TudyBOT Feedback & Discussion Thread

[Shadrach]

Dead against it. It's not that I'm hysterical about AI. It's not that I don't use it on a daily basis. It's just given the stated aim of BYC is community above information. I don't think it belongs here.
As saysfaa points out, if a person wants a quick answer to a question then Google might be your friend so the bot isn't providing a new service.
My view is it's a toy and a long long way from any sort of intelligent learning device for people.
I'll get very upset when one of my posts gets deleted because I'm rude to the bot.

 

[21hens-incharge]

If you really want an honest idea of how forum users want this added, you might invite the people who didn't like it who all suddenly stopped posting in the intro thread at the same time I did. I think it was for the same reason I did; I know it was in at least some cases.

If you want an echo chamber, obviously, you have the power to do that.

This thread is in the announcements and feedback section. Everyone is welcome to share their opinions.

 

[SueT]

I really like the AI idea. It can save a lot of time searching. With TudyBOT, I can get an immediate response 24 hrs a day, which others can later elaborate on or correct if needed. If they bother to answer at all, but if they don’t you still have Tudy. Sometimes people including myself offer incorrect info in threads, Tudy can be called upon to verify, a fact checker, so to speak.
I do enjoy using Siri, and I am also enjoying TudyBOT. If you aren’t a fan of AI, then why not just put your attention elsewhere.

 

[Chookwagn]

I come here for the "human" interaction and seeing others flocks/projects/stories.

Tudy is of no use to me

just my opinion

My other thought is that you are making it a "challenge" for some on here to mess with it and get it spewing wrong info

 

[Kiki]

I really like the AI idea. It can save a lot of time searching. With TudyBOT, I can get an immediate response 24 hrs a day, which others can later elaborate on or correct if needed. If they bother to answer at all, but if they don’t you still have Tudy. Sometimes people including myself offer incorrect info in threads, Tudy can be called upon to verify, a fact checker, so to speak.
I do enjoy using Siri, and I am also enjoying TudyBOT. If you aren’t a fan of AI, then why not just put your attention elsewhere.

Siri nor TudyBOT are full of facts. You can't rely on her answers being correct, she says so herself.

 

[Everose]

Maybe this is where some of my deep-seated AI aversion started

 

[TwoCrows]

My thoughts on all this... These Artificial Intelligence programs are no different than any other tool in your tool box, you only bring them out when you need to use them. Each of your tools in your tool box has its limitations so if you find you need a Phillips-head screwdriver but you only have a Flat-head, you may need to find another way to fix whatever it is that is broken. Tudy is also a tool and has its limitations as well, it only knows what it's programmed to know or picks up along its travels in our forums. It's not a whole lot different than Googling something you need information for, Tudy could be compared to a glorified search engine.

No one here on BYC, members or Staff, wants to see Tudy take over the forums. We are all here for the human interaction, human experiences, friendship, laughter, empathy, sharing our lives and most of all our love of poultry. Things Tudy will never know.

All this being said however, I personally think Tudy should stay in her Corner. I think mixing artificial into reality would make for a confusing atmosphere. What's real, what's not?! I personally don't think Tudy belongs in our discussion forums next to human answered posts, it can diminish the entire point of responding in any thread, I think most members want to get a solution from a real situation, not a textbook data type answer. However if members are unable to get the answers they need out in our forums, they can come to TudyBOTs Corner and ask the questions they need answers to. They still may not get the answer they are looking for and it's entirely possible Tudys answer could be incorrect. But it's satisfying to know you have done as much research as possible on a problem you just can't solve and you then know you did all you could.

There are other chatbots being used out there on the internet that may negatively impact the outside world, but here on BYC we are being careful in what data is being fed to Tudy. She is not programmed to spew out negative or unethical information, we are doing our best to keep Tudy in line with our tone and respectful attitudes we all strive to have here on BYC.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Wow, great discussion! Thanks to everyone that's interacting in a helpful and respectful way!!!

A few of my thoughts / responses:

After yesterday I can see AI can be useful on BYC in many ways. She needs to be tagged and asked questions, so those not interested are not forced to use it or interact with Tudy.

