My question is, why not build @cheetah straight into the website as a feature instead of a bot that comments on articles? Although I think this bot provides a lot of value, I just don't think that bots should be commenting on Steemit. I think this site has come a long way since last year, when bots were running rampant, and I admit I haven't been posting as much until recently. But that was mostly due to the nature of how things were around here just wasn't appealing to me.
I wrote my reasons last year about why bots are bad for Steemit, it seems to have improved but I still maintain my stance, and I don't really want to rehash all the reasons in this comment but maybe that could convince some people who plan on releasing "helpful" comment bots to instead find a better solution, which would be integrating the feature into the website itself.
Just my $0.02 0.01 SP.
The website is just an interface to the steem blockchain. Building it into the website wouldn't do much! In fact, cheetah doesn't use the website, she also directly interfaces with the steem blockchain.
Bots are unavoidable. The hope is that we can make sure the only ones that stay around are good!
I don't understand, what do you mean by "building it into the website wouldn't do much"? My concern is about user interaction/interface, not about the functionality. I understand that this website is just an interface of the blockchain. My point is, instead of making @cheetah a bot that comments on articles, why not just build it as a website feature that can notify the user in a popup message or something like that? @cheetah does seriously great things, but I feel that commenting on articles is poor implementation of seriously awesome features.
Ah, I see what you're saying, a built in notification to the reader. That might be possible, but you would have to convince Steemit Inc that cheetah and steemcleaners, or otherwise a form of moderation, is necessary. Currently, Steemit doesn't support/endorse it, preferring to take a stance that amounts to "the community will solve it"
I can understand that position, and I will say, you certainly solved part of it, whatever algo you have is brilliant no doubt... just needs to be baked in from a UI standpoint. Ultimately though, for this to be widely adopted I do believe that it is necessary (from a user perspective) to get these features in there. The fact that @cheetah roams around doing its job anyway, might as well just bake it in completely. It would make for a better user experience, IMO. I hope Steemit will reconsider that position, especially considering the success of your bots, it would help the long term health of the website, which is the most important part of STEEM.
As bots will continue to increase in ability relative to people, I not only concur with your position, but expect it to become potentially existential in the fullness of time.
AI can become the enemy, if we don't make sure it doesn't.
There is a qualitative, even intranscendable, difference between people and their tools. This difference won't be eliminated merely by bots becoming turing complete. If we don't nominally consider this matter, then bots will be able to challenge human beings in realms where they do not belong.
Social media, IMHO, is one such realm, particularly as it becomes more essential to human interaction.
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