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I agree. I practically gave up at this point. While YT still sometimes is able to surface some interesting gem, IG is horrible. I had my search feed pruned and

I agree. I practically gave up at this point. While YT still sometimes is able to surface some interesting gem, IG is horrible. I had my search feed pruned and cleaned and was content with what the algo surfaced for about two weeks. Then from one day to the next, seemingly arbitrarily, it was back to tictok style crap, political enragement porn and clickbaity bs. But even YT is getting worse every day. I am glad that I do not rely on recos to consume media. I avoid Spotify, Amazon Music or Netflix exactly because the more often than not do not contain any of the things I like to consume (or hide it behind additional paywalls in case of Amazon). I feel old, but I remember a great source of music discovery being the head of the music department of a bigger local drug store. We talked a lot and he always came with a bunch of "here, listen to this" back when you could prelisten CDs in the store. I had little money and he knew that. But every now and then I would find a great piece I absolutely needed to buy. I could have bought way more if I had the money back then. He was a great guy and I still listen to music he recommended to me. I have not found anything the likes in any artificial algorithm yet.

jrumbut 4y ago
One of the problems with recommendation systems (or maybe the companies deploying them) is that they lack that urge human experts have to edify those that seek advice and raise their standards a little bit. It would be interesting to figure out if such an AI is even possible using current methods. I'm sure the drug store department head got shrugged off by a lot of customers with no interest in digging deeper than the Top 40 and if he had been an AI optimizing for engagement he never would guided you to these other artists. The lack of these kinds of positive externalities and small but important relationships is part of what makes AI driven processes so tiresome.

jrumbut 4y ago

One of the problems with recommendation systems (or maybe the companies deploying them) is that they lack that urge human experts have to edify those that seek advice and raise their standards a little bit. It would be interesting to figure out if such an AI is even possible using current methods. I'm sure the drug store department head got shrugged off by a lot of customers with no interest in digging deeper than the Top 40 and if he had been an AI optimizing for engagement he never would guided you to these other artists. The lack of these kinds of positive externalities and small but important relationships is part of what makes AI driven processes so tiresome.