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I’m spending way too much time on the RealOrAI subreddits these days. I think it scares me because I get so many wrong, so I keep watching more, hoping to impro

I’m spending way too much time on the RealOrAI subreddits these days. I think it scares me because I get so many wrong, so I keep watching more, hoping to improve my detection skills. I may have to accept that this is just the new reality - never quite knowing the truth.

raincole 8mo ago
Those subreddits label content wrong all the time. Some of top commentors are trolling (I've seen one cooking video where the most voted comment is "AI, the sauce stops when it hits the plate"... as thick sauce should do.) You're training yourself with a very unreliable source of truth.
- input_sh 8mo ago
  > Those subreddits label content wrong all the time. Intentionally if I might add. Reddit users aren't particularly interested in providing feedback that will inevitably be used to make AI tools more convincing in the future, nobody's really moderating those subs, and that makes them the perfect target for poisoning via shitposting in the comments.
  - immibis 8mo ago
    Also, most Reddit users are AI.
- ryanjshaw 8mo ago
  > You're training yourself with a very unreliable source of truth. I don’t just look at the bot decision or accept every consensus blindly. I read the arguments. If I watch a video and think it’s real and the comments point to the source, which has a description saying they use AI, how is that unreliable? Alternatively, I watch a video and think it’s AI but a commenter points to a source like YT where the video was posted 5 years ago, or multiple similar videos/news articles about the weird subject of the video, how is that unreliable?
  - iwontberude 8mo ago
    Which themselves are arguments from bots.
    - bentcorner 8mo ago
      This itself could be a bot argument casting doubt on reddit. It's an endless cycle. If bots reference real sources it's still a valid argument.
  - butlike 8mo ago
    I don't understand. In the grandparent comment you say you have a problem spending too much time on those subreddits and watching too many of those videos, but then you push back here. Personally, I don't think that behavior is very healthy, and the other parent comment suggested an easy "get out of jail free" way of not thinking about it anymore while also limiting anxiety: they're unreliable subreddits. I'd say take that advice and move on.
bradgessler 8mo ago
What if AI is running RealOrAI to trick us into never quite knowing the truth?
lukan 8mo ago
"I may have to accept that this is just the new reality - never quite knowing the truth." Some people, quite some time ago, also came to that conclusion. (And they did not even had AI to blame) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_that_I_know_nothing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_that_I_know_nothing
- padjo 8mo ago
  I’m really hoping that we’re about to see an explosion in critical thinking and skepticism as a response to generative AI. Any day now… right?
  - efnx 8mo ago
    One can hope!
    - lukan 8mo ago
      Yeah, one can. But then I see people just accepting the weak google search AI summary as plain facts and my hope fades away.
  - notarobot123 8mo ago
    I think the broader response and re-evaluation is going to take a lot longer. Children of today are growing up in an obviously hostile information environment whereas older folk are trying to re-calibrate in an environment that's changing faster than they are. If the next generation can weather the slop storm, they may have a chance to re-establish new forms of authentic communication, though probably on a completely different scale and in different forms to the Web and current social media platforms.
    - butlike 8mo ago
      Haha, AGI happens because some future generation just 'forgets' that it was all bullshit slop before
  - ryanjshaw 8mo ago
lesam 8mo ago
Before photography, we knew something was truthful because someone trustworthy vouched for it. Now that photos and videos can be faked, we'll have to go back to the older system.
- ekianjo 8mo ago
  It was always easy to fake photos too. Just organize the scene, or selectively frame what you want. There is no such thing as any piece of media you can trust.
  - bandrami 8mo ago
    The construction workers having lunch on the girder in that famous photo were in fact about four feet above a safety platform; it's a masterpiece of framing and cropping. (Ironically the photographer was standing on a girder out over a hundred stories of nothing).
    - wiz21c 8mo ago
      Although I do use the dead internet, I didn't see much of "fake news" like that...
- expedition32 8mo ago
  Ah yes the good old days of witch trials and pogroms. I am no big fan of AI but misinformation is a tale as old as time.
- KPGv2 8mo ago
  Yeah this is what I always expected to happen. Cryptographic signing of source material so you can verify who the initial claimant is, and base credibility on the identity of that person.
djeastm 8mo ago
My favorite theory about those subreddits is that it's the AI companies getting free labeling from (supposed) authentic humans so they can figure out how to best tweak their models to fool more and more people.

