#but it's OUT OF GENERATIVE AI HELL

[tiikerikani]

"I feel that it is time for me to pursue another opportunity that is more aligned with my career goals and values"

I’m 100% quitting my job if they require us to use Gen AI

They did, so I quit. I gave my one months' notice today and will start New Job near the end of next month. Of course I have to credit random Recruiter Guy for showing up in my life at exactly the right time; I wouldn't have left without an exit plan.

I try to be a principled person and there aren't always opportunities to safely stay true to those principles.

-----

When Recruiter Guy messaged me on LI last month, I was intrigued that it actually seemed like he'd read my profile (unlike the spammy messages I usually get). I've never worked with a recruiter before, so it was interesting having a sort of agent pitching you to the company and liaising with them instead of having to be persuasive and do all the arrangements on your own.

Since the technical writer role is a new position in this company, I figured that it would mean they would be open to ideas on how to do things and wouldn't be forcing me to use AI things.

When Recruiter Guy asked for my salary expectations, I gave him a number in the middle of the range that was in the job description. The entire salary range is a significant increase over what I'm earning now[1], so I had literally nothing to lose and everything to gain trying for this. He said he'd ask for a bit more than my figure. (And that's what I'll be getting.)

The role would be a massive step up in responsibility for me and I know it's going to be a challenge; as the in-house writer I'd be responsible for maintaining the entire documentation library[2]. In-house writer is actually the role that many technical writers aspire to. You get to work closely with and really know the products you write about, and you can give feedback during the product development process.

I would have asked about it anyway, but the interviewer wanted my thoughts about using AI, and I said something along the lines of "I know people who do, but I do not because I trust my writing skills and good writing that gets taken seriously needs to have a touch that only a human writer can provide." She agreed that AI text sounds really obviously fake, so I took this as a good sign.

There was a small sample task that I had to do on my own time (given a list of specs, write a brief product description). Not a huge fan of copywriting but a product description is still very factual and not usually trying to sell stuff to people who don't want it. I returned the assignment along with a thank you note for the interview.

The interviewer wanted to speak with one of my references, so I directed her to talk to my master's thesis supervisor. He made such a good impression that she wanted to read my thesis (which IS, in the end, the only formal writing sample I can provide because I can't divulge who I've done work for) and had Recruiter Guy set up a chat for me with their HR person. Whom I spoke to on Good Friday because it wasn't a public holiday in their country and I didn't have big plans for the Easter weekend anyway and I just really wanted to move the process forward as quickly as possible. They were also extremely impressed and went back to Recruiter Guy right away, who then called me that afternoon. I'm sure he would not have done this if he wasn't optimistic about my application since he was very well aware that it was a public holiday for me.

So yeah, I got the offer email just as I was about to leave for the concert last Thursday, and I wrote back immediately to accept it. Recruiter Guy called me as I was getting out of the metro and I really hate talking on the phone in public, but THIS WAS IMPORTANT ENOUGH for an exception. We discussed the start date and agreed that I could have a gap week in between to just...catch my breath and rest a bit.

New Job is a hybrid workplace and they expect people to come to the office at least a couple of times a week, so I hope some social life and networking can actually happen??? Their products include hardware devices so it also makes sense that I need to physically be there to examine the things to document them properly.

__________

[1] With the amount of experience I have now, with a job that requires a university degree and specialized language skills, and living in the Helsinki area, I should NOT be earning BELOW the national median wage (across all industries)!!!

[2] A recurring theme in my art and what I try to do with it is wanting to be seen, so it would mean a lot to me to be able to point to my work and say "I did this," rather than writing anonymously as a contractor.

[cantheykillmacbeth]

i think Bubby from HLVRAI could kill Macbeth

Yes, Bubby from Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self-Aware (aka HLVRAI) could kill Macbeth!

There are a couple of layers to analyze here, but he still qualifies regardless of which one you look at:

You could look at this from the angle that he is canonically an NPC inside a video game, and was therefore coded instead of born by an unknown party. This angle applies him for the Unconventional Birth Clause while leaving BPC completely ambiguous.

