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.
I agree you don’t know if the AI is working in your your best interest. But at the same time you don’t know if the person answering your StackOverflow question, is acting in your best interest either. They could just be racking up SO points to unlock more mod powers.
If you’re saying that AI centralizes power, then I agree with you.