I've been thinking about LLM generated alt text on here.
With the best will in the world, it would take an enormous effort to match the descriptive power that LLMs can generate in a second.
I always, always alt text my images. And sometimes there's an opportunity to slip something amusing or genuinely useful in there.
But generally, I think folks with sight difficulties would appreciate a better description than I could manage in the one-minute shit-toot that many of my toots are made of.
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@LyallMorrison @essjax very true, but you can put the first paragraph in the main toot, and the technical description in the alt text?
Your thoughts on this are welcome. Especially if you got dodgy eyes and whatnot.
LLM-generated alt-text is usually obvious because AIs waste words describing unnecessary incidental background features. Sure it's a description, but it lacks soul.
On the other hand, human generated alt-text provides each of us with the opportunity to complement our posts with additional information. Done well, it can add another layer of meaning and sometimes some bonus humour.
Thanks to everyone who takes the time to write their own alt-text. You're the good guys.
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While not LLM-related, my poor old eyes are becoming increasingly dodgy and I wish to record how much I despise the current fashion of using mid-grey text on a light grey background. Text which is quite readable to 20 year old eyes quickly becomes mush after your eyes have clocked up seventy years of daily use. Why anyone would choose to make their writing deliberately inaccessible is beyond me.
Communication should never fall victim to style.
@essjax from the perspective of a search engine specialist, AI descriptions usually look like junk to me even if they're technically very detailed.
It's more informative to talk about what the picture is communicating and what it means in context than to exhaustively list it's contents.
Compare:
A brightly lit photograph of a sandy beach. An adult Golden Retriever dog faces to the right. Residential buildings are visible to the left.
Playing fetch on the beach with Hector, the Best Boy last summer. The random pink tennis ball we found at the park is his favourite