Furnaces

The internet has been evolving into a deluge of incoherent AI bot generated information and walled garden domains. LLMs it seems, are the lock to the gates that are finally being shut.

Libraries have been repositories of curated and filtered information. Information filtered by censorship perhaps, but more often by intellect and determination. The latter two often leading to a bias, somewhat, toward accuracy.

The internet changed that, because the written word became free to publish. The social media layers, through which most of the Earth’s population interact with the internet, allow filtration, censorship and idle and false information to be a dominant.

This leads to the greatest problem for LLMs. Or, alternatively, the most genius power move if you happen to an owner of a social media network (or even better, the owner or a social media network and a LLM ChatPT platform). Most recently, we hear that Musk1 wants to sue Apple for possible demotion of his AI app, and that Reddit will (possibly) restrict the availability of its information for internet archival. There are two potential reasons. Profit is always an easy answer, but, there is a deeper battle for information control being fought.

I recall reading 1984, and thinking that it was extraordinarily unrealistic that huge fires could ever burn every truth or unpopular opinion that wanted to escape uncharred. However, it seems that LLMs and their interface with Humanity may be the new Orwellian Furnaces.

1 https://www.investopedia.com/musk-threatens-to-sue-apple-for-unequivocal-antitrust-violation-11789233