Because the Calibre ebook library software just acquired AI garbage (as of 8.16.2, this week), it has *already* been forked. For AI-free Calibre, seek out clbre:
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@cstross If you have the Portable app version, you can block the update by renaming the app's folder. Perhaps change it to 'Calibre Portable XXX' or something
@cstross Nice (re: name of the fork).
@cstross I have noticed Calibre has added AI, at least from 8.11 in September.
My Linux distribution is on 8.5 so I have not tested myself.
But the little I have read in Calibre release notes and other documentation, isn't Calibre AI optional; both regarding connecting to external AI as well as running local AI?
So isn't AI in Calibre an option to use for anyone who want to use it and for other simply a not used nor desired feature?
@cstross oh that's a clever name
@cstross @janeishly I've actually just not upgraded. I had a few that I needed to roll back, due to prereq's I wasn't willing to install, or just bad code. I've admired Kovid Goyal, to do that much work and help others. I've seen him active on various forums, wanting to help people get more out of his gift. But I believe all software has an inflection point, where it has enough features and is relatively bug free, and changes just make it worse. So once I'm happy, I just leave it alone.
@cstross Arcalibre, https://codeberg.org/rereading/arcalibre was forked for the same reason, like @kouhai shared earlier
@cstross
I don’t use it often (prefer physical books), but I’ve had success with Foliate.
Wow, that’s disappointing. Good grief!
@cstross Ok, that name is kinda clever. Lucky naming on Calibre's part.
@cstross wow, what a great name 😂
@cstross They also choose to put it in the core product instead of using the plugin system Calibre has.
Which there might be some reason for, but I’m afraid the reason is FOMO
@cstross honestly though, AFAIK as I know it's just an option to connect an LLM. A stupid idea, but the outrage is completely outsized to what this is about, and who is going to maintain that fork anyway?
@cstross yes, keeping it on github is *perfect*...
@cstross
Funny name, but I'm not getting the strength of this backlash. The feature was just an interface that a user could choose to connect to a LLM if they wanted to put in the extra work. No forced AI, no enshitifying. Just a guy in Mumbai with a Patreon and a git repo who added a hook people are free to use or ignore. Calibre has a million other useless features like that. This one just hit a nerve
@cstross
It's more telling just how raw the AI nerve is among the book community and how toxic oss culture is. The "refusal to remove" was one comment in a forum saying people don't have to implement the feature (NOTE: It takes work to turn it on) As of yesterday it looked like no one even tried to talk to the guy beyond that. We just jump straight to forking the project. Who's going to support the new fork? Are they going to fix the bugs already in the queue? SMH
@hjmiii I am an author. I am party to the Anthropic AI class action lawsuit (they stole my books for training their LLMs). I am not dispassionate on this issue!
@cstross
Believe me, I get that. As an author still trying to break into trad publishing, the whole industry is a hellscape because of these nitwits. All the more reason to focus the righteous anger at the source, not punish some random dude who helps people fight back the enshitifying of ebooks in general.
@cstross Reported as an RFE:
[Enhancement] Make AI a selectable option
I am a ML programmer and author, and a heavy user of LLMs.
Please ensure that is an easy way to turn off "AI" features in Calibre, selectible on a feature-by-feature basis. It is surpassingly easy to dis-improve a product by using LLMs without making them available in a non-intrusive manner and looking at the uptake and bugs reported.
--dave
WTF does a library-software need AI for?
@cstross As far as I can see there is no AI in calibre. You just can connect to various AI services if you want to. But if you don't want to and don't actively configure it you won't use any kind of AI. Or do I see that wrong?
@cstross WTF? Why? What could calibre need with spicy autocorrect? It takes in ebooks and copies it to ereaders... Fuck this AI everywhere bullshit, they know the bubble is about to burst.
@cstross No releases yet, though, so I'm *cautiously* optimistic.
@cstross great naming choice, and a shame that such a great foss project succumbs to ai integration
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