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Comment by curiousObject | Hacker News Reader

>AI-generated replies really are the scourge of Twitter these days

This is a complex problem. But the first step of that problem is Twitter/X

Avoid it, and the next step toward a solution may be easier.

HN is getting filled with AI generated articles and comments too. There's very few places safe from the avalanche of slop coming.

The solution is a social one. Most of the reason it's a problem in the first place is people defending/propagating slop as if it's worth something. The quantity isn't so high that community moderation can't handle it if it becomes socially unacceptable.

That's true but it's just like with ICOs, the so-called Web3.0 and so on - there is a percentage of people aggressively promoting these, with a part of the community getting fascinated like with everything new, then with time novelty fades and people have a more balanced view of the new tech and these things get downvoted quickly.

I tend to agree, but seeing how the AI cult has turned into a veritable religion I struggle to share your optimism.

Yes! You are absolutely correct! (Pun intended)

One way to combat this would be to force users to stake something. Pay 10 bucks to your account and if you misbehave by spamming or posting only AI slop, you lose it. Brings with it other problems, of course.

That's a nonsense idea because it fails to define how low-quality undeclared slop (LQUS) can accurately even be classified. Also, if money is on the line, it will be taken away even when the article is not LQUS.

I agree, but there is a slight alteration of the proposal which could work rather well. Pay $10 to get in, but no change to the procedures by which your account is revoked. This puts a price on sock puppets, while almost any legitimate, normal user only wants one account, and gets it for a trivial fee. This may also relax the pressure to monetize through ads, which could have perks.

Yep! This pretty much!

There's stacker.news - of course centred on Bitcoin discussion - that works on this principle. Posting and upvoting are actual microtransactions.

In fairness, the bigger problem as I see in comments is accusations of slop with zero evidence, often in an unfair attempt to suppress the takeaway message of an article.

Look at it from the other side: if Twitter/X gets swamped in AI slop, maybe that could be the end of it.

Also true! ;-)

It's frying quite a lot of brains on the way down, sadly.

Yes. I quit over a year ago. I don't miss it. It's a useless and toxic platform.

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