I'm putting this post out as a warning to my fellow blogging buddies.
Perhaps you don't need it, or want it or even care about it, but the subject matter has been bothering me more and more over the past few weeks ... and it is really ramping up.
The subject is AI.
Perhaps you have been quietly deleting comments that seemed a little strange for a while, I know I have. They don't quite ring true, and when you click on the name of the poster it does actually take you to a blog or occasionally a website that could be deemed quite harmless. But, when my gut tells me something is not right I follow my instincts and I check things out for myself.
The first time I felt that something was off was when I wrote about something to do with Mum's bungalow and a comment came back saying how wonderful it looked ... it did, but I hadn't shared a photo of it at that stage!!
To protect myself and my readers who might click on commenters names, I now have an AI Detector installed on my computer and phone so that I can check them out for myself, and virtually all the comments over the past few weeks that I was doubtful of have come back as 100% chance of being AI generated. The one I was unsure of came back as 56% chance ... enough for that also to be deleted I'm afraid.
It's easy to check comments out by simply copying and pasting the comment into the checker and you get an immediate reading of the likelihood of it being AI. I did a check on a couple of my blogging buddies comments as a balance to see how effective this tool was ... and you will be glad to know Sooze that you are most definitely not AI. 😄
I hope this helps someone, or that you find it useful going forward. Has anyone else been quietly deleting unusual comments?
Sue xx
AI is so insidious. I've had some dodgy comments which I didn't recognise so I deleted them. I've not installed a detector yet though
ReplyDeleteI felt slightly guilty deleting some which just seemed a bit 'off', but when they commented again yesterday and I checked them out they were definitely AI ... phew!
DeleteDo you know, Sue, that comment of yours is the first thing to have made me laugh in a while! All I can say is that if I was AI generated, I'd be a very poor example of it hahaha!
ReplyDeleteOh and yes, I have deleted quite a few odd comments recently, which didn't seem to directly relate to my blog posts. Thanks for this Sue.
DeleteI'm happy to hear that I made you laugh. A laugh a day keeps the doldrums away, or so my Nana taught me. ❤️
DeleteOh, and I should add ... you'd be a poor AI, but only because you are a good human. ❤️
DeleteThanks for the link Sue and I’ll use it on anything dubious that I read. Catriona
ReplyDeleteIt's always worth a quick check if you're ever in doubt. 🙂
DeleteI did notice the strange comments about your Mum's bungalow but I admit I hadn't thought of AI. I just thought they were touting for business. What a strange and scary world we are heading into. No wonder so many people don't know what to believe any more. How do you explain to young children that so much of what they are seeing and reading is AI and designed to manipulate them?
ReplyDeleteIt's very good of you to post the link to the app that you've found.
I wouldn't know where to begin to explain it to a child. I guess school lessons will be very different in the coming years. 🤔
DeleteOh Er! that's a bit spooky. I've not noticed any odd comments except for obvious spam rubbish, but thank you for the info. I shall add that website and check anything I notice now
ReplyDeleteYes, there's the usual spam too, they were touting holidays to Delhi this morning. 😄
DeleteThanks so much for this tip Sue.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure. 🙂
DeleteOh my golly. AI has me spooked anyway but I never thought of it invading our blogs. Thanks so much for the tip Sue. I've always deleted what I thought was spam but this is a whole new ball game. And this is only the beginning....
ReplyDeleteAngie x
PS so pleased to find that Sooze is human!! lol !!
Haha ... so am I, and so is she. :-)
DeleteGood grief. Thanks for this information. As someone who doesn't have a blog or is on any other social media, I hadn't given much thought to AI leaving comments. One never knows just how insidious this technology will be/is--basically hard to know what is real these days. I do follow one rule now (living in the US): I believe NOTHING that is posted on US government websites. I look for sources of information outside of the US. Sad days, indeed.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as though you are being very sensible. It's not a good feeling to have to live in a mind-state of distrust is it. But always better safe than sorry.
DeleteI think the ones I found strange ended up in Spam. But I'll pay closer attention now. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIf in any doubt that is always a good option.
DeleteI don’t understand anything about AI and don’t have a blog but I’m a proper old lady living in a small village and have read your various blogs for years. It must be very unnerving to receive such strange comments. Sandra.
ReplyDeleteIt was a bit disconcerting, I think that would be the word, and yes slightly unnerving. Reading a comment that has pulled out so much from a blog post, that's full of praise for what I've said, but then something just doesn't quite ring true.
DeleteThank you for the link to the AI detector.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, we have to look out for each other. 🙂
DeleteThank you for alerting us, Sue. I shall be more aware going forwards.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely pays to be aware of this doesn't it.
DeleteAI has been bothering me for awhile as well. Thanks for the link to that AI detector. I will definitely be using it in the future.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
It's quite scary isn't it, it's like the worst bits of our childhood sci-fi films are actually happening. 🫤
DeleteI'm certainly worried about AI 😟
ReplyDeleteI think we should all be concerned, it's creeping into lots of areas of our lives. ☹️
DeleteI'm thinking your AI detector has eaten a couple of my previous comments 😱 Oh dear I hope I'm not coming across as spam !
ReplyDeleteIt definitely hasn't, your comments are always published. I have to physically copy and paste to check for AI. Your comments that didn't immediately publish were on a post that was more than three days old, which means they come to me for authorisation before they are published. 🙂
DeleteI've been a little behind of late and I didn't realise you had to approve any late comments, sorry for that Sue
DeleteIt's not a problem at all, don't worry. It's just a simple click of the button for me to publish, it's just so I can catch any Spam comments which usually come through on old posts, they try and wheedle their way in on posts that are a few days old.
DeleteI've quietly deleted several comments from my blog in recent weeks. But thanks for this link, Sue. Xx
ReplyDeleteThey have been slow ramping up just recently. What with Spam and now AI, we have to keep an eye on things.
DeleteIt's funny because I read that comment saying how good the bungalow looked and scrolled back through your post to see if I had missed a link to it. I wondered how they knew how it looked when I couldn't see anything myself. Then you showed the videos and I checked them out and commented on the next post.
ReplyDeleteWell spotted, I too scrolled back to see if I shared a photo ... duh, you'd think I would remember!! So it was that which set off alarm bells.
DeleteI get so few comments (mind you, I don't post very regularly) I'd be happy with some AI ones!! :-) I have downloaded the checker though, so thank you for that! Coincidentally I had just written a slightly whimsical post about AI pictures and then I come to read your warning!
ReplyDeleteIt funny when coincidences like that happen isn't it, it's happening to me a lot just recently.
DeleteAI comments are not good to leave up as they can link to sites that you don't want your readers to go to for their ... and your own ... future online safety.
Thanks for that link, Sue! I can cope with those annoying AI comments in Blogland, they're annoying but easy to delete.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm not so happy about is the use of AI in the music industry, its believed that Jon and his fellow artists stand to lose around a quarter of their incomes in the next few years. xxx
Yes, they are easy to delete, we have to watch out though as the latest wave are looking ore and more like 'real' comments, it's getting very clever.
DeleteThe industry that I have just come out of is seeing AI as a much bigger threat for both national and international security.
Goodness. As I have not blogged for so long I had no idea this was happening. I am not impressed with where AI is heading - and Vix is absolutely right - all artists stand to be badly affected by this.
ReplyDeleteThe AI debate makes me think of Oppenheimer and the problems we now have with nuclear material, when being a grumbling Luddite I am often known to moan "just because we can, does not necessarily mean we should"
Exactly that ... "just because we can, does not necessarily mean we should". I am grateful that I have now retired from the industry you mention, the potential for AI to destabilise the world is huge.
Delete