The rise of bullshit answer optimization (BAO)

Stupid and manipulative strategies to drive traffic have always been part of the online world. Now that we have AI, they won’t go away. They’ll just be different. They’ll be based on bullshit.

In the age of Google search, one way to get your site found is by consistently writing valuable information, the type that attracts links from other humans searching information. This is content marketing, and it’s generally wholesome and above board.

Of course, the other way to get your site found is by stuffing it with keywords and paying reputable sites to link to it. I constantly get emailed for these link exchanges and paid posts (and naturally I reject these offers, because my site’s reputation is worth a lot more than the $20 or so they’re paying). You can fool Google’s algorithm into thinking your site is worth showing this way.

AI is optimized for answers — including bullshit

Now search engine optimization (SEO) is giving way to generative engine optimization (GEO). You ask ChatGPT or a similar service a question, and it finds an answer. So sites with credible, well-written answers get the traffic, rather than sites with a lot of inbound links.

Of course, you can spoof this, too.

Just create a site with a well-written, carefully reasoned collection of answers. Of course, it matters little whether those answers are right — just that they seem right.

The equivalent of the shady link-farming that used to go on is the creation of persuasive bullshit. Call it bullshit answer optimization (BAO).

If it hasn’t already happened, I anticipate that the link-farmers will get into the business of soliciting space for bullshit answer posts.

Regrettably, LLMs have proven ill-equipped to detect bullshit. If there are a lot of right answers, they’ll likely find them. If there are no right answers and the only answer offered is bullshit, they’ll find the bullshit. That’s where a lot of the hallucinations come from.

If you’re a smooth and skillful bullshitter, there’s soon going to be a strong market for your services.

Bullshitters have always found marks to believe them. The only thing that’s changed is that the marks are machines, and the bullshit will spread at massive scale.

Mercy.