We are exposed to a much narrower range of knowledge through AI chatbots than through a basic web search. This is documented by a new study led by the University of Copenhagen. As more and more of us turn to AI chatbots for information, researchers warn that the risk of ‘knowledge collapse’ increases.
There are a lot of reasons to hate AI, I don’t really buy into this one. “New technology only captures a subset of knowledge” is just not a new issue, and fearmongering around it is not new either.
I would be concerned about language collapse (i.e. models incrementally forget vocabulary + fail to adapt to new terms leading to language becoming incrementally worse) before I would worry about knowledge collapse, and I’m not that worries about language collapse.
Well, unlike you, experts are worried. Consider how knowledge is gathered, stored, and disseminated. AI interferes with each of these steps in dramatic ways.
Fortunately I have media literacy and know that the existence of someone marketing a scary narrative doesn’t actually provide any credibility. I can read scary headlines and pass it through the “does the make sense?” filter before getting worried.
I agree the friction + manipulation that LLMs introduce is troubling, but “knowledge collapse” is the extreme end of that concern.
Do you think Terrance Tao (who’s been sanguine on AI) and all the other top mathematicians on the planet succinctly explaining how LRMs are going to decimate our understanding of mathematics are marketing something?
You’re an ignoramus whose tiny dregs of insight can survive virtually cataclysm. I’m not so sure about humanity’s larger domain of shared knowledge.