digital asbestos

This is the term for any software or hardware that becomes embedded in a system despite the fact that it is past its use-by-date or, in some cases, that it was never any good at all. Once accepted it could take time and money to replace.  Just as asbestos, once thought so useful so that it became ubiquitous, was ultimately recognised as an enormous problem to be removed, so digital asbestos will become a burden for future generations.

Digital asbestos now has relevance in the context of AI where it is possible that hallucinations or algorithmic bias not identified as such are now part of our digital inheritance.  It will take a long time for future generations to recognise them and dig them out.  The AI slop that we create today will still be muddying the thinking of the future.  De-sloppifying is difficult and expensive.