it's over, we're so back
In plain wordsA meme describing the mood swings of the AI world: one day bad news means 'it's over', the next a new model or result means 'we're so back'.
A paired catchphrase expressing rapid oscillation between despair ('it's so over') and euphoria ('we're so back') in response to news. On AI social media it narrates the hype cycle: a disappointing release, a scaling slowdown or a regulatory threat prompts 'it's over', while a surprising benchmark result, an open-weightopen-weight model, n.: An AI model whose trained internal numbers are published for anyone to download and run on their own computers, even if the data and code used to make it stay private. release or a viral demo prompts 'we're so back'. Every faction uses it — safety researchers, accelerationistseffective accelerationism, n.: An online movement, known as e/acc, that wants AI and other technology developed as fast as possible, arguing that progress is good and that safety-driven regulation does more harm than good., investors, open-source developers — each reversing what counts as good news, and it doubles as self-mockery of a community that overreacts to every announcement.
Monday the flagship model stalled on the benchmark: it's over. Wednesday an open model matched it: we're so back.
Origin
'It's over' became a common 4chan reaction-image caption from about 2016; its pairing with 'we're back' is traced to Twitter posts of 2021, and the format spread widely in 2022. A January 2023 post captioning AI-generated images 'It's SO over' tied the meme to generative AI, after which it became a fixture of AI Twitter; political variants include 'it's Joever / we're Barack'.
Related
- feel the AGIfeel the AGI, phr.: An AI-industry catchphrase meaning to grasp, emotionally as well as intellectually, that human-level AI may be arriving soon; it began as a chant inside OpenAI.
- -pilled-pilled, adj.: A slang word ending meaning someone has been won over to a belief, often suddenly and completely; 'AGI-pilled' means convinced that human-level AI is coming soon.
- crackedcracked, adj.: Tech slang praising someone as exceptionally, almost unfairly, skilled; a 'cracked engineer' is a prodigy who ships remarkable work very fast.
- doomerdoomer, n.: Someone who believes advanced AI is likely to cause a catastrophe, possibly human extinction; often used as a put-down by people who think those fears are exaggerated.
- effective accelerationismeffective accelerationism, n.: An online movement, known as e/acc, that wants AI and other technology developed as fast as possible, arguing that progress is good and that safety-driven regulation does more harm than good.
- AI winterAI winter, n.: A slump in which disappointment over AI's unmet promises leads governments and companies to pull back money and attention. Historians count two big ones: one in the 1970s and one starting in the late 1980s.
Mentioned in
ChatGPT momentChatGPT moment, n.: A phrase for the point when a technology suddenly becomes impressive and widely used, as ChatGPT did in late 2022; people ask when robotics, biology or other fields will get theirs., scaling wallscaling wall, n.: The disputed idea that making AI models bigger is running out of steam, so progress will soon stall; 'hitting a wall' became the skeptics' slogan and 'there is no wall' the reply., AGI has been achieved internallyAGI has been achieved internally, phr.: A meme claiming, half-jokingly, that an AI company has secretly built human-level AI and is keeping it hidden; used to tease rumors and hype from AI insiders., crackedcracked, adj.: Tech slang praising someone as exceptionally, almost unfairly, skilled; a 'cracked engineer' is a prodigy who ships remarkable work very fast., feel the AGIfeel the AGI, phr.: An AI-industry catchphrase meaning to grasp, emotionally as well as intellectually, that human-level AI may be arriving soon; it began as a chant inside OpenAI., nerfednerfed, adj.: Gaming slang for something made weaker by an update; applied to AI models that users believe got worse after a provider changed them, often without saying so., -pilled-pilled, adj.: A slang word ending meaning someone has been won over to a belief, often suddenly and completely; 'AGI-pilled' means convinced that human-level AI is coming soon.