Reaching the End/Event Horizon of LLM Slop
Informational "event horizon"; no further resources thrown at the task will mitigate or ameliorate things as version inflation alone boils down to marketing, not substance
LLMs produce worthless junk at high volumes or at a rapid pace. They waste a lot of energy, which is already becoming scarce and expensive, to do state-of-the-art plagiarism with unreliable output that cannot be corrected.
Whose creepy idea was it to advertise LLMs as "intelligence"? Artificial ignorance is not intelligence and LLMs lack comprehension of inputs and outputs.
We've meanwhile noticed that yet again, maybe for the fifth day in a row, Google News produced results without slopfarms. It seems incredibly likely that it's not a matter of fortune; Google News seems to be cracking down on (delisitng) slopfarms. We saw "MX Linux Pushes Back Against Age Verification" in linuxjournal.com (via RSS feeds), "Linux Support Isn't Free" in linuxsecurity.com (same) and LLM slop promoting Microsoft restrictions at linuxteck.com. These are slopfarms, but they are barely visible to anybody. These are zombie sites experimenting with LLMs. Google loses interest in them.
Meanwhile Microsoft issues this admission that LLMs are good for nothing but "entertainment". Some publishers have taken note:
Last night in IRC Ryan quoted: "Microsoft has clarified in its terms that Copilot is intended “for entertainment purposes only,” warning users not to rely on it for important or real-world advice. Microsoft made this clarification in its official Copilot terms, stating: “Copilot is for entertainment purposes only. It can make mistakes, and it may not work as intended. Don’t rely on Copilot for important advice. Use Copilot at your own risk.” The company emphasized that users should treat the tool as experimental and avoid depending on it for critical decisions.""
MinceR then "wonder[ed] how many businesses pay a recurring fee so that their workers have continued access to copilot "for entertainment purposes only" and how many of them force their workers to use it regularly..."
We believe that Microsoft too recognises that being called Microslop and being blasted for slop "everywhere" is hurting it. That's bad for business. It certainly does repel Windows users. It also introduces legal risk, which was always inherent and is costing a lot of money to slop companies (liability for suicides, for examples).
Are we moving towards a post-LLMs world? A sharp ride in energy prices and the cost of computer components can help or lead towards this. █