Wow some terrible reporting about Google's latest horrible ideas about how to distort information access in the name of "convenience" (or something):
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More stenography here. Google starting shoving the "AI Overviews" into query results as an opt-out situation. That is, you have to take action to have them not pop up. I don't doubt they are *shown to* 2.5 billion monthly users, but that doesn't mean they are used by as many or desired by them.
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@emilymbender, that was exactly the point at which I started configuring browsers to add “&udm=14” to all searches done via G
gle.Most recent case? I noticed that Calibre does word lookup. It will happily do so via G
gle; and, yes, the slop summary is shown. -
For one final shudder: Pichai here seems to want to think this is helping the world somehow? Gah.
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@emilymbender, he's mostly right. It definitely is helping the world… burn.
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But all the academic papers in the world showing why something is a bad idea won't stop companies from doing it, if it's profitable and/or fits into their quasi-religious beliefs that "AI" is the future, alas.
So let's look at what Google is up to now, or at least says they are, via TechCrunch as stenographer:
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@emilymbender Sometimes it feels like these people are trying to create a world from science fiction stories. For example, in Star Trek when they ask the computer something and it just gives them the answer. They don't understand that plenty of science fiction has no basis in reality and/or are terrible for how our brains actually work (like you've pointed out).
That or they are just greedy bastards that are looking to exploit anyone and everyone for a profit.
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More stenography here. Google starting shoving the "AI Overviews" into query results as an opt-out situation. That is, you have to take action to have them not pop up. I don't doubt they are *shown to* 2.5 billion monthly users, but that doesn't mean they are used by as many or desired by them.
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@emilymbender wait! You can opt out?!
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NO NO NO NO NO! Flashy polished looking webpages that no one has accountability for run absolutely counter to the common good when it comes to a health information ecosystem AND an informed public.
(Also, "Antigravity"? Yeah, you want us to think this is very cool science fiction and/or magic. Not buying it.)
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@emilymbender it's an XKCD reference isn't it?
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@sleepfreeparent @mrmoore @emilymbender Also they can show their ads on their platform without those pesky users nipping off to see the source of the information (and possibly supporting it in any way).
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How infantilizing --- you thought you were looking to find something that someone else wrote on the web. But woah! Now you've been "dropped into" an "interactive experience". Yeah, Google can just fuck right off with that.
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@emilymbender Oh, goodie. They've invented a guy who barges between you and the library shelves and proceeds to give you his vague recollection of what some of the books say. Sort of. Maybe. Unless he decides you were actually looking for something else.
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@emilymbender it's an XKCD reference isn't it?
@whitequark @emilymbender surely. `import antigravity` in python, about 20+ years ago
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@whitequark @emilymbender surely. `import antigravity` in python, about 20+ years ago
@jackeric @emilymbender doesn't make it less cringe, of course
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@jackeric @emilymbender doesn't make it less cringe, of course
@whitequark @emilymbender indeed
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Wow some terrible reporting about Google's latest horrible ideas about how to distort information access in the name of "convenience" (or something):
Google Search as you know it is over | TechCrunch
Google is transforming Search from a list of links into an AI-powered experience filled with conversational answers, autonomous agents, and interactive interfaces — a shift that could further reduce traffic to publishers across the web.
TechCrunch (techcrunch.com)
A short thread
🧵>>@emilymbender
Good thing they block adblockers then aye? -
@sleepfreeparent @mrmoore @emilymbender Also they can show their ads on their platform without those pesky users nipping off to see the source of the information (and possibly supporting it in any way).
@DamonWakes @sleepfreeparent @emilymbender It's amazing how it's changed from want to get users out of search to websites, as quickly as possible. Now, it's the opposite. Keep users in search as long as possible and don't allow them escape to the websites.
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@ShadSterling @romli @hamishb @emilymbender use duckduckgo and you have simple ai opt out .
But anyway all this suppose there will be something left to search for on the web. Nowadays most often than not the first 10 links returned are AI generated web site slop.
Given that this slop is now used to generate further down the drain AI sites, the untrustworthy garbage'll soon supersede 100-1 trustworthy sources.Maybe we'll have to come back to human indexed content of a curated list of sites.
@tomtom @ShadSterling @romli @hamishb @emilymbender
Even easier:
DuckDuckGo - Protection. Privacy. Peace of mind.
The Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs.
DuckDuckGo (noai.duckduckgo.com)
Enjoy!
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@emilymbender i'm fucking weepi ng
Information-gathering agents are an evolution of Google
i have never observed google demonstrate any behavior that struck me as evidence of them gathering any form of information
Links will become an afterthought
that reminds me how they own the w3c and use it to ensure no one who has ever created a webpage will ever be able to show it to anyone without exposing them to the most openly broken cryptography i've ever seem
There’s little time left for publishers to adapt.
openly gloating
which will eventually be free
that's right. we will all be free. that's a cryptographic guarantee
@hipsterelectron @emilymbender
i have never observed google demonstrate any behavior that struck me as evidence of them gathering any form of information
except for them unethically gathering lots of information about you?
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@tomtom @ShadSterling @romli @hamishb @emilymbender
Even easier:
DuckDuckGo - Protection. Privacy. Peace of mind.
The Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs.
DuckDuckGo (noai.duckduckgo.com)
Enjoy!
@morqendi @tomtom @romli @hamishb @emilymbender the only time I use Google is when DDG results are useless so I prepend with “g! ” to try Google, and even the noai version doesn’t append “ -ai” so I still get the AI overview and an actual setting would still help.
I’ll try to remember to try prepending with “g! -ai “, but that’s not an acceptable way for them to interpret “opt out”
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Not satisfied to cut people off from the important sense-making of looking at information in its context and finding and navigating different perspectives (what "AI overviews" do), Google also wants to tell you what to search for:
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@emilymbender you know, I was just thinking
Google gave up on "don't be evil" at least a decade ago
while I worked there about five years ago, they gave up on "respect the user, respect the opportunity, respect each other"
now they seem to have given up on "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful"
I hate that my livelihood is still tied to them.
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