"the importance of open discussion of these new tools gave me pause"

    [cat:weblinks]
    October 11th, 2023

      Davey Alba’s Even Google Insiders Are Questioning Bard AI Chatbot’s Usefulness on Oct 11, 2023

      [ . . . ]

      Daniel Griffin, a recent Ph.D. graduate from University of California at Berkeley who studies web search and joined the Discord group in September, said it isn’t uncommon for open source software and small search engine tools to have informal chats for enthusiasts. But Griffin, who has written critically about how Google shapes the public’s interpretations of its products, said he felt “uncomfortable” that the chat was somewhat secretive.

      The Bard Discord chat may just be a “non-disclosed, massively-scaled and long-lasting focus group or a community of AI enthusiasts, but the power of Google and the importance of open discussion of these new tools gave me pause,” he added, noting that the company’s other community-feedback efforts, like the Google Search Liaison, were more open to the public.

      [ . . . ]

      ‘written critically’ links to the page for Griffin & Lurie (2022) hosted at the UC Berkeley School of Information.

      Here is a thread from the author, Davey Alba

      Here is a thread from me

      Initially shared on Twitter (Sep 13, 2023)

      I was just invited to Google’s “Bard Discord community”: “Bard’s Discord is a private, invite-only server and is currently limited to a certain capacity.”

      A tiny % of the total users. It seems to include a wide range of folks.

      There is no disclosure re being research subjects.

      The rules DO NOT say: ‘The first rule of Bard Discord is: you do not talk about Bard Discord.’ I’m not going to discuss the users. But contextual integrity and researcher integrity suggests I provide some of the briefest notes.

      The rules do include: “Do not post personal information.” (Which I suppose I’m breaking by using my default Discord profile. This is likely more about protecting users from each other though, since Google verifies your email when you join.)

      Does Google’s privacy policy cover you on Google’s uses of third party products?

      There are channels like “suggestion-box’ and”bug-reports’, and prompt-chat’ (Share and discuss your best prompts here with your fellow Bard Community members! Feel free to include screenshots…)

      I’ll confess it is pretty awkward being in there, with our paper—“Search quality complaints and imaginary repair: Control in articulations of Google Search”[1]—at top of mind.


      1. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221136505

      A lot of the newer search systems that I’m studying use Discord for community management. And I’ve joined several.

      References

      Griffin, D., & Lurie, E. (2022). Search quality complaints and imaginary repair: Control in articulations of Google Search. New Media & Society, 0(0), 14614448221136505. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221136505 [griffin2022search]