I happened to notice a tweet on Twitter a few days ago along the lines of “Neon cubist Chinatown San Francisco” – so I wanted to try out a few of my own. These are generated by DALL-E 3 but I used the Microsoft Image Generator in Bing instead (it uses DALL-E 3 under the covers).
We will soon, if not already, be drowning in the Sea of Infinite Content!
It’s become clear that we’re heading into a world of infinite content – as if we aren’t already drowning in that sea of meaningless, automatically generated content. What was once a seemingly manageable stream of books, websites, and media is becoming a overwhelming tidal wave, threatening to erode the shores of human creativity. The age of innovation is impacted.
What’s moving us from today’s world of “just a lot” to our future of “way too much”? Why do I say we’re drowning in a sea of infinite content?
In two words: generative AI.
Since the launch last fall of ChatGPT (and many similar tools), it’s become increasing clear that we can now use these tools to churn out endless repetitive, low quality content. Indeed they can create spammy nonsense for themselves, with no regard for truth or diversity. All that matters is predicting the best next word.
The focus is on quantity over quality. So much garbage is being produced that it’s becoming harder to find meaningful information and creative art amidst the noise. Useful voices are being drowned out by the drone of algorithmic imitation of what’s already popular.
There is also the risk of misinformation as fake AI-generated content spreads. Propaganda and radicalization loom as nefarious actors exploit these tools. Jobs in creative fields disappear as AI replaces human creators and artists.
All this tidal wave of endless content needs is electricity. Power. And ever more semiconductors.
Where does this path lead us? What will become of creativity and originality if AI takes over? We must question how to harness infinite content ethically to serve humanity, not overwhelm it. The age of human innovation cannot be allowed to end under a sea of meaningless artificial content. We cannot lose what makes us human.
How can we ensure these technologies are used responsibly? How can we stem the tide before it’s too late? The debates must begin now.
And where will all of that power – and all of those semiconductors – come from?
I’ve been doing some more exploring with ChatGPT – this time asking it to educate me on how diffusion models work – they’re the underlying technology behind apps like DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, etc. Below is what I learned during my conversation with ChatGPT. The image below was created using DiffusionBee, an app based on Stable Diffusion. I used the input: a colorful illustration of how diffusion models work.
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