Something that should apply everywhere online, not just for chatbots.
Creep is a good word for this!
From the FTC.gov:
Don’t insert ads into a chat interface without clarifying that it’s paid content. More and more advertising will likely creep into the output that consumers get when interacting with various generative AI services. It will be tempting for firms offering simulated humans for companionship and the like to do the same, especially given the ability to target ads based on what these services gather or glean about their users. We’ve explained that any generative AI output should distinguish clearly between what is organic and what is paid. The Commission has also explored the wider problem of blurred digital advertising to children, advising marketers to steer clear of it altogether.
More like CREEPY.
Frankly I think this should be the standard rule on all media, online forums, discord servers, social media platforms.
There’s a huge problem with community groups on discord and facebook being filled with vendor promotion, often in the form of “personal testimonials” by people who are in fact doing it as a paid advertisement. If a group doesn’t have rules against outright product promotion, it’ll soon have plenty. And it’s hard to moderate these “testimonials” too, so many fly under the radar of rules.
I have a suspicion that some group admins secretly take kickbacks and don’t tell their members. The reason I suspect this is because I’ve heard of groups where regular members complained about vendor advertising and the people who complained were suppressed, censored, or banned from the group, not the vendor pushing spam. I’m sure some people running groups justify it because moderating a social group online is pesky time consuming work. But it means that basically you have to be careful in any group what the rules are, and if people giving a personal review about something is really being honest, or just pushing dubious sales.
“It will be tempting for firms offering simulated humans for companionship and the like to do the same, especially given the ability to target ads based on what these services gather or glean about their users.”
One wonders what percentage of this is already being used merely to scam people. For example in catfishing schemes. Or just disinformation at scale. Chatbots lie so much, I’ve been suspecting for some time that dishonest activities are the most attractive use for them.
Cats in Wonderland – the Uncanny Valley of lying AIs – It’s just a huge coincidence that AI chatbot services are very much like a lot of other tech products. CHLOE HUMBERT MAY 29, 2023 People looking to produce reliable output are not really going to be readily spending money on a service that needs to be endlessly fact-checked. But an AI that’s good at producing persuasive false information is going to be a service that’s very attractive to the people pushing disinfo campaigns. There’s plenty of money being splashed around to wage cognitive warfare globally. So who will these AI companies wind up catering to? We know social media companies are doing lucrative business with disinformation campaigns.
I really don’t want to pay for this.
AI’s Insatiable Needs Wreak Havoc on Power Systems Big Take – JUN 24, 2024 AI data centers are huge energy black holes, consuming as much energy as 30,000 homes – and their rapid growth is straining global grids. The numbers are astonishing: Sweden could see power demand from data centers roughly double over the course of this decade. In the UK, AI is expected to suck up 500% more energy over the next decade. And in the US, data centers are projected to use 8% of total power by 2030, up from 3% in 2022.
For something nobody wants except a few, that will trick some and harm many.
Daily Mail – Residents of small Pennsylvania town are being driven mad by huge BITCOIN MINE whose two large cooling towers vibrate and hum more loudly than a waterfall By Dominic Yeatman For Dailymail.Com Published: 14:40 EDT, 13 December 2023 ‘I have a little pond in front of my house where I used to sit and have my coffee at,’ he added. ‘I can’t even enjoy that because I can’t even hear the water over the Bitcoin. It is louder than the waterfall.’ Talen Energy won over locals with promises of hundreds of news jobs and an economic boom in the township of 6,000 when they announced plans for the operation last year. ‘Amazon, Google, all those cloud computing applications, those are the potential clients, customers that we will have in the data center buildings,’ said Dustin Wertheimer, VP and Division CFO Talen Cumulus and Susquehanna Data Center. ‘On the coin mining side, there will be computers again located in those buildings and those computers will run computations that will trigger and generate the issuance of coins.’ The controversial cryptocurrency has been in the news again after a wild ride since the start of December. A rally last week saw it rise above $44,000 to reach its highest level in almost two years – then on Sunday it lost 6.5 percent of its value in just 20 minutes and dipped below $41,000. Global bank Standard Chartered thinks bitcoin could surpass $100,000 before the end of 2024 – yet well-known JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon said last week that US lawmakers should ‘close it down’. The first 1,500 Bitcoins out of Salem Township were sold for $37.6 million after the 180 megawatt mine was plugged in this summer, but that was little consolation to residents at an angry town hall meeting on Tuesday.
I’ve written to my representatives to say that I want regulation of “testimonial” ads and disclosures online, both for humans, and any chatbots. This is common sense.
I’ve also written my representatives about wanting regulation to stop the squandering of power resources on bullshit lying chatbots most people don’t even want.
See also: