I think the author is onto something. but (s)he didn’t highlight that there are some scenarios where factual accuracy is unimportant, or maybe even a detractor.
for example, fictional stories. If you want to be entertained and it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not, there’s no downsides to “hallucinations”. you could argue that stories ARE hallucinations.
another example is advertisements. what matters is how people perceive them, not what’s actually true.
or, content for a political campaign.
the more i think about it, genAI really is a perfect match for social media companies
Have you ever see how much work is spent on writing a novel? Even a short one? Character and world building are not easy and require very logical reasoning even if the premise are imaginary. You can say something is humans then give it three hands in the next sentence.
the social media platforms already measure more than enough signals to understand a users likely age. they could be required by law to do something about it
This last line explains what’s bothered me about the convenient pickup-order trend at restaurants.
The whole point of going to a restaurant is luxury. I find myself turned off by restaurants that I loved before but cheapened themselves after covid.
I don’t want to eat out of plastic bowls with plastic forks. If this is going to be about efficiency, it is no longer about luxury and I don’t want to do it anymore.
Once the focus becomes convenience, the restaurant begins to undermine itself and accidentally starts to complete with more convenient (and cheaper) alternatives like readymade meals at the grocery store or fast food.
Edit: I should also add that going to a restaurant with a group of friends, sharing a meal together, and paying attention to one another - this makes restaurants somewhat of an attention luxury good.
totally agree with what dang posted here; obvious nitpicks aren’t worth discussing. it’s refreshing to see that principle on HN.
I also want to add another thought to that: I’m so glad howtomakesenseofanymess.com exists, warts and all. I’d much rather it exist in some imperfect form than not exist at all.
We ought to be more accepting of good and imperfect creations, because that encourages creativity. We need more of this!
people forget why users search - to find what they are looking for. as the saying goes, “No one wants a drill, they want a quarter inch hole.”
the first time i realized Google had a problem was when i used ChatGPT to search for Youtube videos, and compared to Youtube’s search, it was an order of magnitude easier to find the exact videos i was looking for.
Hallucinations are not a problem in a query like this, because i have what i need to evaluate the results: did i find interesting Youtube videos to watch? did i find what i was looking for?
generally speaking, users seek to minimize the effort required to achieve their goals.
I'm convinced something like this will happen one day, probably more than once. If Facebook is the "McDonald's" market segment (the widely popular, wildly unhealthy option), there will eventually be a segment of the market where there is unrelenting demand for a significantly healthier product. Like this: https://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurants/photos/healthy-fast-...
The "health food" of social media will be a product category where there will be market share to capture and whoever gets it right will be rewarded. Those users, like the health nuts of today, will know what there are looking for.
PLUS they double dip as they get extra search traffic for their brand from people trying to find the video
the forbidden fruit is more enticing