A friend is pissy about Calibre adding A.I. into this ebook manager so they are creating a new fork called Clbre, because the A.I. is being stripped out.

https://github.com/grimthorpe/clbre

#AI #AISlop #Calibre #eBook #eBookManager

Definitely read this whole thread about the eBook manager calibre adding AI slop to "chat with books", and why that's a horrible move that immediately destroys trust in calibre. Here are some highlights I especially appreciated:

Here, Calibre, in one release, went from a tool readers can use to, well, read, to a tool that fundamentally views books as textureless content, no more than the information contained within them. Anything about presentation, form, perspective, voice, is irrelevant to that view. Books are no longer art, they're ingots of tin to be melted down.

It is completely irrelevant to me whether this new slopware is opt-in or opt-out. Its mere presence and endorsement fundamentally undermines that stance, that it is good, actually, if readers and authors can exist in relationship to each other without also being under the control of a extractive mindset that sees books as mere vehicles, unimportant as artistic works in and of themselves.

Ughhhh, et tu calibre?

New features
- Allow asking AI questions about any book in your calibre library. Right click the "View" button and choose "Discuss selected book(s) with AI"
- AI: Allow asking AI what book to read next by right clicking on a book and using the "Similar books" menu
- AI: Add a new backend for "LM Studio" which allows running various AI models locally

Definitely read this whole thread about the eBook manager calibre adding AI slop to "chat with books", and why that's a horrible move that immediately destroys trust in calibre. Here are some highlights I especially appreciated:

Here, Calibre, in one release, went from a tool readers can use to, well, read, to a tool that fundamentally views books as textureless content, no more than the information contained within them. Anything about presentation, form, perspective, voice, is irrelevant to that view. Books are no longer art, they're ingots of tin to be melted down.

It is completely irrelevant to me whether this new slopware is opt-in or opt-out. Its mere presence and endorsement fundamentally undermines that stance, that it is good, actually, if readers and authors can exist in relationship to each other without also being under the control of a extractive mindset that sees books as mere vehicles, unimportant as artistic works in and of themselves.