In the last week, I've seen a couple comments/reviews/etc that have noted the use of AI on PB, which feels so weird to me because PB advertises itself as an anti-AI site very specifically, so it just seems to clash against the very basic tenants of this app to begin with - especially when most people come here because we don't want AI driven recommendations or reviews.

So just as a very general reminder, the use of AI is destroying the environment at an unprecedented rate because of the electrical and water demands needed to manage the data centers (🔗article from MIT), and that impact is felt unevenly and in many countries that are not actually making up the lion's share of the usage (🔗article from UN). Additionally, AI has been found to lead to lower cognitive ability like critical thinking skill and brain development (🔗article from The Times) and psychosis in individuals who haven't displayed similar symptoms before (🔗NLM research article). Given that some of the benefits of reading are to develop cognitive ability and critical thinking, and since we all sort of need to live on this Earth to survive, all of this really seems maybe a little bit important and alarming to me!

To be honest, I know that posting this isn't going to stop people who are still using AI for basic everyday tasks or change their minds, but I just wanted to get it off my chest after seeing it several times recently. I know that a lot of companies are forcing people to use AI in their work, but when it comes to our hobbies, we have a choice to say no to AI, and PB especially has been a haven from the ubiquitous use of AI everywhere else.

EDIT: if you’re going through and downvoting all the anti-AI comments, how about you look at the links above and educate yourself on AI usage instead? Would be a better use of your time!!

EDIT 2: @vulpix also pointed out several very important points about AI use. This is my paraphrasing, but these are all @vulpix's research btw! First, research has shown how AI has encouraged violence against women and girls (🔗research here) by allowing for roleplaying of these scenarios, literally advising people to commit these acts, and agreeing with misogynistic stereotypes. Second, AI is actively racist in that it's built into the algorithms behind AI (🔗UN article), so when using it to make decisions, it's all based on human stereotypes, biases, and yes, racism, which obviously has real life implications. (This makes me think of that thing that happened when the Fable AI made a very racist comment that essentially blew up Fable...last year? The year before? I forget now.)