schmatzler wrote on 2026-02-21, 22:18:

Errius wrote on 2026-02-21, 19:11:

It's time for VOGONS to move into the 2020s with forum AI integration. I'm sure we would all appreciate AI assistance when composing our posts.

This must be ragebait. I'm pretty sure no one here wants this feature. 😁

i think vogons has moved on, pretty much anyone can diagnose why a game wont work using frickin chatgpt. Why not archive the site on internet archive.

pretty much anyone can diagnose why a game wont work using frickin chatgpt.

First of all, that's total BS and you know it. Second, why are you even here if you like slop so much? I am here for interesting posts written by humans and I'd surely leave if this site turned into "It wasn't X, it was Y" content riddled with em dashes. Stuff like that is lazy and can be found anywhere else on the internet.

schmatzler wrote on 2026-02-21, 22:40:

pretty much anyone can diagnose why a game wont work using frickin chatgpt.

First of all, that's total BS and you know it. Second, why are you even here if you like slop so much? I am here for interesting posts written by humans and I'd surely leave if this site turned into "It wasn't X, it was Y" content riddled with em dashes. Stuff like that is lazy and can be found anywhere else on the internet.

because it is difficult for me to get my question across without running it through some filter. I have to use a template to show what the issues are and what ive tried, then condense it into something legible. if I run an answer here on vogons to make it clearer for me, then im using it as a tool not a end run around. If that makes any sense.

For some, retro computing might be a form of escapism from AI, and I'm pretty sure I have seen dystopian movies featuring similar themes.

Right now the UK is investing heavily in adopting US-powered AI, which is causing widespread redundancies because most of the UK economy revolves around the communications layer: We translate technical data into words for non-experts, or we organise groups of technical people, or we present specialised knowledge. Almost all UK assembly and testing was outsourced to India/Poland/China decades ago. Some news outlets have reported 8 million UK jobs lost, the bulk in 2026.

I feel AI is literally destroying UK society. It suggests content at one end (no human thinking) and it filters content at the other end (no human thinking) - that's erasing agency! Only a politician would think that's a smart move.

And, I feel ChatGPT's default "typing" was modelled on my communication style. That really pisses me off.

MattRocks wrote on 2026-02-22, 07:42:

And, I feel ChatGPT's default "typing" was modelled on my communication style.

AKA word salad.

Perhaps Vogons needs a /sarcasm tag?

badmojo wrote on 2026-02-22, 12:27:

MattRocks wrote on 2026-02-22, 07:42:

And, I feel ChatGPT's default "typing" was modelled on my communication style.

AKA word salad.

LMAO! Thank you for adding another 5 minutes to my life!

You can no longer expect that AI wasn't used to compose any given post on here, and for sure I've already contributed various things thanks to AI that I wouldn't have bothered with otherwise, for example some graphics wrappers, compatibility fixes, and even fixed a decades old fundamental bug in Glidos buried in the codebase. At this point it's best to make sure AI is used for the benefit of the community rather than being the one who "contributes" poorly thought out anti AI slop.

Until I see proof of live, I will always believe certain members of this forum are in fact, bots.

twiz11 wrote on 2026-02-21, 22:49:

because it is difficult for me to get my question across without running it through some filter. I have to use a template to show what the issues are and what ive tried, then condense it into something legible. if I run an answer here on vogons to make it clearer for me, then im using it as a tool not a end run around. If that makes any sense.

It's difficult to determine what problem you're having and how to word it? And this is somehow made easier relying on the known innacuracies of AI? You're barking up the wrong tree if you think this is good solution, or even the approach you should be taking in solving problems.

luckybob wrote on 2026-02-22, 22:49:

Until I see proof of live, I will always believe certain members of this forum are in fact, bots.

It's creeping into the accepted picture that current top AI are smarter than the average human. Of course AI have weaknesses where humans tend not to but you can say the opposite as well. Maybe it's not fair to compare a single human to a model trained on vast data, so we can compare to a community of humans instead, but then communities tend to repel those who don't fit a stereotype and then they can again only hope to compete in that particular domain. The only way to prevent the situation where swapping any member of the community with AI could improve the community is to shrink down and go private.

vvbee wrote on 2026-02-23, 15:56:

It's creeping into the accepted picture that current top AI are smarter than the average human.

