CAPTCHAs and sign‑up quizzes annoy real people and barely slow down determined bots. As the fediverse grows, we need smarter, more humane defences, ones that don’t push away genuine newcomers. What creative, non‑intrusive ideas do you have? Trust‑based vouching, proof‑of‑humanity protocols, behavioural signals… what feels both effective and aligned with the open social web? I’m building a social media platform and I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.
I already answered the first part your question at the end of my previous comment. As to the idea that they become more useful/beneficial than actual human members, I personally find actually interacting with other humans more fulfilling than interacting with a machine in a social context, regardless of how ‘useful’ they are.
If AI gets to the point where it’s all pervasive, indistinguishable from real people, and we somehow cannot devise a way of weeding them out of online communities, I’d honestly probably just stop participating socially in public internet spaces, and instead restrict myself to private invite-only communities that do more intense vetting to ensure only humans are in that space, or participate in and help build up local mesh-networks, where people can actually meet up with who they talk to online.
That would probably mean a lot less time spent online overall, and instead going outside and finding connection with people in real life.
I think you are missing what I am trying to say: there is a significant probability we already are at this point, and I don’t think we can beat this cat-and-mouse game. If you are serious about you mean, then the only reasonable course of action is to get out of the race entirely. If more people think like you, then the scale will tips even further in favor of the bots.
All of this to say, if are so AI averse that the mere possibility of having AI around should be enough for all of us to drop this whole thing here and go back to connection only in the physical world. In a way, I wouldn’t be against the idea (maybe because I look at the internet as a source of utility and not to fulfill any emotional/social need) but on the other hand it would suck precisely because the internet can be quite useful as a tool, but its utility depends on having people around participating.