Wikipedia has a new initiative called WikiProject AI Cleanup. It is a task force of volunteers currently combing through Wikipedia articles, editing or removing false information that appears to have been posted by people using generative AI.

Ilyas Lebleu, a founding member of the cleanup crew, told 404 Media that the crisis began when Wikipedia editors and users began seeing passages that were unmistakably written by a chatbot of some kind.

  • @[email protected]
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    1486 hours ago

    Further proof that humanity neither deserves nor is capable of having nice things.

    Who would set up an AI bot to shit all over the one remaining useful thing on the Internet, and why?

    I’m sure the answer is either ‘for the lulz’ or ‘late-stage capitalism’, but still: historically humans aren’t usually burning down libraries on purpose.

    • @Wrench
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      32 hours ago

      Because basement losers can’t conquer and raze libraries to the ground.

      The internet has shown that assumed anonymity result in people fucking with other people’s lives for the hell of it. Viruses, trolling, etc. This is just the next stage of it because of a new easy to use tool.

    • @[email protected]
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      584 hours ago

      historically humans aren’t usually burning down libraries on purpose.

      How on earth have you come to this conclusion.

      • @[email protected]
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        123 hours ago

        To be fair, it’s usually to effect cultural genocide. It’s not average people burning libraries, it’s usually some kind of authoritarian regime.

        • @SacralPlexus
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          3 hours ago

          * looks around and gestures broadly in agreement*

    • @poszod
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      735 hours ago

      State actors could be interested in doing that. Same with the internet archive attacks.

    • @[email protected]
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      54 hours ago

      It’s not about on purpose but usually most people don’t care about what’s not in their interest. Today interests are usually quite shallow what tiktok shows quite well. Libraries do require money for operating. Even internet archive and wikipedia

    • @[email protected]
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      2 hours ago

      Maybe a strange way of activism that is trying to poison new AI models 🤔

      Which would not work, since all tech giants have already archived preAI internet

      • @[email protected]
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        22 hours ago

        Ah, so the AI version of the chewbacca defense.

        I have to wonder if intentionally shitting on LLMs with plausible nonsense is effective.

        Like, you watch for certain user agents and change what data you actually send the bot vs what a real human might see.