An analysis of SlopNews, an AI slop dataset
Compared to non-slop news, slop news is less complex, less varied, and has more positive sentiment.…
What is AI slop? A scientific analysis
A mixed-methods analysis of four AI slop dimensions: themes, types, metaphors, and qualities.…
Introduction to slop studies
One of the most salient features of our culture today is that there is so much slop. But what even is AI slop?…
Is psychoanalysis a pseudoscience?
Psychoanalysis has long been accused of being a pseudoscience (Popper, 1963; Meyer, 2011; Pasternak & Orsi, 2021; Ferreira et al., 2022). Despite its influential status in disciplines such as continental philosophy and literary studies, its standing as both science and therapy remains controversial. Critics argue that psychoanalysis does not follow…
AI safety as an interdisciplinary endeavour
It seems that these days every text on artificial intelligence (AI) must begin by talking about the duality of AI: its incredible potential and its terrible danger. We are now at an inflexion point in which technological advancements are measured by months instead of years. The future is uncertain. By…
How AI embeddings compel us to question being itself
This post belongs to a series called AI for humanists. The previous post introduced general terminology (such as AI, LLMs, etc). This one is about a specific technology called embeddings and also a brief critique of humanism. We will be talking about the following concepts: * Token * Vector * Matrix * Tensor * Embedding…
AI terminology for poets
This is a brief explanation of the following concepts and how they relate to the latest interest in AI: * Artificial Intelligence (AI) * Generative AI (GenAI) * Machine learning (ML) * Deep learning * Neural networks * Large language models (LLM) * Natural language processing (NLP) * Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) * Superintelligence (ASI) Nobody really knows what…
Artificial Intelligence (AI) for humanists
Around February of 2024, some guy on the internet was doing some independent AI research on LessWrong (the Rationalist website). He stumbled upon some remarkably psychoanalytic results regarding the way AI models represent words and meaning: The list overall has this super-generic vibe, but it's weirdly punctuated with…