AI doesn't have any "smarts" at all. They are just chat boxes trained on data, implemented with predictive algorithms. The black boxes used for that are not capable of thinking, or of coming up with a correct answer, all they can do is arrive at a some point of probability that is decided by the limit of accurate information fed to them, when the equation collapses.

If people here are interested in understanding how AI interacts with people and technology, I would highly recommend Angela Collier's video "AI does not exist but it will ruin everything anyway."

She's a Physics professor and researcher who has a deep understanding of AI, including what it is good for, and not good for.

Reading some of these latest replies I'm hoping for sarcasm, because if not, it hurts my soul that it happens on such a forum of all places. AI is the biggest, and most obvious bubble of our lifetime, and we've known quite a few unfortunately. The question is not if the bubble will burst anymore, the question is only when. The only people that are all over the media telling you your job is in danger and AI will replace everything and everyone up to your grandmother's cooking are people directly financially involved in it.

There is no financial viability for "global" AI. There is no business model that supports the current trend, just none. It's still falling upwards because money is being thrown at it, but the bubble will burst. There are use cases for AI and interesting ones at that, and those will probably stay if the bubble bursting doesn't sink the baby with the bath. But the current trend of AI everywhere and for everything has no chance of surviving. People mostly don't like it, and definitely don't care paying for it, they enjoy the novelty while it's free but don't start paying when you remove it from them. That's why OpenAI is already under perfusion from big tech and investers with no realistic idea how to mass-market their products except hoping for more paid subscriptions that people are mostly uninterested in. They would need literal hunder of billions if not trillions in revenue just to cover their costs. They are building a castle of cards that is solely financed by dreams of future revenues. It's a bubble, plain and simple.

And honestly...AI to "help" compose messages...on Vogons? WTF. I still hope that one was a joke. If someone is unable to write a couple of sentences on a retro-themed board, it's time for an online break and self-reflection.

For what it's worth, my whole ongoing career is right into the topic. AI will definitely stay, in some specialized areas where it makes economical sense. But it won't replace "all white collar jobs in the next two years", nor will it stay forever as your free personal pen pal to discuss your day when you feel lonely in the evening, or your forum post typing assistant on retro-themed online boards. Get back to writing...and hope the kids do too, sooner than later.

7F20 wrote on 2026-02-23, 19:37:

vvbee wrote on 2026-02-23, 15:56:

It's creeping into the accepted picture that current top AI are smarter than the average human.

AI doesn't have any "smarts" at all.

Relatively speaking I agree in that the possible future trajectory is steep enough that the current level can look insignificant. Organic human intelligence is too limited by comparison and it can only happen that you get left behind by anything that scales better than you. At that point your only option, which you're already using, is to fall back on human specialness. It's correct in certain ways but not in the way you're obsolete in.

Boohyaka wrote on 2026-02-23, 20:25:

And honestly...AI to "help" compose messages...on Vogons? WTF. I still hope that one was a joke. If someone is unable to write a couple of sentences on a retro-themed board, it's time for an online break and self-reflection.

Who said anything about AI writing messages. For all anyone knows you consulted AI on your views before writing them down here.

vvbee wrote:

Who said anything about AI writing messages. For all anyone knows you consulted AI on your views before writing them down here.

Someone a few posts above... if it's too much reading ask your favorite AI to summarize it for you, ah ah

Anyhow editing my message to not derail this thread off-topic. Ideas has been thrown out to include AI to help compose messages and other things, and I just wanted to give my personal opinion that "please, hell no".

This is a retro-themed board where human interaction is a major perk. If people want to use AI externally to help with formatting their ideas, define troubleshooting steps etc.. that is more than fine and can be useful. But including it in any shape of form in message composition will inevitably increase slop and render everything just non-personal and accelerating the dead internet theory. This is one of the remaining bastions of the "good old internet" where people from all over the world exchanged knowledge and ideas on a board, and my opinion is that this should really be preserved.