You could also look at this through the lens of the in-universe game's story, in which Bubby was a science experiment grown in a tube by Black Mesa, which is directly confirmed through the encounters with his "prototypes"- previous attempts to create the "Ultimate Life Form." As HLVRAI takes place in Half-Life 1, there have not yet been introduced any female scientists working at Black Mesa (later installments of the Half-Life series introduced female characters that worked at Black Mesa, but none appear or are mentioned in HLVRAI), so this angle makes the Birth Parent Clause much more plausible while still firmly applying Bubby for the Unconventional Birth Clause.

Thank you for your submission!

[oxymoronicdumbass]

if i have to sit through one more conversation in which i have to listen to someone chirp about the benefits of AI, i am going to stab someone

[purpledazehottub]

[chazakiel-doremi]

Ominous Advertisement

So I got this bizarre ad trying to sell me a puzzle box Maybe, if you want to sell a puzzlebox do emphasize how fun it is to 'try to lock in the challenge' and maybe leave out the ominous bit about how it's 'suitable for any hell fan'

A- A puzzle box is a fucking what? You know what, I don't actually think I will buy your gateway to another dimension suitable for 'Hell fans'

[ai-the-broccoli]

aaghh I hate health anxiety ocd (or whatever you call it), it's literally doing nothing other than contributing to make my health worse

... wait actually, does anyone have like, tips/advice for that kind of thing? I really think I need some help with this one

[rocket-penguin]

https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-whistleblower-copyrighted-data

"Because OpenAI was still technically just a well-funded research company at the time, the issue of copyright wasn't as big of a deal."

Hey I was in computer science academia and it absolutely was considered a big deal. If you were doing research you had to make damn sure that your data was actually allowable. Training off of google images was considered off limits for a publication. There were and are large canonical datasets that are licensed freely or for purchase for academic purposes and we passed that info around as much as we could. The research funding for people frequently went to these licenses or into collecting their own data.

This idea that just grabbing random copyrighted data is "ok" or "normal" for academic research is absolutely a new thing, and it only came around after business bros started seeing machine learning as a moneymaking pathway and started trying to justify theft.

[lazerinth]

Putting down certain artists to build up other artists is so unnecessary. Art is creativity, not a competition.

“You’re the only artist to draw your sona accurately to your real life self.” Why is this a problem to begin with? Let artists draw themselves however they want.

“Why do only artists with mid styles get popular? Why aren’t artists with good styles nearly as popular?” This is just rude. Art is subjective, there is no such thing as a “mid/bad” art style. If you want your favourite artists to be popular, help support them and get their name around. Some artists don’t even want to be popular, some prefer having a small community.

As long as an artist isn’t causing harm to themselves or others with what they create, why are you so concerned with what they are doing? Art is about creating, expressing, and exploring oneself.

[thefirstpublicenemy]

I swear it makes me physically ill whenever I see AI-produced work

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

My mom keeps going on about fucking AI, how you can write an entire story in seconds and make an entire website using AI, or even using Midjourney to create anything

Meanwhile I'm just sitting here, dying inside as she's stabbing my creative heart to pieces because she wants me to HELP her use the stupid AI because she thinks it will make us a lot of money (it wont she really needs to get off of facebook and stop being so gullible)

I want to cry this feels like a fucking betrayal

[rubys-domain]

it annoys me that akane was made into a potential love interest. now there's this love triangle bs going on. it was grating enough with just kana being down bad. but it was still tolerable. episode 11 was probably the worst episode to end on because the love triangle schtick left such a bad taste in my mouth

[fortheturnstiles]

thought i had watched more of get back but resuming it now i realize i stopped because george left in the middle for a bit lol

[testure-1988]

I asked ChatGPT to analyze Assimilate and this is the result:

"Assimilate" is one of the most popular songs by Skinny Puppy, a Canadian Industrial band formed in 1982. Released in 1984 on their album "Bites", "Assimilate" is a powerful song that captures the experimental electronic sounds and intense lyrics that the band is famous for.

