this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2024
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Fuck AI
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Thats actually really good for people who have trouble reading anything above simple language and therefore can make books more accessible. A great way to use AI.
i think ai for accessibility is good actually
Is stripping the beauty out of literature an accessibility improvement?
Feels like you're handing someone a picture of a square and telling them they can't appreciate a real Picasso.
Given that a large portion of society, at least US society, can't comprehend simple concepts - I am willing to dumb the beauty out of some things to help them grow.
Your point is valid and correct - but there might be reasons such a thing might be helpful.
That's routinely overstated and deliberately misconstrued, often for the purpose of gutting social and economic institutions.
AI is leverage to this end, routinely. A very clumsy, inaccurate, and chinzy tool is inserted between people on the grounds that's they're too thick headed to communicate with one another.
The end result is more confusion, more frustration, and less coherence as people struggle to parse language that's been mangled into a 4th grade reading level.
Many people don't appreciate Picasso
Many people don't appreciate Picasso
Oh Ann, you rainbow-infused space unicorn. If we allow this now, what's to stop them from completely rewriting every classic work of fiction to fit their worldview?
I say no re-writing should be allowed. Learn to read, people and learn to love doing it.
Yeah, get that West Side Story bullshit out of here. If you want to learn about Romeo and Juliet, you should read it in the original Shakespeare, preferably in his original hand writing.
Thaaaaat's different, eh? Nobody should be opposed to someone writing new works from scratch, even if they are inspired by something else. People do that all the time and should keep doing that.
I'm just opposed to letting software (controlled by people who don't expose their intentions and pretend it's all automated with the best intentions) re-write either Romeo & Juliet or West Side Story, for any purpose, including to assist people.
West Side Story was made so that a new generation could understand Romeo and Juliet. It did well what this AI is probably going to do poorly. I agree that this is a dumb idea for a service, and I really doubt any of the current AIs will do it the original works any justice when it comes to wordplay, clever phrasing, or other subtle details expert authors put into their works. That doesn't, however, mean that rewriting works to be more accessible isn't a very valid thing to do. Hell, that's what translation does.
This but unironically?
West Side Story was a real transformation of the work that added in places and subtracted in others.
If you want to learn about R+J, you absolutely should read the original. Better yet, you should see a performance by a professional Shakespeare company.
Don't watch the Spielberg knock off. Don't even settle for the Baz Luhrmann film. Watch the original if you can.
Purely on it's face, it is an incredible piece of artwork. You can enjoy it entirely in it's original form.
Wait till someone tells you about translations and language evolution
now say that without sounding ableist.
I think we can help people who need help without re-writing classic novels. Who are you thinking would be benefited by this? I wonder if I could suggest some other technology or approach which does help them without rewriting an author's works.
firstly, so you hate all Reader's Digest abridged books, then? This isn't a new concept.
As for who, from what everyone else has already written, so I don't have to come up with anything original to defend: non-native English speakers learning the language. People with reading disabilities. Honestly, just spend a little while reading through some of the comments which address your "but I lack imagination and any concept of people different to me" issue. plenty of good answers here.