hi, I have a lot of respect for you so I wanted to ask what you think about iNat adding generative AI ID tips, because I'm conflicted.
on the one hand, I understand that iNat needs a LOT of money to run so I understand doing it for the grant money. and if their calculations are accurate, the environmental impact isn't like. terrible.
but on the other hand, I feel like there's such a high risk of hallucinations, and it really feels like a much worse solution than just adding a wiki.
I don't know. like I said, I'm conflicted. feel free to ignore this or clown on me or what have you lol
So for what it's worth, I genuinely don't think its going to actually go anywhere. I think its going to get swept under the rug after a while and they are going to pretend it never happened.
I know enough about 1) the industry and 2) iNaturalist admin to err on the side of "incompetence" rather than AI shill malice. I think it sucks and I hate it but I'm cautiously hopeful they'll give up on it lmfao.
Basically just keep hating on it in venues that iNaturalist can see.
I left my in-depth thoughts on the matter here in the form of a very long ramble if you want to read it