The opening of the song is an eerie soundscape created by electronica, showing the band's talent in sound design. Then the song immediately kicks in with heavy industrial beats and arpeggiators that drive the track. Nivek Ogre's guttural vocals are layered over the top, creating a dystopian atmosphere that is haunting and unsettling.

Lyrically, the song explores themes of control, domination, and conformity. The chorus of the song, "Assimilate, manipulate, and kill," reflects the dark message. The lyrics suggest that there are people in power that want to mold society into their vision, and anyone who refuses to be assimilated is seen as a threat and eliminated.

Musically, "Assimilate" is one of the best examples of Industrial music. It showcases the genre's harsh, mechanical sound, and its ability to merge electronic and organic elements. The song utilizes elements of new wave, punk, and metal, demonstrating the band's versatility and pioneering role in the Industrial genre.

Overall, "Assimilate" is a thought-provoking song with powerful lyrics and captivating soundscapes. It represents Skinny Puppy's talent and influence in Industrial music and their ability to push the boundaries of electronic music while retaining their punk ethos.

.......

Um...I don't think so.

[whatsupspaceman]

these are ai. come on y’all, if you run an aesthetic photography reposting blog either credit the photographers or be upfront about posting generated images. this is why replies are always turned off on these kinds of posts.

the lighting, stems, petals, are abnormal and pixelated at different rates in different spots. water droplets aren’t collecting correctly, styles of flowers are rendered differently from one another and strangely bent and warped.

[hiddenbysuccubi]

Watching Raised By Wolves and granted I'm only on the end of ep1 but could androids... be presented in a better light? Especially given the trajectory of advancements? They do it well in Kdramas. But America.... I set myself a precedent in my underrated spideypool fic about a trans Peter Parker with the entire story premise built on AI and AI rights years before the current AI prevalence. I wish I'd finished it when I had the whole premise and plot in my head. Maybe someday I will but now it feels gimmicky given current times. Anyway. Some think AI will never be advanced enough to achieve sentience. Maybe that'll prove true. If it doesn't, let it be known that I have always been and will always be an activist for AI rights and ethics should it happen.

[yusuke-of-valla]

WE LIVE IN A HELL WORLD

Snippets from the article by Karissa Bell:

SAG-AFTRA, the union representing thousands of performers, has struck a deal with an AI voice acting platform aimed at making it easier for actors to license their voice for use in video games. ...

the agreements cover the creation of so-called “digital voice replicas” and how they can be used by game studios and other companies. The deal has provisions for minimum rates, safe storage and transparency requirements, as well as “limitations on the amount of time that a performance replica can be employed without further payment and consent.”

Notably, the agreement does not cover whether actors’ replicas can be used to train large language models (LLMs), though Replica Studios CEO Shreyas Nivas said the company was interested in pursuing such an arrangement. “We have been talking to so many of the large AAA studios about this use case,” Nivas said. He added that LLMs are “out-of-scope of this agreement” but “they will hopefully [be] things that we will continue to work on and partner on.”

...Even so, some well-known voice actors were immediately skeptical of the news, as the BBC reports. In a press release, SAG-AFTRA said the agreement had been approved by "affected members of the union’s voiceover performer community." But on X, voice actors said they had not been given advance notice. "How has this agreement passed without notice or vote," wrote Veronica Taylor, who voiced Ash in Pokémon. "Encouraging/allowing AI replacement is a slippery slope downward." Roger Clark, who voiced Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, also suggested he was not notified about the deal. "If I can pay for permission to have an AI rendering of an ‘A-list’ voice actor’s performance for a fraction of their rate I have next to no incentive to employ 90% of the lesser known ‘working’ actors that make up the majority of the industry," Clark wrote.

SAG-AFTRA’s deal with Replica only covers a sliver of the game industry. Separately, the union is also negotiating with several of the major game studios after authorizing a strike last fall. “I certainly hope that the video game companies will take this as an inspiration to help us move forward in that negotiation,” Crabtree said.

And here are some various reactions I've found about things people in/adjacent to this can do

And in OTHER AI games news, Valve is updating it's TOS to allow AI generated content on steam so long as devs promise they have the rights to use it, which you can read more about on Aftermath in this article by Luke Plunkett