Hey hi,
So I am not used to give my take on product lead here, I’m but a random Discourse humble contributor and user. But I just realized Discourse took the AI turn quite swiftly and it makes me wonder.
- Generative AI is not ecologically sustainable (sources), and I would love that my favorite forum software be part of green computing.
- Generative AI carries many other, very complex issues (random sources: PauseAI, AI 2027, European Network for AI Safety, a video of Daniel Schmachtenberger) some of which are independent from the open-sourceness of its code and the ways of hosting it.
I know I cannot put an halt to “progress”, and demanding that Discourse give up on everything AI related seems impossible and maybe even unfair and undesirable. So my concrete and sensible suggestion would be the following:
- Label each AI-using feature as so, on Meta but also in the product admin interface;
- Make each AI-using feature easy to deactivate (gathered under the same menu for example);
- And/or, release an AI-free version of Discourse.
I am unaware if there are already discussions on this subject and what is the team’s stance on this, so feel free to point out to any valuable resources. I am also aware it’s a consequent request and I am convinced everyone is already doing their best to make Discourse better. Thanks for reading and I hope I haven’t upset anybody with this.