raincole 8mo ago

Those subreddits label content wrong all the time. Some of top commentors are trolling (I've seen one cooking video where the most voted comment is "AI, the sauce stops when it hits the plate"... as thick sauce should do.) You're training yourself with a very unreliable source of truth.

input_sh 8mo ago
> Those subreddits label content wrong all the time. Intentionally if I might add. Reddit users aren't particularly interested in providing feedback that will inevitably be used to make AI tools more convincing in the future, nobody's really moderating those subs, and that makes them the perfect target for poisoning via shitposting in the comments.
- immibis 8mo ago
  Also, most Reddit users are AI.
ryanjshaw 8mo ago
> You're training yourself with a very unreliable source of truth. I don’t just look at the bot decision or accept every consensus blindly. I read the arguments. If I watch a video and think it’s real and the comments point to the source, which has a description saying they use AI, how is that unreliable? Alternatively, I watch a video and think it’s AI but a commenter points to a source like YT where the video was posted 5 years ago, or multiple similar videos/news articles about the weird subject of the video, how is that unreliable?
- iwontberude 8mo ago
  Which themselves are arguments from bots.
  - bentcorner 8mo ago
    This itself could be a bot argument casting doubt on reddit. It's an endless cycle. If bots reference real sources it's still a valid argument.
- butlike 8mo ago
  I don't understand. In the grandparent comment you say you have a problem spending too much time on those subreddits and watching too many of those videos, but then you push back here. Personally, I don't think that behavior is very healthy, and the other parent comment suggested an easy "get out of jail free" way of not thinking about it anymore while also limiting anxiety: they're unreliable subreddits. I'd say take that advice and move on.

bradgessler 8mo ago

What if AI is running RealOrAI to trick us into never quite knowing the truth?

lukan 8mo ago

"I may have to accept that this is just the new reality - never quite knowing the truth." Some people, quite some time ago, also came to that conclusion. (And they did not even had AI to blame) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_that_I_know_nothing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_that_I_know_nothing

padjo 8mo ago
I’m really hoping that we’re about to see an explosion in critical thinking and skepticism as a response to generative AI. Any day now… right?
- efnx 8mo ago
  One can hope!
  - lukan 8mo ago
    Yeah, one can. But then I see people just accepting the weak google search AI summary as plain facts and my hope fades away.
- notarobot123 8mo ago
  I think the broader response and re-evaluation is going to take a lot longer. Children of today are growing up in an obviously hostile information environment whereas older folk are trying to re-calibrate in an environment that's changing faster than they are. If the next generation can weather the slop storm, they may have a chance to re-establish new forms of authentic communication, though probably on a completely different scale and in different forms to the Web and current social media platforms.
  - butlike 8mo ago
    Haha, AGI happens because some future generation just 'forgets' that it was all bullshit slop before
- ryanjshaw 8mo ago

lesam 8mo ago

Before photography, we knew something was truthful because someone trustworthy vouched for it. Now that photos and videos can be faked, we'll have to go back to the older system.

ekianjo 8mo ago
It was always easy to fake photos too. Just organize the scene, or selectively frame what you want. There is no such thing as any piece of media you can trust.
- bandrami 8mo ago
  The construction workers having lunch on the girder in that famous photo were in fact about four feet above a safety platform; it's a masterpiece of framing and cropping. (Ironically the photographer was standing on a girder out over a hundred stories of nothing).
  - wiz21c 8mo ago
    Although I do use the dead internet, I didn't see much of "fake news" like that...
expedition32 8mo ago
Ah yes the good old days of witch trials and pogroms. I am no big fan of AI but misinformation is a tale as old as time.
KPGv2 8mo ago
Yeah this is what I always expected to happen. Cryptographic signing of source material so you can verify who the initial claimant is, and base credibility on the identity of that person.

djeastm 8mo ago

My favorite theory about those subreddits is that it's the AI companies getting free labeling from (supposed) authentic humans so they can figure out how to best tweak their models to fool more and more people.