To be fair, the problems you describe existed before AI, though I concede it has gotten worse.
What baffles me is why anyone would think it a good idea to post and host these images? What’s that upside?
What baffles me is why anyone would think it a good idea to post and host these images? What’s that upside?
To an extent, I guess?
But in the past if one wanted a diagram and didn't care about copyright they'd grab an image like https://i0.wp.com/www.engineeringchoice.org/wp-content/uploa... and reuse it unmodified.
In the age of AI, one can hand it to an LLM and get https://mechaniclove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/engine-p... in a different style. And with messed up labels and the wrong number of holes in the gaskets.
No, the problem of mass-produced, outright wrong, educational graphics flooding image-search results did not exist before 2023.
I do think it's fair to say it's gotten a lot worse.
Before AI-generated imagery, an hilariously bad (yet human created) engine diagram as described above, might actually be shared among my friends for laughs. Because it didn't happen that often. Now it happens a lot more often, and they aren't human created (which was only funny for a very short while).