AI Came To Take My Job. Here’s How I Responded

I haven’t been on YouTube in a few years, but then again, I don’t do social media either so

I'm sorry that AI is creating anxiety in your camp, Fraser. Disruptive technologies are so heartless. And I can understand your unwillingness to allow it to create content. I've only just begun dipping my toe in AI by asking it technical questions about orbital mechanics for a scifi book I'm writing. I get correct answers of course, but I also get unrequested gushing compliments about how clever by book idea is, and whether I would like suggestions, and even if it can comment on the first chapter. It has a creepy "let me into your life" feel about it that raises my hackles. Its easy going language is quite seductive, and could easily win over gullible minds. I'm reminded of a new religion trying to embed on gullible minds. Keep up your excellence. Your content is extraordinary.

Generative AI is just another tool to learn and use responsibly. Unless you are crafting a 'hand-made' product, and that is part of your brand, then lean into AI and let it help you create your products while you maintain your authenticity—just my two cents. Fraser, I love your business model - those who can afford to contribute can, and those who cannot still benefit. Knowledge is too important not to be shared with as many people as possible.

I think AI-as-journalist is extremely dangerous, no matter how good it is at the job. Every journalist has bias; it's unavoidable when you're boiling down the infinite complexity of real-world events into a narrative you can quickly communicate to others. You can only obtain so much information about an event, and then you have to pick and choose which facts you believe are important and which are not. So it's important for a jornalist to examine, acknowledge, and admit their biases, and AI is absolutely terrible at that. At best, you don't know what its bias might be (but it's likely to be similar to the biases of whatever it was trained on) and at worst it'll select and expand on the most sensational and salacious details since that's what generates clicks and the machine has no conscience or standards. The process of basic research on the topic is the most important part, and if that's outsourced to the machine, how can a journalist have any confidence that they're even being presented with the facts they would have selected to focus on?

Great insights, thank you.

After having it for 3+ years I cancelled my YouTube premium subscription because the quality has just degraded. Now I’m bombarded with ads so not really using YouTube much anymore. Is funny I haven’t been using Patreon even though I’ve pledged since you had that backup fail, scary stuff. Such a better platform.

Thank you so much! I love listening to your videos and I just can’t budget a subscription at this time. I appreciate everything you do for the listeners! Keep it up don’t sell out.

It’s a tool and has its proper uses. Unfortunately, the biggest tool manufacturers are wildly unethical.

I stopped putting comments into places like YT or any other "social" like sites. When you don't know who is an AI bot and who isn't, it becomes much simpler to disengage. Life improves. Pretty soon (if not already!) the AI bots will take over the comments and will be entirely chatting amongst themselves. Glad to be a patron of yours.

It's true AI has its pros and cons. I strictly use AI for research on something I'm writing about. It's convenient and saves a lot of time. I NEVER use it to write something for me. We lose something within ourselves when we allow AI to be the content creators. I absolutely hate the AI slope now infesting platforms such as YouTube. There's a growing trend of people getting tired of the AI slop, which hopefully will force the social media companies to do something about it.

I'm a wanna-be Luddite (Smash the Machines, say I!). But I found myself appealing to ChatGTP for something a few days ago, and the response it provided was... useful. We're in that romantic era where AI seems to do everything that seemed impossible before. It is only in the past year that it has progressed beyond patently made-up falsehoods. It has its place in pattern recognition anywhere man's limited grasp of masses of data holds us back. But I appreciate Fraser's perspective on how to use it and how to recognize the worst abuses. I screen what I watch now more carefully, choosing things that appear to be actual people with actual interests, not attention-candy with bombastic titles.

i connect on a intellectual and emotional level with videos and love listening to the unique personality of the human giving a talk, eccenticities and humour. AI videos are souless and purley narration of excisting opinion, no new ideas and conjecture. boring AI. if utube fills its options with Ai slop then i will be leaving it .

another platform!, I’m like a single cell platform organism 😺

what’s this now now 🤔

Wow 😮

l for one like to watch videos like these with real people in them. And fortunately, 9/10 times l can tell if it's an Al video almost immediately. There have been times where l'll watch a 15 minute or so video and 2/3 of the way through it, l'll realise it's Al rubbish and immediately turn it off.

