Abby Franquemont's book Respect the Spindle
A couple of days ago I posted about Abby's book and tools. Then she discovered that her book, Respect the Spindle had been used by a LLM (Large Language Modeling?) site to train AI. Without her permission, of course.
Along with hundreds of other authors who had their creative work scraped to 'train' AI. (Which isn't actually 'intelligent', just a plagiarism tool.)
So she asked it to explain how to spin fibres by hand.
The results were...cringe worthy...if you know much of anything about the subtleties of the craft of hand spinning.
Why does it matter that poor/plagiarized information will now be available about a craft that we love (because I'm quite sure weaving will also be subjected to this treatment - and there is *already* enough poor info out there - we really don't need more)?
Well, it matters *because* it's not correct. Or only marginally correct. And only by the very broadest definition.
Experts in the field of textiles have been fighting a losing battle for as long as I have been weaving, trying to provide correct information. Now we have plagiarism sites that are going to pump the nonsense out 24/7.
It isn't bad enough we get word salad from our elected 'leaders' about all sorts of things, now we are going to have word salad about so many other things, from cooking to crafting.
I see people whiffing away concerns about such sites but here's the thing: if we begin to rely on such sites for our information, we will all become progressively less informed. About *everything*. Wikipedia will become a hodge podge of word salad.
If you value *good* information about weaving, learn who is providing it. If they write books, buy them. If they offer online classes, register for them. Do *not* rely on plagiarism sites for any level of information. And don't for goodness sake, use them because they are filled with nonsense.
Plus, you know, the plagiarism thing.
Buy the actual books from the actual authors who actually know the things.
Mine are here.
Abby is here
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3 comments:
Hear, hear!
That’s very alarming.
It's bad enough that misinformation is out there because people who know 'a little' about a craft/art/skill seem to think they know it ALL. To have 'AI' (pronounced 'plagiarism') sites churning this stuff out is even worse!
StephanieW
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