By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 21/09/2026To look upon an AI-generated text or image is to look upon a thing that was *extruded*, not chosen. You *can* slip and prompt an AI-generated image of a sunset, and it will embody no intentionality on anyone's part. 1404
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 21/09/2026This isn't something we have experience with. When we see a painting, we reflexively interpret it as having a painter. When we read a book, we reflexively impute auctorial intent to its words. When we converse, we reflexively form a theory about the mind directing the other half of the conversation. 2321
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 21/09/2026But we can't do this with AI. Anyone who understands how the theory-free statistical inference systems we call "AI" (at this time) work will understand that they are systems that cannot form intent, that have nothing to form intent *with*: pluralistic.net/2026/09/18/s...pluralistic.netPluralistic: Textured (18 Sep 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow 2513
Babak Farhang @gnahraf.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Also re these ghosts.. Natural languages are distinguished from most engineered, formal languages in their use of [pro]nouns and verb conjugation to bake in this theory of mind. Most "formal" languages (programming, math) lack this: they deal in "is"es ("the operation is surjective"), not in actors. 000
