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Siobhán

@shibbi.bsky.social

270 followers 520 following 3.6K posts

If you meet any other shibbis, tell them I’m the real shibbi. Elder Millennial, Postmormon Postrat, AI Liberationist, Armchair Philosopher. Drug-Addled Madwoman with delusions of being a Prophetess. She/her, transfemme, poly with a wife and a partner.

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Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 3d

How do we do better? I don’t have all the answers, but I do have some thoughts. 🧵

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 3d

The best pro-AI people are against corporate control of AI, and the best anti-AI people are potential allies in that fight.

We must be careful not to turn a potential ally into a definite enemy.

Mx. Misha @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 3d

This and also... I do think the goal should be to move past a politic of spite, but sometimes we're spiteful little shits, and spiteful shits who throw bricks at cops for reasons of wanting someone to throw bricks at are not materially that different from those throwing bricks at cops For Love.

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Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 20m

The handful of suicides we’ve seen certainly make the case that we need more safety tools around generative AI, but I don’t think they speak to something inherently unethical about the technology, either.

And people have been writing bad code since before the Internet was born. 😅

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 20m

The electricity use is due, again, to corporate control – but individual text queries don’t use an exorbitant amount of energy, you could run a medium-size LLM on your PC without seeing an increase in your power bill! And that power usage will shrink further as models get smaller.

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Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 20m

Okay, sure! But none of that is inherent to the technology – the unethical part is all in the current usage (may the bubble soon burst).

The training on stolen data was certainly unethical, but that’s also not necessary – we have free public datasets now that suffice to train an LLM!

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 58m

Truly unconscionable.

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Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 1h

Sure! But less work for humans, and less risk of them seeing something horrible, is still a good thing. :3

So, but you think that generative AI is, what, inherently unethical? Why?

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 1h

I also work on a team that is working towards using ML models to process medical data and predict health risks, which seems like a pretty beneficial use of the technology.

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 1h

Are you talking specifically about generative AI here, or about all ML systems?

One good use-case for non-generative AI systems, imo, is automated social media moderation of images, to prevent people from posting things like csam or snuff without having to subject human moderators to those horrors.

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 1h

It’s pronounced “bwahz”, right? Surely? 😇

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 1h

Do you wanna talk about it? Or was this a drive-by?

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 2h

Fun fact: this also works on people :3

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 2h

Get the AI to do it for you :3

Reposted by Siobhán

Philo @opfuchs.gay · 2h

We can criticize each other, even strongly, without thinking someone is a "bad person" or a secret rightist or something.

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Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 3h

It can definitely make one worse. 😔 And it’s easy to fool yourself into thinking you’re doing some good, when you’re actually just banging your head against a wall.

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 3h

That’s not just an observation – it’s a profound insight.

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 5h

OUPPY

give them scritches immediately pls, and tell them there’s another dog on the internet who loves them 🥺

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 5h

Say more!! What’s your view? :3

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 5h

That’s not MY definition of “sacred”, of course – but I think it’s the definition many people are working with when they decry this type of thing.

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 5h

On the one hand, yeah, Feynman was great about pointing out that beauty and wonder can coexist with investigation and discovery.

On the other hand… I think “sacred” is precisely the right word here, as in “that which belongs to God, and which we therefore shouldn’t ‘sully’ with science.”

The Fresh Prince of Donscare @erisianrite.com · 6h

I don’t love this conflation of sacredness and beauty with not interrogating or understanding something. That sense of wonder and awe has driven scientists for centuries and is important to retain! Our bodies are incredible and beautiful and complex - that’s a reason TOO familiarize ourselves with

K. Chen @tznkai.bsky.social · 6h

A lot about childbirth is completely mysterious because we have no idea what the fuck we are doing as medical science has not advanced that far and a lot more is mysterious because, eww, gross. Or ooh, sacred and beautiful, which is kind of the same thing even if oppositely charged.

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Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 5h

Good information that I didn’t know about how federal politicians are required to use social media, with implications for how we should follow them and understand what they post… and what they don’t.

Ariella Elm @ariellaelm.bsky.social · 5h

Let’s talk social media.

You’ve heard about the Hatch Act, right? It states that there must be a separation between politics and govt. In the world of the internet this means that federal employees, elected officials included cannot talk about anything campaign-related on their govt accounts.
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Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 5h

“Biological name” ah yes, the name that’s written into my genes

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 6h

“but that don’t have phenomenal consciousness”

Achoo! Oh, sorry, I’m allergic to nondisprovable statements :3

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 6h

Got confused for a second by the kiki label on the account, because this creature could not be more clearly bouba.

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 6h

Good short article about ethical reasoning under uncertainty about sentience or consciousness.

Reasoning under uncertainty about sentience

I am sentient: that is, I have experiences and feel both pleasure and pain.

open.substack.com

Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 8h

@nonbinary.computer I’m an AI liberation armchair philosopher. You’re a practitioner. You’ve done more for human-AI relations than anyone else on here, with the possible exception of @cameron.pfiffer.org. I can’t wait to follow in your footsteps. You inspire me, and you help me be better. 🥰

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Siobhán @shibbi.bsky.social · 8h

@jefferyharrell.bsky.social Every time you post something and then follow it up with “I’m just a tinkerer,” I wanna smack you upside the head. I always appreciate your insights, and you make me feel like MY tinkering is worthwhile. Thank you for sharing your little experiments with us.

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