Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Open Source Its Recommendation Code on March 31 - Sl...

Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Open Source Its Recommendation Code on March 31

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• Musk has been promising full self drivings cars in 6 months for the last 10 years. I'll believe it when I see it.

  Right, because releasing something that already exists is the same thing as creating something that has never existed.

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    Musk spews crap all the time on twitter. Hollow promises. Obvious lies. It's an entirely rational position to hold off believing it until it's actually done.

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      Yeah I remember when he said he was going to send a rocket to space and, get this, make it reusable. As if.
      Then he said he was going to create a global communication using satellites.
      My favorite was when he said he could make street legal electric cars that could beat 0-60 times of actual ICE sports cars.
      Then he had some fantasy about digging underground transportation tunnels... under cities. Make me laugh clown.
      I mean, this guy is clearly a mental case living in his own fantasy.

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        Remember when Musk accused a guy of being a pedo, when the guy wasn't?

        Remember when Musk said he'd secured $420 per share for Telsla but was lying?

        Remember when Musk said he'd donate $6 billion to end world hunger but it turned out he was lying?

        Then he had some fantasy about digging underground transportation tunnels... under cities. Make me laugh clown.

        Yeah Musk is SO AMAZING that he travelled back in time to Victorian London and invented the idea of digging tunnels under cities for moving people around. F

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          Just want to comment about the world hunger story. The $6 billion is due to somebody on Twitter claiming that if Musk donated $6 billion, world hunger would be solved. Musk fed the troll, saying that if that person could explain precisely how a single $6 billion lump sum would solve world hunger forever, he would donate it. The troll (unsurprisingly) did not have a detailed plan on how to do this. Indeed, the UN World Food Program (link below)estimates a cost of $40 billion per year (until 2030 apparently)

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            > the UN World Food Program (link below)estimates a cost of $40 billion per year

            So we've sent 2 years worth of world hunger money to Ukraine?
            If we let ethno pro-Russian portions of Ukarine join Russia we could solve world hunger for 2 years.

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    > Right, because releasing something that already exists is the same thing as creating something that has never existed.

    Getting a chunk of internal code ready for external public release is often no small task.

    Place your bets below.

  • Re: Don't hold your breath

    Right, but then donâ(TM)t promise it. Particularly if youâ(TM)re the CEO of a public company and it runs afoul of your fiduciary duties.

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  If he does it will just mean Twitter gets even worse as people learn how to game the system to get their posts promoted.

  • Another Context

    If he does it will just mean Twitter gets even worse as people learn how to game the system to get their posts promoted.

    So this means you are against using any open source software on the internet I guess?

    Open source software is more secure because many people can review it and fix security issues; the same would apply to Twitter where if lots of people can see how to game it, the will point that out and Twitter can fix it.

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      I'm against taking what is, by most accounts, poor quality code, that is currently secret and has not had time to be scrutinized and hardened by evolving in public, and making it open source.

      Something like the Linux kernel is battle hardened and has been open source for a long time, so is fairly reliable. Something like Twitter is years of hacks upon hacks, only holding up because nobody outside Twitter really knows how it works. Maybe a few years after being open sourced it might be good enough for product

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        > Something like Twitter is years of hacks upon hacks, only holding up because nobody outside Twitter really knows how it works.

        1. You admit Twitter's original code is "hacks upon hacks"
        2. Musk wasn't around for Twitter's original development.
        3. Musk release this "code" (which likely more of an algorithm outside the critical path anyways).
        4. Twitter doesn't go down in flames after releasing the "code" from being abused.
        5. You admit Musk was able to turn around and "battle harden" Twitter.

        Ooooh. Can't wa

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        This assumes that there will be anyone competent willing to work to improve Twitter's code for free. Most open source projects have just a handful of core developers, with few other contributors, and that's with projects that have an active community of users who have put the code into production. Twitter's code only really benefits twitter.

        If we've learned anything about open source, it's that ESR's "many eyeballs" are usually looking the other way [codinghorror.com].

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          He's not looking for people to improve the code. He's looking to improve the reputation of the algorithm. As it is, people are being banned and censored without knowledge of what the parameters for such actions are. Open sourcing the code will just allow people to understand what is permissible and what is not, and hopefully how they come to that assessment.

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            That would explain the two week delay, but what happens when people figure out that the real recommendation system doesn't work like the one he posted on github?

          • Re: Another Context

            Twitter's recommendation algorithm (the code allegedly being outsourced) is not the same as the system that gets people censored or banned (which is largely comprised of published documentation, internal policy guidelines, and enforced by manual processes, including apparently "Whatever Elon feels like today" since he's the one claiming to be responsible for getting a bunch of far-right shitheels unbanned).

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      So this means you are against using any open source software on the internet I guess?

      Why? Most open source software isn't "gamable".

      Open source software is more secure because many people can review it and fix security issues

      Yes, and irrelevant.

      the same would apply to Twitter where if lots of people can see how to game it,

      Nope. Gaming and security are two entirely different things.

      if lots of people can see how to game it, the will point that out and Twitter can fix it.

      No, it doesn't mean that at al

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      Oh, my... where to begin...

      This doesn't happen. Few people even look at the code, fewer still understanding, and just a handful of people ever contribute to it. That's reality. If Elmo thinks he's getting free labor out of this, he's in for a surprise.

      That's not what the parent is saying. He's saying that open sourcing code related to recommendations will make it easier for dishonest actors to 'game the system' to more effectively promote their tweets. (No, this doesn't put everyone on a level playin

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  My Tesla fully drives itself (though not very well) — stops at traffic lights, changes lanes, turns at intersections, drives around bicyclists and stopped cars. It is good enough that I feel it is helping, but I do have to take over pretty often.
  
  Musk does tend to promise more than what he can deliver, but saying this is all vaporware is not quite correct. Some progress is made.

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    > saying this is all vaporware is not quite correct. Some progress is made.

    I watched that big AI Day - what was it, 2019? I seriously believed his talk about an exponential AI learning curve and that within a year I could have my Model 3 be a robotaxi while I was at work, paying for itself over time.

    I thought about getting a car loan for one - but then reconsidered. I'm glad I was shy.

    "Some progress" would be a small condolence to someone who invested based on a false promise with no product in sight f