Using AI to Moderate Discussion Forums

[edwaleni]

I am beginning to notice the growing use of AI to self moderate various discussion boards across the internet.

Examples:

- A recent inquiry on a laptop preference generated an AI response that my request was to broad and that I had not used the search tool adequately
- A travel site bounced a response to someone looking for advice on how to travel through Italy, the response from AI was "your reply does not meet the minimum standards set out by the forum, please review before any future posts"
- Another one was "your response does not appear to be related to the OP's original question, please review our posting standards and reconsider your reply". I assume this is to keep people from going too far off topic.

This is an interesting response in how the social framework of certain discussion forums work online.

A general "come here to talk the subject, otherwise don't come here".

Have you seen this in your surveys of the web sphere and if so were they accurate, obtrusive or just downright insulting based on what you were contributing?

And for @Max Rockatansky , I am not aware of any AI that states "the self moderation of this forum does not allow contributions with the subject of Buc-ee's, please review our forum guidelines and find another topic to contribute"   

[Max Rockatansky]

None of my off forum Facebook road groups have AI/algorithm tools activated.  I did shit can a couple folks recently for constantly sharing AI road content in two of my groups.  Having my hand on the wheel seems to be the way forward for the foreseeable future. 

Generally most of my groups have only one rule which is to "stay on topic."  What on topic is more or less is fully up to my discretion.  The way the off forum groups are managed tends to be far less bylaw heavy.  I could foresee too much talk about any business becoming an issue, but it would be a "I'll know it when I see it" kind of thing.

[kphoger]

'AI' looks too much like 'Al' for this sort of thread title to not be funny.

[CoreySamson]

I mean, I can see why some forums would want that, but that is awfully dystopian and anti-free speech. Could you imagine if the AI were set up in such a way that it regulated what certain people had to say, but let people on the opposite side of the issue say whatever they wanted?

[Max Rockatansky]

I mean, I can see why some forums would want that, but that is awfully dystopian and anti-free speech. Could you imagine if the AI were set up in such a way that it regulated what certain people had to say, but let people on the opposite side of the issue say whatever they wanted?

Road forums and groups aren't government.  To that end I don't know how much weight "free speech" has.  On Old Highway 101 any new poster has to go through admin approval for their first post.  I've filtered out manyCrash_It and P13 wannabes before they even got started that way. 

I'm aware of some Facebook groups that have admin review over everything.  Freeways of Los Angeles is like that and it is one of the better off forum road groups.  No doubt this probably is because of heavy quality control and an active admin keeping up with things. 

I don't think AI can take the place of an engaged group admin.  The algorithms don't seem be able to think and have nuance like an actual person can.

[kphoger]

Yeah, light vs heavy moderation is one thing, but human vs AI moderation is a completely different thing.

[formulanone]

'AI' looks too much like 'Al' for this sort of thread title to not be funny.

Whenever I parse AI as AL, I think: "Why am I so soft in the middle, when the rest of my life is so hard?"

It's unnecessary garbage; if people want to have a conversation with a chat bot, they should keep that to themselves.

I mean, I can see why some forums would want that, but that is awfully dystopian and anti-free speech. Could you imagine if the AI were set up in such a way that it regulated what certain people had to say, but let people on the opposite side of the issue say whatever they wanted?

I could see it in use for someone's first post, though I don't think AI is going to be able to cover every aspect of a subject (or range of subjects) with the same precision.

From past experience in moderating a much larger forum, if someone's first post is to talk about anything other than the main scope of discussion (with the exception of login/registration issues), they are 99.5% likely to be Bad News (spammer, bot, immature individual, or a formerly-banned member rejoining). That last 0.5% is a tossup between not understanding the core discussion (for example, someone joining AARoads to voice a concern about a car broken down on 15th Avenue in Slackersburg), or someone with a very weird fetish.

[LilianaUwU]

No.

[kphoger]

Whenever I parse AI as AL, I think: "Why am I so soft in the middle, when the rest of my life is so hard?"

I don't find this stuff amusing anymore, got a short little span of attention.

[Scott5114]

A slide in a presentation at IBM in 1979:

[GaryV]

A slide in a presentation at IBM in 1979:

Did a computer write that?   

Another board I am on, there is a well-known authority by the name of Al. "Al said ..." can be taken two ways.

[kphoger]

A slide in a presentation at IBM in 1979

good old helvetica amirite

[Scott5114]

A slide in a presentation at IBM in 1979

good old helvetica amirite

Complete with the letters being slightly misaligned due to the phototypesetting process. (I sort of miss that.)

[1995hoo]

'AI' looks too much like 'Al' for this sort of thread title to not be funny.

At the dinner table, our nephew once asked me to pass the "Al" (as in "You Can Call Me"). He was referring to this stuff:





.....which, in turn, is making me try to envision using that stuff to moderate a discussion forum.

[kphoger]

Hey, look, an AI storage rack...

[Big John]

Hey, look, an AI storage rack...

Acting saucy. 

[SectorZ]

Al?

[hbelkins]

'AI' looks too much like 'Al' for this sort of thread title to not be funny.

I don't think so, Tim...

[hotdogPi]

What about specific AI names? I remember when baseball player Jose Siri briefly became an AI, or at least the TV announcer saying his name activated her.

[kphoger]

I don't think so, Tim...

Tim the AI Toolman says no.

[Big John]

As Weird Al said - Eat it!

[SectorZ]

What about specific AI names? I remember when baseball player Jose Siri briefly became an AI, or at least the TV announcer saying his name activated her.

I almost died listening to this live while in the car.

[Takumi]

[LilianaUwU]

(youtube)

Do you happen to have that one Umbreon image? Imgur deleted it and it feels a bit too appropriate.

[Mr. Matté]

'AI' looks too much like 'Al' for this sort of thread title to not be funny.

At the dinner table, our nephew once asked me to pass the "Al" (as in "You Can Call Me"). He was referring to this stuff:

Your nephew is as smart as the Secretary of Education