I want to share this: https://scratch.mit.edu/users/algorithmar/#comments-412076268 and https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1334351543/

People are criticizing Scratch because of the AI but what they don't know is that they are not as bad as they think.
Don't think ST is bad, they're just trying to adapt to the current AI era. I think AI wouldn't harm Scratch too much. Everything needs to be changed in this AI era, even though it can be bad for some people at first.

Yes, (I think) Scratch wants to add some AI features but these AI features are still in development and they are still gathering user feedback. (They're not as bad as you think), I'm sure they'll be fine when released

Speaking of AI features, you should know that *the Scratch Team is also aware of adding AI to Scratch too*. If you read the purple “Considerations” text on every AI feature information leak, they would ask themselves if these are good to be added to Scratch or not. For example: AI Song Maker: They asked themselves, “Can music editing be made simple enough?” and “Can we incorporate AI without slop?”. So, don't worry, the Scratch Team is also worrying just like you. They'll be careful. cat emoji

algorithmar wrote:

I don't have anything official to share about NGP or 4.0 at this time, other than what the team communications have already shared (https://www.scratchfoundation.org/announcements/ngp ). When plans are finalized, there will be a lot more communication, so stay tuned in the Scratch News section for more. As for the screenshots from our recent webinar for families and educators, those do look like screenshots of our slides. I will note that, as we shared, these are very much works in progress and the timing of when and if future blocks and features might be added has not been determined. But when we think about AI, we are focused on data privacy (your images are not stored), fun and allows for your creativity, and provides new ways to interact with projects. We also believe in agency/choice, which is why (for example) our Face Sensing blocks are an extension you can choose to add/use or not. We are also exploring on-device AI, which provides data privacy but also using on-device AI means no tokens or calls to a cloud API lessening resource/water use and making it more available to all so you can tinker/experiment! These features don't build for you, but instead can be used in service of your creative ideas, like Face Sensing blocks. We've heard Scratcher feedback, so the Tips widget we are currently exploring is not a chatbot that can create whole Scratch programs, And the Song Maker we are exploring could be used with or without the AI feature. That feature might serve to lower the barrier of entry for folks (like me) who are less musically inclined/knowledgeable, but what I love about the way we are thinking about it is that what is produced is still completely editable/remixable, so it is like a starter project where you can build on an idea and make it your own. That remix-ability, tinker-ability, & enabling of creative expression is Scratch

Thanks @ReallySopa for your opinion:

ReallySopa wrote:

But hey WPONTA, the problem is not about the AI topic is bad. It's about the bad people.

Criticism is actually important, it's used to call out the mistakes that they did. However, unconstructively and inappopriately is not a way to criticize the Scratch Team. Like what Za-Chary has said:

Za-Chary wrote:
While I generally agree that some of the AI discussion is too heated, I think some healthy criticism is good. The fact of the matter is that AI is a relatively new phenomenon, especially as it relates to Scratch, so it's worth looking at all the cool potential good as well as the scary potential bad that comes with AI. It helps the Scratch Team decide how to proceed with AI features (and no doubt that they're doing a ton of internal discussion on this as well).

Also, the features that are shown in the leaks are just for testing purposes. They could be either implemented or even scrapped in the final version. So, please know that the Scratch Team is just like us, they know that AI might not either be good or bad. So, they're carefully doing it, unlike the other huge companies. Scratch is not like a huge profitable company, you know.

However… I do agree that AI topics are truly controversial. Because it is about how we use it (input) and the things that it generates (output). When we talk about AI, one of us would think the very first reasons that are about “Why is AI bad?”.

So….


We'll see….

Will be updated as soon as I get some feedback and new information

#nomoreaitopic

we need this stickied /hj
—
edit: it’s a half-joke because
while this is a useful topic, not everyone is gonna read the sticky

gdfsgdfsgdfg wrote:

we need this stickied /hj
—
edit: it’s a half-joke because
while this is a useful topic, not everyone is gonna read the sticky

Thanks! (but at least this may reduce a large amount of the AI topics)

This need to be stickied

Nhienzcute wrote:

This need to be stickied

Thanks

reported to be stickied!

Reported to be sticked

Thanks for your support!

Support! If people would just read things and not “explode” with anger as soon as they see the word “AI,” it would be much better.

I mean, we need to make everyone understand that AI isn't as bad as people think, so we can clear up all the misunderstandings.

You realise that they're adding an AI generated song button, and potentially an AI image generator, right? And that they're going to train AI on our stuff?

WPONTA wrote:

Everything needs to be changed in this AI era, even though it can be bad for some people at first.

…

gem1001 wrote:

You realise that they're adding an AI generated song button, and potentially an AI image generator, right? And that they're going to train AI on our stuff?

WPONTA wrote:

Everything needs to be changed in this AI era, even though it can be bad for some people at first.

…

Hm?

gem1001 wrote:

You realise that they're adding an AI generated song button, and potentially an AI image generator, right? And that they're going to train AI on our stuff?

I'd be interested in a source for this.

Yes, I'm aware of that one screenshot that details AI-generated song features. But is that a guarantee that such a feature will be coming to Scratch? Or is it just a Scratch Team member experiment? (The Scratch Team does like to experiment with features that don't necessarily come to Scratch!)

WPONTA wrote:

People are criticizing Scratch because of the AI but what they don't know is that they are not as bad as they think.
Don't think ST is bad, they're just trying to adapt to the current AI era. I think AI wouldn't harm Scratch too much. Everything needs to be changed in this AI era, even though it can be bad for some people at first.