....

BYC will always be about it's wonderful members helping each other. I don't think that can ever be removed by a chatbot. The members of BYC are the heart and soul of the site. To me Tudy is just another member with some useful information I can easily access.

Members will always bring in their experiences with the poultry hobby which brings life to the site. Tudy will not change that, and cannot change that.

100% spot-on! She'd only be "used" by those who specifically want her to engage. If a member doesn't like her responses, they can ignore (either by reading past and/or clicking "ignore" her account) like they can with any other member that they would rather not read.

It'd also be cool if TudyBOT could deal with the spam accounts..

This is something we're working on. Fortunately spam has been mostly mitigated, so we're keeping this on the back-burner for now. If implemented, the Anti-Spam-Bot would read the first xy posts of new members and using our own rules, determine if it's spam or not, and if our moderators should review the posts.

My only small criticism is that she ought to have a disclaimer automated in her replies, that her information may not be 100% accurate for every situation.

We have this in her signature, but if we keep her around, we'd look for more ways to make it SUPER clear that people should double-check the info they receive.

Could her corner be divided into three sections?

We have almost unlimited options for how/where we allow her to/not to interact, but based on the response and thread-types we've seen, there aren't a lot of areas on BYC that some people wouldn't want to have her available if needed.

An automated response is really a turn off for some people.

Yup, we agree. We currently don't see any use-case where having her automatically responding to things is beneficial. We like giving FULL control to the members to decide "do I want to use this tool or no?"

But, particularly for some of us dinosaurs (I speak only of myself ), it's going to be very hard to get used to.

LOL! Ya, BYC isn't the most tech-savvy community out there (my friends own some forums that are pure tech and we often compare / contrast how our communities are similar and different related to technology).

Humans in general struggle with change. AI is here (on the planet) and is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm not suggesting we all must accept it fully into our lives, but in the not-so-distant-future, AI will be directly or indirectly connected to pretty much everything we do... unless you live like one of my favorite youtube channels:
https://www.youtube.com/@PrimitiveSkillsnet

I feel as though this AI will be misused and will cause this forum to continue to become more like any old chat forum. More and more members will use the BOT for their own entertainment which could result in more troll-like posts.

Our team has a phenomenal track-record for managing misuse and abuse of tools, and also moderating trolls. Over the years we've had lots of cases where people proclaimed a BYC change would result in the end of the community (my favorite was when we started the PFM program and got a TON of pushback that it would completely divide and ruin the community... that was like 13 years ago. LOL!)

So, we'll proceed with anything we add/change with caution, but also mindfully calculate the net pros/cons to the community and closely monitor as we go.

TudyBOT can be useful. The trick is implementing it in a way that does not bury every thread with people who tag it. The response time is incredibly fast so I could see people tagging the AI into threads they click on but do not have the knowledge to be able to help. They may be well intentioned and REALLY want to help.

Yes, *if* we keep it around, there would definitely be some period of adjustment and learning how to use a new tool: like when I gave my daughter an iPhone for the first time to make a call and she fumbled around... or 13 years later when she sat behind the wheel of a car (a VERY scary and dangerous tool!!!) and also fumbled her way around.

*IF* we keep @TudyBOT here on BYC (in whatever capacity), our entire team will be in the passenger side of the vehicle attentively and actively watching her perform! We'll be making corrections and suggestions (with the overall goal of what is best for our community) as diligently as I was when introducing my driving-daughter into the roadways with a 2-ton death-machine that, when used properly, is a wonderful tool!

 

[ShrekDawg]

@Nifty-Chicken Not to derail the thread but hold up… they’re DRIVING!? I’ve been here long enough (15 years! ) to remember when they were little! I feel old as heck now LOL but sorry for that little side detour hahah

 

[azurbanclucker]

She's fine. With training she'll get better. She won't be human, but um, she's a chicken anyway. As a resource for handling oft-asked questions and providing useful data, I'm all in. But we have to understand her limitaitons.

I for one welcome our robot overlords