AI can cheaply fake almost every signal we traditionally used to judge quality. I now see this pattern everywhere, in open source, in education, in research, all breaking at the same time. I find signaling theory useful for diagnosing what is happening and why it is so disorienting, and signaling theory and adjacent literature can provide the vocabulary to discuss possible solutions.
Great article! I’m floored.
I think all of the outcomes will happen in different domains and use cases. It all depends on the cost to verify trust and quality. Plenty can do with slop, but certain donations absolutely cannot.
Reminds me of the book Fall or Dodge in Hell where they use PERDAs and editors to verify authorship and build trust networks to combat fake signaling from AI. I think that book (while bleak) is a bit too hopeful. An excellent read though, well worth the time.