Rathgrith027 Resident
For the past nearly 22 years, Second Life has been a bastion of creativity and and expression, providing un-paralleled experiences that even to this day, its' competitors cannot properly match.
However, it seems that Linden Lab, in the face of opportunity with the metaverse's* growth in recent years in the face of aggressive funding and pursuits by the tech industry, has failed to respect its' userbase.
Artificial Intelligence, at large, whilst providing a valuable resource in countless fields, also poses great risk to Second Life's future if left to be exploited without restraint.
Generative AI provides no intellectual property protections (Naruto v. Slater, No. 16-15469 (9th Cir. 2018)), is overwhelmingly trained on unauthorized data with clear and concise intent to replicate the works of those without consent or authorization (https://hbr.org/2023/04/generative-ai-has-an-intellectual-property-problem), causes great harm to the environment (https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/ai-has-environmental-problem-heres-what-world-can-do-about) , and of relevance to Second Life's continued viability as a platform - jeopardizes the place of human workers in an economy not fit to sustain them lest they lose their job as a result of supplantation by AI. And what is more, many experts have stated that the AI bubble is doomed to burst at some point in the next 2-3 years, which would undermine any investments by Linden Lab into AI technology, especially as AI has become a literal money sink. (https://gizmodo.com/github-copilot-ai-microsoft-openai-chatgpt-1850915549)
In the face of this, Linden Lab has refused to adopt protections for its' creators against artificial intelligence being used on their assets, has refused to adopt strategies to mitigate low-quality AI slop from being disseminated through the marketplace, which muddies results and makes searching difficult, and with technologies like ConvAI's bots, exacerbates the undying argument that Second Life is 'dead', when all people will likely come across, are poorly coded bots with little guardrails that can be exploited and in turn, leave the bot operator vulnerable, for little if any benefit to our residents.
And in the face of constant negative feedback from the residents who support our home, Linden Lab has decided to double down on AI by using it in promotional material, which once again, fails to reflect the reality of our platform to an audience that likely will have the retention rate of ground beef rotting away in the sun. All the while, many of our residents have been given no choice but to at worst, abandon SL, or at best, withdraw all financial support to the platform. Even I, have been contemplating the latter by selling my land, and ceasing my Premium Plus membership.
As such, I, [REDACTED 1], along with those who support this request, issue the following demands of Linden Research, d/b/a Linden Lab:
  1. Immediate sunsetting of the ConvAI bot system within 90 days of approval of this request.
  2. A permanent ban on the commercial use of generative artificial intelligence in Second Life in any capacity, with moderate warnings for infringers, or explicit bans for use of generative AI that directly undermines an creator on our platform.
  3. Assurances by Linden Lab Product Operations, Marketing and Development teams that under no circumstances will Linden Lab in the future, pursue the use of generative AI as part of the development, maintenance, promotion or support of the Second Life platform in any substantial capacity.
You as Lindens have an obligation to ensure the sustainability of your sole product that is now keeping your corporation afloat, and has reliably done so for the past 22 years, lest you decide to throw caution into the wind in the face of constant anger and frustration of your userbase, and cause many of the creators who you have championed and laid host for all of this time to abandon Agni for sunnier shores. These people are your lifeblood, the very reason why Second Life exists, and when they go, their customers will follow. And when their customers follow, the barons who already hemmorhage money paying for simulators will take flight from here, and all of Agni will implode in on itself.
And it all could be avoided. Even in the face of the age of AI, we can stand the test of time, as we have for nearly my entire physical life, at the halcyon age of [REDACTED 2].
Whether or not we do, is up to you and your abettors - to come to the table, accept humility, and ensure a future for our home that does not lean all in on the dystopia that others seem content with.
* The Metaverse, referring to the collective of virtual worlds (i.e. Activeworlds, Second Life, IMVU, There, VRChat, etc.)