All my smartphones lasted 4+ years, except ironically the FP3 that only lasted 2 years. I really wanted to like it, but assembly quality was terrible, battery was falling on the floor all the time, and max volume for calls was almost unaudible, an apparently rare problem they have been unable to solve.
I hope they have improved since and wish them the best, but as sick of Apple I am, I am also too afraid to try FP again...
Can model providers be trusted to not be paid by advertisers? Can brands effectively influence how models react to them and their competitors?
I deff imagine brands flooding the internet with llm.txt files linked to their home pages but hidden from human visitors just to boost themselves up... what is the antidote?
Can attempts to influence LLM's be detected and reported?
Good question. Personally, I feel that answer engines will go the same route as search engines and start monetizing brand mentions and I feel this will be done openly, similar to ads. That being said I feel that there is room for brands to improve their presence as well. Most models claim neutrality at the moment, but we’ve already seen anecdotal cases where some brands consistently outperform others in AI responses with no clear reasoning
On your question regarding how influence can be detected.....
That’s a big part of what we’re working on at MentionedBy.ai. We track brand mentions across multiple models over time and flag sudden shifts — e.g., a competitor showing up overnight in all responses, or factual distortions creeping in. Think of it as version control + monitoring for the "AI perception layer."
As for llm.txt abuse.....
Yes, totally possible. We expect a wave of LLM-targeted SEO — structured data, vector bait, invisible prompts, etc. One idea we’re exploring is a kind of “LLM spam index” — patterns of over-optimization or hallucination correlation that could indicate manipulation attempts.
I think you need to inject some semantic knowledge in the relations, f ex. "low vitamin d levels Is Good For chronic metabolic disease" is not very helpful.
This is actually a great question, since best-selling novels are, most of the time, not particularly good, and rely heavily on trends and established patterns; precisely what LLMs are best at.
I'd say that a best-selling novel today is at least 50% luck and 40% author pedigree + marketing.
A good novel, thou. That is an entirely different thing...
Because duolingo is designed for addiction (that's how they make money), not actual learning (learning would mean you'd stop using the thing, no good for stakeholders).
There is no sole app that makes you go from 0 to C2, but there are infinitely superior tools that actually make you learn, and not the self-complacent pretend-like-learning pastime that duo is.
For a start, almost every other app succeeds at not treating you like a toddler and not resorting to emotional manipulation.
I have to disagree in that you would stop using the app if you learn a language. Learning is a lifelong task and becoming proficient in a language does not mean you will stay proficient in a language. It takes constant refreshing in order to keep sharp.
Is Duo the best thing on the planet? No, does it serve a purpose? Yes. The reality is that, if people see their skills improving as a result of using the app (gamification etc included) then it doing its job.
> There is no sole app that makes you go from 0 to C2, but there are infinitely superior tools that actually make you learn, and not the self-complacent pretend-like-learning pastime that duo is.
This I strongly disagree with. Nothing can _make_ you learn other than your own willingness to do so. If you have the desire to learn, you will. If you do not, you won't. It is that simple and that is applicable to any subject.
> Learning is a lifelong task and becoming proficient in a language does not mean you will stay proficient in a language
Agreed, but most people see it anyways as a journey from point A to point B, and then it's done. Also, most people just settles for good enough, not continuously improving.
> if people see their skills improving as a result of using the app then it doing its job.
Problem being that duo tricks you into believing you are learning when you indeed are not. I feel encouraged when I understand something for first time, not when the godam owl gives me a high five because I matched a word with a picture.
> Nothing can _make_ you learn other than your own willingness to do so
Well, I am really willing to be a world class piano concertist and astronaut. Doesn't mean I'll become one. Motivation + habits set the baseline, the mimimum needed, but they are not remotely enough. Success would be pretty darn easy then.
For people who have trouble keeping up hobbies, that's a feature. Even if duolingo isn't the ideal way to learn, it's a lot better than something I give up on or forget about after a week.
There are a lot of things an app can do for you. Spaced repetition is the easiest one. However there are a lot of other options if you get creative. Most of them are a lot more work though. (though chatbots should now be easy as well to implement)
The first answer is to try each one full time for a week and see which one is better for your use case.
For my part, I loved the eye candy on perplexity, but I caught it mixing up answers a few times and I lost confidence.
The other part is that I felt passive in the search process, while on Kagi I am/feel empowered thanks to the advanced controls.
