I broke this one out. You’ll see why in a moment.
Volunteer moderators of Stack Overflow, a popular Q&A site for programmers, data scientists, and IT professionals, are going on strike to protest new mandates that make it harder for them to restrict AI-generated content. The company had previously issued a temporary ban on ChatGPT-generated content but backtracked and left the decision to individual site moderators. Now, moderators say the company has issued new guidance that makes stopping the flow of AI-generated content nearly impossible. Stack Overflow has asked moderators to use strict standards of evidence to determine whether a post is AI-authored when deciding to suspend a user. Still, moderators say that current GPT detectors are not accurate enough. In response, a group of moderators have announced a strike and issued an open letter stating that the company has also issued private guidance prohibiting mods from taking action on AI-generated content in most cases.
Why do we care?
Slow down to speed up. While it seems obvious in hindsight, not being thoughtful about implementing a policy is biting the site hard. It’s why I’m bullish on the AI space. There is so much planning to be done to assist customers that a role is obvious to help. There’s a listen to your customer angle here too. Talking with them about policy changes, particularly in cases where they are volunteers and critical to the business, is often overlooked.
Slow down to speed up.