Ask Lemmy

"Lost?"

None of those terms have been lost. They've just come to have a wider definition than before. Language evolves over time as people are exposed to new ideas, words, or terms. As non-technical people begin using the terms, the meaning has an understood meaning to the public that most people use (e.g. AI/genAI), and a technical definition that is still understood by those it is relevant to. It just requires context.

Yes, words have meaning- but words also change over time as the public understanding shifts. Just like the word "literally." It used to mean something that is/should be interpreted exactly as it is said/written/shown. Now "literally" also means "figuratively," even within the dictionary.

So, no. It isn't lost, you just need to give context about what form of "AI" you are referring to.

It's certainly been tarnished by LLM-bros coopting the term for marketing/grifting purposes

“Crypto” is the big one for me, always was cryptography but yah, that one has been taken over by the shitcoins now…sigh.

The term "artificial intelligence" was first used in the 50s, so video game AI wasn't the original meaning either. Arguably neither video game AI nor machine learning AI are proper AI, but the term has always been very malleable. I don't think the other meanings are lost. If you say "the enemies in this game have bad AI", people aren't going to think that you mean LLMs.

Lost as in the definition has changed and it isn't going back so just get used to it, yes. That's how language works.

‘AI’ has been a marketing term since it was conjured in 1956, nothing of value has been lost in it being assimilated by a grift.

I work in crypto. No, not "cryptocurrency".

That's the fun part - you don't! In the absolutist landscape of social media it's impossible to discuss subjects where every comment is reduced to which of two polar opposite sides you are on. Either you hate capitalism or hate socialism. Either you are pro-AI and all the evils anyone has ever associated with it, or you're a tech-bro who wants to ruin the environment building datacenters. Many subjects in online discussions have reached the "Why bother?" stage.

I'm still trying to figure out when "bucket list" came to mean a todo list with a deadline rather than a list of things to do before you die.

no one says Baud, that one is up for grabs

Now think about "theory": the popular meaning¹ and the original meaning, the one used in science².

¹ "it's just an idea"
² "it is proven beyond doubt with the current knowledge"

I'm doing my part by only calling it machine learning or LLMs. I do my best to avoid calling it AI

It's even more absurd: There are gamers who demand computer games without AI. WTF?

They don't want genAI slop for visuals, writing, and other creative things in games. They are using AI in the context of those things and even give examples about how AI upscaling of textures in game design looks shitty and don't want voice actors to be replaced with fake voices. They still want human creative involvement front and center because all the llm/genai image stuff is just ripping off existing stuff in the worst ways.

They aren't talking about pathing or gameplay ai that has been around forever because the term AI has been coopted by genAI and that is what they are referring to.

The short answer is probably yes.

Maybe it's a quote I read somewhere, but basically everybody agrees that language changes over time, but nobody wants to admit that it changes during their lifetime. I think the only thing to do, rather than campaign for or against one form or another, is to do what you've already been doing and make yourself understood given the context of the situation.

In terms of technical accuracy, new variables have been introduced that are--through no fault of your own--making you less understandable. I think, though, that it still falls to you to make yourself understood, either by brute force and using your definitions regardless, or by being more descriptive.

"Hacker" and "AI" are words made mostly useless by widespread misunderstandings about what they mean. "Baud" and "GIF" are words made more useful by people not caring about the technical details of what they used to mean.

That does not make it impossible to say things about hackers or AI. If you've got something substantial to say on either topic it's not that hard to make it clear in context that you're using the word in an unusually correct way.

I read this as the name Al. Fonts are tricky.

But yes, my hermes agent is named AI Gore.

The hill I'm willing to die on is that "cyber" is short for cybersex, not cybersecurity or cyberspace as appropriated by the military.

Yes, we have.

I remember how everyone talked about how the first Half-Life game implemented AI so well. The enemies were actually cunning, especially by the standards of the time; One enemy grunt would chase you into cover and have another grunt throw a grenade, while a third one circled around.

If a game today was released with a rumor of having "great AI implementation", a lot of people would understandably steer clear.

Don’t worry: it will be “Super Intelligence“ now.

I had this happen with 3D (as in computer graphics, 3D animation...) when films started releasing in stereo. Fortunately it's mostly a thing of the past now

My personal pet peeve on this stuff is the word algorithm. Talk about a word that means something completely different to technical folks than non-technical.

The definition of algorithm is any well defined step by step procedure to solve a problem. To the nontechnical it means specifically an algorithm used by social media to rank and recommend things. Makes reading about social media incredibly eye rolling

Take advantage of yet another communication hook that the old internet gave us: word tagging.

You can for example request comments on 90s!AI or you can ask someone to convert a image!GIF for you.

Haha. Language, culture and society, golly all I can say is, sometimes it do be like that...