists and even other AI researchers in many respects - regulations for the internet, largely due to lack of the Web, were far slower to materialize, on an exponential scale. I remain optimistic that we will find the niches where AI is needed, where it isn't, and where it is detrimental.

[haswell]

While I know there have been plenty of scathing essays, backlash among various communities, etc. do you have some concrete examples of the clear lines being drawn and legislation that gives you this optimism?

Maybe the progress you’re describing has escaped me because of the sheer speed this is all unfolding, but it feels like all I’ve heard is lots of noise, while AI companies continue to hammer hosted resources across the Internet to build their next model, the US government continues to claim they’ll use AI to solve problems of waste and fraud, companies like Shopify claim they won’t hire anyone unless it can be proven that AI cannot do the job, and an increasing % of the content I encounter is AI slop.

Maybe this is all necessary for a proper backlash to form, and I definitely want to become more aware of the positives anywhere I can find them. I’m not an AI doomer, but haven’t yet found the optimism you describe.

[TheGrognardling]

The EU AI Act, while I personally find it to be overreach, has certain points that I certainly agree with, and are encouraging given that every major platform has huge userbases in the EU. The first Executive Order on AI in the US following announcement of the AI Action Plan is surprisingly rigid whilst still encouraging innovation, especially given all of the drama regarding federal agencies as-of late. Creative industries are increasingly drawing clear lines on where AI use is and isn't acceptable, especially among individual studios and unions following the SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023-2024. And ultimately, this is all not even considering the profound advancements in education, biotech, and healthcare.

This is very easy to lose sight of, especially given rapid advancements, but it's important. I think certain companies like Anthropic definitely have safety approaches that I agree with more, being more thoughtful and having clearly-outlined scaling policies (such as the latest Responsible Scaling Policy effective March 31 of this year) versus more vague safety promises such as from companies such as OpenAI and Google. Websites such as https://www.freethink.com have wonderful essays espousing techno-humanism that ultimately gives compelling arguments on how AI will be a progressively beneficial force on humanity, rather than detract from it.

Yes, there WILL be growing pains - as is what happened with the internet and the World Wide Web. But, I am confident that we will adapt. There is no better time in history to be living in than right now.