HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver focused on an issue that has been on our minds here at The Grail for some time, and that is the impact AI-generated content (a.k.a. AI slop) is having on the modern landscape of the Internet: the damage it has caused to countless artists (like myself *ahem*) who have seen their work scraped for the training of language models without compensation; the environmental strain caused by the data centers competing with local communities for water and energy; how thousands of AI users pretend to make a living by literally flooding social media platforms with synthetic dribble, in the hopes of driving enough clicks to make them go viral (only to be replaced by another AI silly video or image); and finally, how this toxic spilling of algorithmic fakery is threatening to quickly erode the very foundations of our consensus reality.
John Oliver’s show is meant to take serious issues in a lighthearted manner—like the time when he talked about UFOs—and although I would have appreciated it if he had devoted more time analyzing the worrying economical effects this technology will have in the short and medium run (especially since the AI bubble is showing all the signs it is about to burst) not to mention that many technocrats seem eager to use AI as a trojan horse to erect themselves as god-kings, Oliver’s interest in the subject is appreciated nonetheless.
Hopefully the ‘cabbage man’ puns will help to further the discussion a little bit, until policy makers are forced to take action—before they too see themselves replaced by AI, like many in Silicon Valley dream about.
PS: Greg and I recorded a video exclusive to our Patreon subscribers, in which we discussed many of these same issues. You can find it here.
