Repair Chatting


LLMs offering repair chatbots. I have mixed feelings as big tech enables solutions like these to be created. Of course, it's an old dream of repairers and re-users to have an all-knowing assistant with instant access to a large trove of data. On the other hand, the systems do not account for the source of data, nor do they promote ways to resolve conflicts and disputes. Additionally, one of the major concerns I had while discussing this type of idea on my research is nowhere to be seen: how to make sure that these technologies do not replace the embodied expertise of skilled professionals and hobbyists - and risk the disappearance of such knowledge over a couple of generations? Maintaining and expanding knowledge is not only a matter of data and information. We learn with our bodies, we learn with each other, we learn by experimenting and making mistakes. It is reckless and unsustainable to substitute every human skill for disembodied bots. Isn't it?

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