A new convention ought to be mandated to have AI content clearly identified

Personally, I'm getting pretty ticked off at youTube. A lot of times I don't know if I'm watching AI slop or the real thing, the after a while you kind of get a hint that you are watching an AI generated person narrating. Also, all the ads. It's constant, it's aggravating. This is why I support you, Fraser. Plus, you're a Vancouver Island homeboy.

I remember my brother excitedly showing off his new Win95 machine, I was skeptical. My biz ran just fine with Lotus 1-2-3 on green screen XT clones. Despite my skepticism things started moving quickly after that, with all sorts of unforeseen consequences. I feel that we are just at that early point today with AI. Big money will be made and lost and the future being written is almost unrecognizably different than what we imagine today.

I totally agree with what you are saying about AI. I might be in my senior years but like you I am not against modern technology but I do hate the slop. As long as there are people with good principles like yourself I will try to support you on patrion. Just keep up the good work and thank you for giving us access to real journalism from real people.

AI is a giant grifting machine designed to funnel money to the billionaire class that runs the AI companies. It has accelerated the decline of YouTube.

Just discovered you today and joined as a patron. Interesting to hear the impact of AI and good for you embracing alternative funding models. Your content is well paced, very informative and I look forward to uncovering past and future podcasts.

Fraser and team, please keep up your excellent work your all doing, keeping us all updated with all the Space science stories etc you provide for your keen viewers !! 😀

Keep the great work going

Regarding Nebula, I'm considering paying for subscription there, but my question is: do they offer the option where you have your content both outside and on their platform? If so, it could be an acquisition channel for you, more content for them, and people will have the content they want wherever they prefer.

Fraser, as long as I'm able to I will support you. When I see stuff like The Universe of Richard Feynman on YouTube, I don't have to think, I Know it's AI. Some isn't slop but I don't trust it, either. I've gone back to books, largely. But creators like you have my support, too.

Love your content, so grateful. Tho i stick to your patreon channel, I actually use the little menu on Youtube to hell them "not interested" Whenever they show Ai slop. Even on channels i used to like when it turns into spam-level trash content. Btw, most Newsletters unsubscribed,the remaining two are universe today and the onion. Gotta laugh sometimes... Cheers from Germany!

As a new content creator moving from a blog to Paetron because I love the site and what it has to offer, I find as I look around many today want to create fast and furiously to bring in money. I think you didn't mention that one thing I have found is that by being true to your voice and being authentic, you actually really connect with people and do it in a genuine way. I am recently retired, so this is a labor of love for me, and it lets me share my interest in both astronomy and observing, however, it takes a lot longer for me as 1 person to create content than someone just posting AI. The key for me is a comment I had recently on a post: "Oh my gosh! A real person and no AI?" That made my day. I'll probably never get rich doing this, and that is not my intent, it is to just share my love of both the hobby and science of astronomy. Thanks for what you do Fraser. Universe Today I listen to all the time and love it . Keep it going.

Please keep on producing quality content if for nothing else then to provide excellent training materials for the AI.

This reminded me a tiny bit of Mark Carney’s speech at Davos.

I've been following Universe Today for a couple years. I've always really appreciated how clean and focused the content. I'm really glad everyone can get the same ad-free experience now. Your work will always matter because the truth matters. I really believe your publications will be a valuable resource for centuries to come.

You just convinced me. Although, I still think you should have a shop on chopshopstore.com ;)

Fraser, you're an excellent content creator and your altruistic decision to offer it for free is praiseworthy. I'm still subscribed to your Patreon. I appreciate most of all, the emphasis on fact. KUTGW !

I’ve accepted that, as a consumer of information and entertainment, I need to budget in order to access quality. I still browse “free” media sources, but I deliberately limit that time so I can devote my very valuable attention to things that truly matter to me. We need to actively patronize creators who deliver real quality. Over the next five years, buying information and entertainment will mean more than simply signing up for a few social media or streaming accounts. Cutting through the noise and being intentional about where we spend our money, but also our time and attention, is becoming increasingly important.

The only time I use YouTube anymore is to answer your survey every week. So AI has changed me also.

I can’t imagine a world without your content. Just glad you’re tenacious, Frazer. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

I can't stand the AI slop that has taken over YouTube so in support of authentic human content especially regarding space news, I am proud to have become a supporter here on Patreon.

A thought.... If this new model of giving answers instead of taking someone to a page leads to pages disappearing.... Where will the AI answers come from? Sounds like a bad bussiness model when you eat all the capital.