And since you won’t be able to modify web pages, it will also mean the end of customization, either for looks (ie. DarkReader, Stylus), conveniance (ie. Tampermonkey) or accessibility.

The community feedback is… interesting to say the least.

  • @johnnixonEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    So some news outlets get to protect their precious little articles from the big bad AI, which will probably destroy news as we know it anyway

    I was thinking about this. What happens when all the big outlets are having AI write their news?You can’t get answers on today’s news without feeding the model today’s news. Therefore, somebody has to create the data source.

    I see a few scenarios:

    • Google scrapes, aggregates, and summarizes to the point that nobody reads the article/sees the ads and the news site goes under. Then Google has nothing to scrape but press releases and government sources. Or…
    • News sites block access to scrapers and charge for it but may be wary of crossing their customers (news aggregators) in their coverage
    • The above creates a tiered system where premium news outlets (AI assisted writing but with human insight) are too expensive for ad supported Google to scrape, so Google gets second tier news from less reliable, more automated sources, or simply makes it themselves. Why not cut out the middle man?
    • Rouge summarizers will still scrape the real news outlets and summarize stories to sell to Google. This will again make paid news a luxury since someone with a subscription will summarize and distribute the main point (okay) or their spin (bad).

    I’m failing to see where this will go well. Is there another scenario?