A few weeks ago I mentioned an old cash register system on Mastodon. I think it was either the Data Terminal Systems Model 440 used at many grocery stories back in the day or the NCR 220 that was used at some Kmart stores back before Kmart realized they should be embracing technology. A fellow human being on Mastodon saw my update, did a web search on the model cash register I was talking about, and then shared they were surprised to see my blog entry at the top of search results.
This happens from time to time, as I occasionally talk about things that no one else talks about. Like old cash registers at Kmart.
I’ve never thought much about this blog coming up in search results on various topics, but I know that I’ve seen this blog more than once on Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo in the past. I just didn’t think anything of it; I’m sharing things on here and search engines are suppose to show what’s shared.
What I didn’t realize until today was that there are probably lots of “AI” (Artificial Intelligence), or more accurately, “LLM”, or “Large Language Model” programs out there vacuuming up every bit, byte, vowel, and consonant of well over 20 years of blog entries from my site. Hell, they’re probably gathering up the punctuation as well.
I don’t think much about LLMs, inaccurately called “Artificial Intelligence”, because in some ways I think it’s going to be a passing fad like Google Glass or Bitcoin. However, there’s a lot of people worked up about AI and the way it takes bits and bytes from various places on the Internet, regurgitates it just a bit to make it look like it wasn’t stolen, and then presents the outcome as fact. It wasn’t that long ago that ChatGPT told me the population on Mars was around four million people. Don’t tell Elon.
The realization dawned on me when I read a blog entry around this subject by Les Orchard. Les nails it in this regard, and now I’m wondering what hazy memories I’ve posted on my blog that have been regurgitated as absolute fact because some WhizzGPT said it so.
This is not a good way to inform a society. Misinformation is misinformation, whether it’s emblazoned on a screen by an overly engineered computer or spewed out of the mouths of the likes of Kellyanne Conway.
Never forget the Bowling Green Massacre.
I’ve never really thought of the longevity of my writings beyond when I turn dust to dust. I figured someone wouldn’t pay the ongoing web hosting bill that keeps all this running, and some lackey would hit delete and it’d all be gone not long after I’m gone. But if my writings are now being vacuumed up by this latest fad of AI? I might have to think a little bit more about my content, the accuracy, and the volition of my musings here on this bloggy thing.
Nah. I’m just going to keep doing what I do. I hope it doesn’t clog up the electronic Hoover.