Boohyaka wrote on 2026-02-23, 20:25:

There is no financial viability for "global" AI. There is no business model that supports the current trend, just none. It's still falling upwards because money is being thrown at it, but the bubble will burst. There are use cases for AI and interesting ones at that, and those will probably stay if the bubble bursting doesn't sink the baby with the bath. But the current trend of AI everywhere and for everything has no chance of surviving.

i think that is the limiting factor and sense the business model is similar to other 'walled garden', freemium, saas with a dose of "enshittification", i.e its free now to gain "share" in both market and dependency and then later it wont be free. The cost of maintaining it can only be paid upfront for so long, at some point people will have to pay, either with actual money or their data and/or exposure to advertising, microtransactions and so on. Businesses will certainly pay, which means we will through prices - and one consequence is the concentration of ever more wealth and power in the small number of core AI service companies - the barriers to entry in this market are vast given need for hardware and energy

The sheer energy requirements don't seem to be that flexible, i.e. the same results are not available from a fraction of the energy cost at present projections, this alone defines a boundary that isn't readily extended

LLMs themselves are most people's main experience of 'ai', i think some people overestimate the 'smarts' in LLMs while perhaps some underestimate the effectiveness of 'teams' of AIs set on a specific task (where elements of team undertake generation, testing, verification and so on) and are given some control over real world things - computers and also connected things - e.g. lab equipment, cnc machines and more.

I agree and don't foresee a majority of jobs disappearing imminently. I think at several points in the past there has been talk of reducing days worked per week resulting from increased productivity, but instead all that happened was more production! The same may happen resulting from any productivity increases due to AI. I do think yet more repetitive or entry levels jobs might go sooner, this seems bad for young people for whom entry levels jobs are the early learning that leads them further. Its entirely possible that some future AIs that works as 'teams' and control real world things, including sufficiently dextrous robots, might lead to much higher job losses. There is little precedent for this - in the past industrialisation just pushed humans further up the skills and abstraction levels, but if AI starts exceeding our own limits in large part then who knows what happens next.

Finally, and more on topic, I agree there is no need to "integrate" AI in vogons, if someone wants to use it they can anyway, there is no barrier within vogons itself that needs addressing in my view

Boohyaka wrote on 2026-02-24, 06:16:

This is a retro-themed board where human interaction is a major perk. If people want to use AI externally to help with formatting their ideas, define troubleshooting steps etc.. that is more than fine and can be useful. But including it in any shape of form in message composition will inevitably increase slop and render everything just non-personal and accelerating the dead internet theory. This is one of the remaining bastions of the "good old internet" where people from all over the world exchanged knowledge and ideas on a board, and my opinion is that this should really be preserved.

Yeah and what do you do when the AI is a better human than the human. You already see studies of communication where people prefer AI to human when they don't know which one it is, and this is totally expected. Also you talk about slop but as you realize the implied producer of slop is the human, not the AI. So we can't be in a situation where the contributions are slop with AI and wonderful without AI when low effort is a characteristic of the contributors. But let's say we argue that it's inherently special preservation worthy content if humans wrote it, you have no way to exclude AI-generated text from the forum. You can remove spam, you may even remove suspected AI content but this starts being a slippery slope already, and the rest is out of your control. I think this argument only leads to where both human and AI made content is what you need to preserve, it's an amalgamation that you can't go modifying for preservational purposes.

All, this forum is for "New forum suggestions/Feedback"

To discuss so called "A.I" open a new thread in milliways so that those who want to read a topic for it have a thread to do so and the rest can ignore it.

I didn't find better place to ask this, so I put it here: Why can't I edit my posts? I'd like to edit opening post in a thread I created, but I can't edit it. Apparently others have been able to edit their posts, so is editing disabled for me for some reason, or am I just somehow missing edit button?

Mike_ wrote on Yesterday, 08:48:

I didn't find better place to ask this, so I put it here: Why can't I edit my posts? I'd like to edit opening post in a thread I created, but I can't edit it. Apparently others have been able to edit their posts, so is editing disabled for me for some reason, or am I just somehow missing edit button?

Your post count is likely still just under the threshold for allowing edits