This is a subfile of the primary AI4Communities post, and won't make any sense unless you read its parent first. It explores how the AI4communities idea would look in decentralised social networks powered by ATProto, the Bluesky protocol.
(Notes: This is an early draft. As explained in this newsletter edition, I am publishing these early versions as I develop my thoughts in the hope that constructive comments will help me finish the post. More version control in the footer.)
I knew Bluesky existed but not much else when I published my manifesto posts of 1/1/23, so my early versions of the AI4Communities post was Fediverse-oriented.
I therefore created this post in early November 2024 to hold my notes on how AI4Communities would look in an ATProto-powered world. By then I had annotated 11 resources tagged Bluesky (there'll probably be more by the time you read this), and had concluded that in many ways Bluesky already supports AI4communities, but not in the Fediverse-friendly "cozyweb village" paradigm I've been using until now.
After all, individual Bluesky users can already subscribe to custom feeds and moderation tools (aka labellers) provided by 3rd parties. These can range from human-powered labelling through to AI-powered, although most currently are custom feeds driven by pretty simple search.
While it's already easy to imagine how a community could form around their own AI-powered labellers and custom feeds, these would be very porous communities - there is currently only one ATProto network, not a connected archipelago of servers, and it's very open: "Anyone who knows how to code can write an app or tool that can read practically any data about anyone, without having to ask anyone for permission" (A complete guide to Bluesky).
Is this a feature or a bug? Bluesky's openness, and the fact that the entire network can be searched, makes AI4communities more feasible, but it's a light version - there will be no separate villages, or private groups for collaboration.
My metaphor is therefore upended: we won't see a community collectively choosing some algorithms, sharing their data with them, and monetising the result, as in AI4Communities on the Fediverse. Instead, each member will go to the store individually, and anyone who subscribes to the same algorithm will automatically join the club... unless the store puts the algorithm out of reach of non-members, which would mean that the store becomes the community's gatehouse.
Personally I have no problem with a different metaphor for a different protocol, although a more substantial rewrite of the AI4communities post is now probably required. However, although I'm pretty happy with Bluesky's direction of travel, concerns remain: although they assure us that they won’t “enshittify” the Bluesky service, Cory Doctorow, who coined the term, is not convinced.
This is one of this wiki's pages managed with the permanent versions pattern described in Two wiki authors and a blogger walk into a bar…