While I generally agree that some of the AI discussion is too heated, I think some healthy criticism is good. The fact of the matter is that AI is a relatively new phenomenon, especially as it relates to Scratch, so it's worth looking at all the cool potential good as well as the scary potential bad that comes with AI. It helps the Scratch Team decide how to proceed with AI features (and no doubt that they're doing a ton of internal discussion on this as well).

I'm an optimist myself when it comes to what the Scratch Team does, but one must realize that for all this discussion on possible AI features for Scratch, we still just don't know for sure what will be coming to Scratch, nor in what form. It's reasonable for an AI-skeptic to doubt those who say “AI in Scratch won't be that bad” when those people themselves don't 100% know what these AI features will look like.

It was easy for me to defend Scratch 3.0 or the July 2021 studio update or the high-contrast purple color, because by the time the controversy really started with those features, they were already released, and so I was able to see what exactly those features were, and thus was able to understand / think about why the Scratch Team made those changes. On the other hand, there are currently no AI features on Scratch (to my knowledge), so I can't necessarily make a definitive position on whether they are good or bad. (I can say “I'm pretty optimistic about what the Scratch Team will do,” but sometimes pure optimism doesn't mean much if no action is taken.)

Updated to prevent confusion

I agree that AI topics that unconstructively calls out about “Stop adding AI! AI IS BAD!” in the Discussion Forum should temporarily be stopped and calmed down on Scratch. Here are the reasons why:
1. It has created a lot of huge flame wars, flame wars are the conflicts/arugments between users and users on Scratch, and the ST doesn't like that.
2. Most people have uncontrustively called the ST to stop adding AI in this forum, there were forum posts that are about a mad user inappropriately called the Scratch Team to stop adding AI just because they think AI is completely bad.
3. The Scratch Team had been stressfully trying to calm down the angry people in the community, we should know that the Scratch Team is a small independent (since 2020, they left MIT) and non-profit organization that is operating and moderating Scratch. Please don't be mad and spread hateness on them.
So that's why, we should stop people that are inappropriately saying “Remove AI, it's BAD!”. Because while they're still implementing AI on Scratch, we should know that they will try to handle AI as good as possible so that it doesn't shake the Creativity balance, and also let children to use them in helpful ways on Scratch.

But hey WPONTA, the problem is not about the AI topic is bad. It's about the bad people.

Criticism is actually important, it's used to call out the mistakes that they did. However, unconstructively and inappopriately is not a way to criticize the Scratch Team. Like what Za-Chary has said:

Za-Chary wrote:

While I generally agree that some of the AI discussion is too heated, I think some healthy criticism is good. The fact of the matter is that AI is a relatively new phenomenon, especially as it relates to Scratch, so it's worth looking at all the cool potential good as well as the scary potential bad that comes with AI. It helps the Scratch Team decide how to proceed with AI features (and no doubt that they're doing a ton of internal discussion on this as well).

Also, the features that are shown in the leaks are just for testing purposes. They could be either implemented or even scrapped in the final version. So, please know that the Scratch Team is just like us, they know that AI might not either be good or bad. So, they're carefully doing it, unlike the other huge companies. Scratch is not like a huge profitable company, you know.

However… I do agree that AI topics are truly controversial. Because it is about how we use it (input) and the things that it generates (output). When we talk about AI, one of us would think the very first reasons that are about “Why is AI bad?”.

ReallySopa wrote:

But hey WPONTA, the problem is not about the AI topic is bad. It's about the bad people.

Criticism is actually important, it's used to call out the mistakes that they did. However, unconstructively and inappopriately is not a way to criticize the Scratch Team. Like what Za-Chary has said:

Za-Chary wrote:

While I generally agree that some of the AI discussion is too heated, I think some healthy criticism is good. The fact of the matter is that AI is a relatively new phenomenon, especially as it relates to Scratch, so it's worth looking at all the cool potential good as well as the scary potential bad that comes with AI. It helps the Scratch Team decide how to proceed with AI features (and no doubt that they're doing a ton of internal discussion on this as well).

Also, the features that are shown in the leaks are just for testing purposes. They could be either implemented or even scrapped in the final version. So, please know that the Scratch Team is just like us, they know that AI might not either be good or bad. So, they're carefully doing it, unlike the other huge companies. Scratch is not like a huge profitable company, you know.

However… I do agree that AI topics are truly controversial. Because it is about how we use it (input) and the things that it generates (output). When we talk about AI, one of us would think the very first reasons that are about “Why is AI bad?”.

That post is so true and informative that it should almost be stickied (if it could be.)

deleted

blackcow29 wrote:

ReallySopa wrote:

But hey WPONTA, the problem is not about the AI topic is bad. It's about the bad people.

Criticism is actually important, it's used to call out the mistakes that they did. However, unconstructively and inappopriately is not a way to criticize the Scratch Team. Like what Za-Chary has said:

Za-Chary wrote:

While I generally agree that some of the AI discussion is too heated, I think some healthy criticism is good. The fact of the matter is that AI is a relatively new phenomenon, especially as it relates to Scratch, so it's worth looking at all the cool potential good as well as the scary potential bad that comes with AI. It helps the Scratch Team decide how to proceed with AI features (and no doubt that they're doing a ton of internal discussion on this as well).

Also, the features that are shown in the leaks are just for testing purposes. They could be either implemented or even scrapped in the final version. So, please know that the Scratch Team is just like us, they know that AI might not either be good or bad. So, they're carefully doing it, unlike the other huge companies. Scratch is not like a huge profitable company, you know.

However… I do agree that AI topics are truly controversial. Because it is about how we use it (input) and the things that it generates (output). When we talk about AI, one of us would think the very first reasons that are about “Why is AI bad?”.

That post is so true and informative that it should almost be stickied (if it could be.)

Thanks, updated