An Auckland convenience store is in the midst of an ongoing online battle after inadvertently allowing its website to be edited by the general public.

The store […] found itself advertising, among other things, a “pair of crusty socks”, a “Princess Diana Commemorative Plate”, and “National Parks to the highest bidder”.

The store’s site uses Base44, a “no-code AI platform” that allows users to build web applications, but it has been left open for the public to edit.

At one point, while items were being added for sale, the website’s operator appeared to be arguing with the public, with one item saying “stop hacking us”. An item popped up in response saying “don’t use an AI site builder then.”

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[–] [S] 63 points 1 week ago (1 child)

My favourite, show in a screenshot but not mentioned in the text, is an item “Website Developer”, price “$0.00”.

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  • [–] 58 points 1 week ago (10 children)

    Ah yes, AI web development, what could possibly go wrong?

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  • [–] 38 points 1 week ago* (4 children)

    Maybe we can help them, they made a new website here: http://127.0.0.1:3000/

    /s

    In all seriousness, there are plenty of cheap services out there for businesses that want a store/website without any technical experience

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  • [–] 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    How did you get my secret site's address? The AI told me it was secure! I'm notifying the police right now, and they're going to trace your IP and arrest you!!

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (3 children)

    I don't think AI was the problem here. It was someone who didn't know what they were doing using AI and not bothering to learn what the AI did.

    Like hiring a jr developer, giving them Prod access and telling them to have fun and make a site.

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  • [–] 47 points 1 week ago* (6 children)

    “stop hacking us”

    💀💀💀

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  • [–] 8 points 1 week ago (3 children)
  • [–] 39 points 1 week ago* (12 children)

    I don't understand why someone would use AI to build an e-commerce site.

    For someone that doesn't know what they're doing, use something prebuilt and cloud-hosted like Shopify or Square. Even some major brands use it. The largest electronics store in Australia (JB HiFi, similar to Best Buy in the USA) uses Shopify Plus. I think Staples in the USA/Canada uses Shopify too.

    For someone that does know what they're doing, they wouldn't have left it open for other people to edit it. AI still needs fundamental understanding of how e-commerce sites work.

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  • [–] 59 points 1 week ago (7 children)

    The problem with people who don't know what they're doing is that they don't know what they're doing.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 week ago (4 children)

    I get that, but it's still weird that their first reaction was "I should use AI for this" rather than "I should copy what other small stores do" or "I should Google 'how to run an online store'", either of which would have led to a better solution.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 week ago

    it's still weird that their first reaction was "I should use AI for this"

    Why is that? With AI being the solution to everything being advertised down our thoats on the daily..... you dont think AI companies would lie to us do you?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Ah, I see you're still assuming that Google isn't pushing their BS "AI" into anything & everything it can. (not a "they", don't humanize it, my fellow poors) IMHO, they'd have been just as likely to choose a bot-coded builder by searching for it. Hell, we don't even know that they didn't, really.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    The thrust of your advice is good, but Shopify is part of the whole Omarchy situation, having donated to Omacom. That site recommends "WooCommerce or Openfront instead of Shopify;" I have no experience with either of those alternatives but would recommend adding them to your list of options.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago

    oh no

    WooCommerce and Openfront are both things you need to host yourself, which is fine for tech savvy people but probably not something I'd recommend to someone with no experience (or who thinks using AI for it is a good idea).

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  • [–] 36 points 1 week ago

    Gee, I bet they sure are glad that they saved $20k by not hiring a real web developer, right?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago

    The banana obviously should have been $10.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago (1 child)
  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago

    Ahh yes! The “stop hacking us” command.
    Just if everyone could use that. Then we won't need to worry about the ever increasing requirements of higher encryption standards.

    It's like making a property private, shouting "This is mine! Nobody come here!" when nobody is around and then expecting every random wanderer to just walk away despite not having any demarcation anywhere.

    Perhaps nations should stop putting work into militarisation and just say "don't invade us".

    /s

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  • [–] 0 points 1 week ago

    DID SOMEONE SAY...

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  • [+] -21 points 1 week ago*

    Dumb bitch had it coming. Shouldn’t have worn a pretty dress. - this thread, cause ai 😂

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