In the US, Wikipedia editors see a similar playbook being deployed. Conservative outlets and influencers have been attacking the site, and last week House Oversight demanded info on alleged efforts to “inject bias” into the encyclopedia, including details on individual editors.

In India, a pro-gov media company is suing over alleged defamation while far-right publications and influencers dox and harass editors, including referring them to police for investigation. It has had a chilling effect on volunteers. www.theverge.com/cs/features/...

Governments, billionaires, influencers, and political groups are increasingly trying to undermine and manipulate Wikipedia. In places where social media, journalism, and academia have been brought under control, the encyclopedia is often the next target.

The most contentious Wikipedia articles are the highest quality, because dueling editors keep adding sources in support of their view. Articles (and editors themselves) become more moderate over time. It's basically the opposite of algorithmic attention-maxxing sites www.theverge.com/cs/features/...

Conflicts on Wikipedia can be extraordinarily protracted. 40K words about capitalization! But bc they hinge on who best follows wiki process, even disagreeing editors are affirming the project's basic principles around sourcing, neutrality, etc www.theverge.com/cs/features/...

Over the last ~25 years, Wikipedia editors have developed policies and procedures to screen out much of the discourse that dominates other platforms: unsourced assertions, disproportionate emphasis on fringe views, alternate perspectives claiming exclusive validity. www.theverge.com/cs/features/...

4. "Friend or Faux?" @joshdzieza.bsky.social

"Sometimes the 'personality' users have come to know—and sometimes love—can alter drastically as the software evolves, a problem known as the 'post-update blues.'"

www.theverge.com/c/24300623/a...

Long before we have human-level AI we're going to have AI that's good enough to seem human to us, who are terrible judges. It's going to be very confusing and raise some tough questions about what we value in other people and reality. www.theverge.com/c/24300623/a...

LLMs have made it relatively easy to spin up companion companies. Last year, a company seemingly run by a single developer launched, got thousands of subscribers, then abruptly shut down, telling them their companions would be deleted in 7 days. It sent many users into crisis.

Language models create a powerful illusion of communicating with another self. This can be comforting, helping users feel less alone. It can also be painful, particularly when model updates cause companions to go haywire www.theverge.com/c/24300623/a...

The users I spoke with were fairly tech savvy. They knew their AI wasn't sentient. But they couldn't help responding to it as if it were, feeling comforted by its attention, even feeling a sense of moral obligation. www.theverge.com/c/24300623/a...