--- title: When AI starts teaching AI, models may ‘collapse’ - The Hustle description: When AI trains on AI-generated data, it goes haywire. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2069924254-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-bottripping_20230829215041.webp --- # When AI starts teaching AI, models may ‘collapse’ ![Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/juliet-bennett-rylah) [Juliet Bennett Rylah Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/JBRylah) Published: August 30, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 [Model collapse](https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/Model-collapse-explained-How-synthetic-training-data-breaks-AI) is when generative AI models train on AI-generated content (as opposed to content created by humans) and deteriorate as they forget the human-generated data they learned from and begin copying patterns they’ve already seen. ![A white robot with a computerized face in front of a dizzying, colorful kaleidoscopic background.](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2069924254-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-bottripping_20230829215041.webp?width=595&height=400&name=2069924254-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-bottripping_20230829215041.webp) In an email to [*Cosmos*](https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/ai/training-ai-models-on-machine-generated-data-leads-to-model-collapse/), machine learning researcher Ilia Shumailov, who co-authored [a paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.17493v2) on the topic, uses the following analogy: - A model receives a data set containing 90 yellow objects and 10 blue ones. - Because there are more yellow objects, it begins to turn the blue objects greenish. - Over time, it forgets the blue objects exist. With each generation of synthetic data, outliers disappear and outputs less accurately reflect reality until what’s left is nonsense. #### **A solution might sound simple at first** Don’t train AI on AI-generated content, sure. Except it’s already proliferating across the internet. “Just as we’ve strewn the oceans with plastic trash and filled the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, so we’re about to fill the Internet with blah,” Ross Anderson, a security expert and co-author of Shumailov’s paper, [wrote](https://t.co/muDKHYoLM1). #### **So will AI inevitably go haywire?** Any model that started spitting out utter nonsense would probably be shut down by whatever tech company put it out there in the first place. However, Aditi Raghunathan, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, [told](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/06/generative-ai-future-training-models/674478/) *The Atlantic *that the real danger would be less obvious flaws. For example, biases that creep in as AI caters to the majority. So, you know, just one more thing to worry about when not worrying about [singularity](https://thehustle.co/singularity-explained/). Topics: [Ai](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/ai) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![‘AI is not a writer:’ Why the writers’ strike deal matters beyond Hollywood](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2028008005-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-AI-WGA_20230927223315.webp) ### ‘AI is not a writer:’ Why the writers’ strike deal matters beyond Hollywood - ![Getty Images’ AI play](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1235356694-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-woman-taking-photo_20230925214039.webp) ### Getty Images’ AI play - ![AI-generated foraging books seem dangerous, right?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1714231094-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-mushrooms_20230830223519.webp) ### AI-generated foraging books seem dangerous, right? - ![CAPTCHAs get weirder as AI gets smarter](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/440738447-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-captcha_20230808232842.webp) ### CAPTCHAs get weirder as AI gets smarter - ![Using AI for the perfect fit](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/211713850-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-truetoform_20230807230535.webp) ### Using AI for the perfect fit - ![Big Tech’s thirst for AI dominance may bring literal thirst for everyone else](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1680278072-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Water-Usage_20230803223203.webp) ### Big Tech’s thirst for AI dominance may bring literal thirst for everyone else - ![How to make photos confusing to AI](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/911911672-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-confused-robot_20230730235528.webp) ### How to make photos confusing to AI - ![Machine learning, explained](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/669213695-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-machine-learning_20230720214439.webp) ### Machine learning, explained - ![WormGPT is ChatGPT, but evil — how much should it worry you?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/622601070-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-wormgpt_20230718230257.webp) ### WormGPT is ChatGPT, but evil — how much should it worry you? - ![Would you get inked by AI?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1090175375-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-AITats_20230712224149.webp) ### Would you get inked by AI? Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t. JOIN FREE ### 100% Free CRM Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Juliet Bennett Rylah", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/juliet-bennett-rylah" }, "datePublished" : "2023-08-30T20:41:35.000Z", "headline" : "When AI starts teaching AI, models may ‘collapse’", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2069924254-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-bottripping_20230829215041.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/when-ai-starts-teaching-ai-models-may-collapse", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Juliet Bennett Rylah", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/juliet-bennett-rylah" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:12:22+0000", "datePublished" : "2023-08-30T20:41:35+0000", "headline" : "When AI starts teaching AI, models may ‘collapse’", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2069924254-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-bottripping_20230829215041.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```