Discussion
RE: https://mastodon.acm.org/@ACM/116929782094395296
This is the weirdest request for input that I've seen in a while. It's almost like the ACM is sitting at the table with the "change my mind" sign.
So, let's do it.
Short thread with the input I gave them:
Well, I will not be renewing.
SIGMOBILE's not worth it.
@emilymbender I asked them what the rush is.
At least wait a few years, until the investment bubble bursts, and their members can afford computers again and then methodically—and with the involvement of their members—very carefully plan what to do (if anything).
@emilymbender I already asked ACM to stop sending me their subordination to LLM companies disguised as e-mail invitations to seminars.
Large language models, used these days primarily to produce synthetic text, are a scourge on our information ecosystem. The role of the ACM and other scholarly organizations is to curate and produce and archive scholarly work. This should extend to being good stewards of the information ecosystem and not colluding with the powers actively polluting it.
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People who are enthralled by the fantasy of "AI" would have you believe that providing good text to their LLMs will help them be more "accurate" or "smarter" etc. That somehow the issue here is "garbage in garbage out". But that was only ever a one-way implication. High quality data in still gets us garbage out with LLMs used to synthesize text, because in doing so they make papier-mâché of their input.
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@emilymbender ooh, I haven't seen LLM output referred to as "papier mâché" before. Very evocative of the process that creates it. Just got to remember where the accents go, and then it can become my new go-to.
Beyond that, I expect all professional organizations to stand for good citational practice and care with information provenance. The use of LLMs (and related tech) ruptures such systems. When the papier-mâché that comes out contains something that someone finds to be a good idea, they are cut off from understanding it in its source context.
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I urge the ACM to look at its values (e.g. as encoded in the Code of Conduct) and ask: how do we stand for those values in the faces of pressure from wealthy interests?
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