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submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by fasterandworse@awful.systems to c/techtakes@awful.systems

This is not so much about a particular post but rather to document Jakob Nielsen's relentless generative AI boosting.

His weekly updates are so saturated with AI subject matter and every image is AI generated they are unreadable and I can only assume the text is AI generated as well. It really doesn't matter if it isn't, in fact, because he's demonstrating in real-time how damaging the AI aesthetic is to a brand.

He also seems to be mentioning his 40 years of expertise a lot more, which might be a reaction to some negative feedback. I want to dig deeper, but I don't like the feeling that I'll have to read generated stuff carefully.

His latest newsletter triggered this post because he links to a terrible AI generated song he made (with the line "Jakob Nielsen with UX fame, forty-one years, still in the game") and spends most of the newsletter talking about the process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYt12jr5yUY

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[-] Amoeba_Girl@awful.systems 11 points 4 months ago

one of the key goals of AI-generated songs is to populate the long tail of domain-specific content

I'm so glad I have no idea what this means because it's surely stupid and awful.

[-] swlabr@awful.systems 12 points 4 months ago

If I were to guess (shoot me if I’m mansplaining) he’s suggesting we use AI in cultural niches to generate content. i.e. the thing where AI doofuses think it’s cool to automate the fun parts of human experience out of our hands.

[-] fasterandworse@awful.systems 8 points 4 months ago

You know you’ve done bad when you create the conditions for “got to give him credit for putting the work in” to this guy https://youtu.be/JZYZoQQ6LJQ

[-] Amoeba_Girl@awful.systems 6 points 4 months ago
[-] swlabr@awful.systems 6 points 4 months ago

I hate that you linked that and I hate that I clicked on it.

[-] fasterandworse@awful.systems 7 points 4 months ago

But you have to give him credit for putting the work in

[-] froztbyte@awful.systems 6 points 4 months ago

the comments on that video are exceptionally cringe

[-] Soyweiser@awful.systems 5 points 4 months ago

Thanks, hate it. Amazing how much of it is just either 'im rich!' or 'buzzword'.

[-] dgerard@awful.systems 5 points 4 months ago
[-] carlitoscohones@awful.systems 7 points 4 months ago

Skip to 1:03 for a second ... this is the super-fast lyric portion of the video. Saying all of those syllables fast causes Mr. street-sounding rap guy to lose his accent code-switch and for that verse he sounds like a generic white guy. Pretty funny actually.

[-] dgerard@awful.systems 6 points 4 months ago

i'll pass thanks

[-] fasterandworse@awful.systems 5 points 4 months ago

He made a mil on pocket change

[-] froztbyte@awful.systems 5 points 4 months ago

Ah, easy mistake to make: it’s a mill on pocket change

Teensy tiny model mill, on a stand of pocket change! Adorbs

[-] Amoeba_Girl@awful.systems 11 points 4 months ago

I like playing with these generative models but they're strictly for making weird pictures and stupid songs. Seeing the usage these very serious people make of it it's like they're looking into Fisher-Price hardware for the office.

[-] dgerard@awful.systems 9 points 4 months ago

spam, spam, spam

[-] swlabr@awful.systems 8 points 4 months ago

He also seems to be mentioning his 40 years of expertise a lot more, which might be a reaction to some negative feedback. I want to dig deeper, but I don’t like the feeling that I’ll have to read generated stuff carefully.

I don’t know anything about this dude beyond what I just read on wikipedia but a guy like this spruiking AI is probably just grasping at straws as he is swept downstream away from relevancy.

[-] fasterandworse@awful.systems 7 points 4 months ago

he's the "Nielsen" of Nielsen Norman Group where "Norman" is Donald Norman of The Design Of Everyday Things fame.

[-] dgerard@awful.systems 5 points 4 months ago

i remember when i used to hang on nielsen's every word, like 20 years ago

[-] fasterandworse@awful.systems 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

because it's funny

from https://web.archive.org/web/20240210054003/https://www.uxtigers.com/about/people his cv presented in an image without alt text

credit to Matt May for spotting this one https://mstdn.social/@mattmay/112037962750954987

p.s. read his great response to the last shitty Nielsen newsletter about AI generated accessibility: https://buttondown.email/practicaltips/archive/we-need-to-talk-about-jakob/

screenshot of nielsen list of achievements image from his website profile with red line under item: 2024 - named "titan of human factors" by HFES. Below the browser inpector is visible and the empty alt attribute on the img tag is circled in red

[-] m@blat.at 4 points 4 months ago

@fasterandworse Published a book about hypertext two years before the Web.. but two years after Hypercard.

[-] fasterandworse@awful.systems 3 points 4 months ago
[-] fasterandworse@awful.systems 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

When Nielsen says:

Authorship will be unleashed by eliminating the need to master individual media crafts

If you eliminate the need to master the crafts, it's still authorship, but what's the point of authorship when it's not fit for consumption?

[-] fasterandworse@awful.systems 2 points 4 months ago

This week AI will make software accessible for everyone because “traditional methods” failed but let’s not spend 5 minutes thinking about why that is.

Accessibility Has Failed: Try Generative UI = Individualized UX  JAKOB NIELSEN 29 FEB 2024   Summary: Traditional methods for accessibility have been tried for 30 years without substantially improving computer usability for disabled users. It’s time for a change, and AI will soon come to the rescue with the ability to generate a different user interface for every user, optimized for that person’s unique needs.

[-] fasterandworse@awful.systems 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Good response https://axbom.com/nielsen-generative-ui-failure/

Still very much in the UXniverse but nice to see pushback

this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2024
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