I think a healthier perspective would involve more shades of grey. There are real issues with power consumption and job displacement. There are real benefits with better access to information and getting more done with limited resources. But I expect bringing any nuance into the conversation will get me downvoted to hell.
There are real benefits with better access to information and getting more done with limited resources.
If there were, someone would have made that product and it would be profitable.
But they ain’t and it isn’t because those benefits are miniscule. The only cases we know of where that was the actual story turn out to be outsourcing to India and calling it AI.
Idk why profitability is the bar for you. It’s common practice for tech companies to be non-profitable for years as they invest in R&D and capturing market share.
But products like Claude absolutely provide both of the benefits (and detriments) I mentioned
Profitability is the point, right? Moving goods from one place to another at a loss in the expectation that scale and market share will pan out is perfectly acceptable.
Vaporware for $40/mo. Is not. Claude can’t ever be profitable at its price point, and even with the price so low its market share is abysmal. There’s delaying profitability and there’s burning unconscionable piles of cash without any idea of how it can become profitable.
AI’s adoption has been atrocious by any stretch so unless the plan us to continue to fuck up an unbelievable number of models and processes in the hope some future Ed McMahon hands over an enormous oversized novelty check worth billions, their activities are scandalously unprofitable.
Why does profit matter? I don’t personally give a shit about the longevity, margins or market share of any company invested in the technology, but I am generally in favor of research and development of any technology. In most research it’s hard to predict the future applications.
That’s not to say development is always smart, or safe, or ethical, just that it has to happen in order to see where this goes. Even if there’s an end point it’s helpful to know where it is.
Unfortunately, capitalism requires a sacrifice to the economy in order to pursue anything. That’s what sucks about this. If we weren’t hard wired to justify existence in capital there wouldn’t be so much occlusive hype around it.
Why does profit matter? . . . but I am generally in favor of research and development of any technology. In most research it’s hard to predict the future applications.
Answered your own question there.
If we weren’t hard wired to justify existence in capital there wouldn’t be so much occlusive hype around it.
Can’t argue with that. It is almost entirely a cash grab that is astonishing in its overreach and astounding in its apparent failure.
I think a healthier perspective would involve more shades of grey. There are real issues with power consumption and job displacement. There are real benefits with better access to information and getting more done with limited resources. But I expect bringing any nuance into the conversation will get me downvoted to hell.
If there were, someone would have made that product and it would be profitable.
But they ain’t and it isn’t because those benefits are miniscule. The only cases we know of where that was the actual story turn out to be outsourcing to India and calling it AI.
Idk why profitability is the bar for you. It’s common practice for tech companies to be non-profitable for years as they invest in R&D and capturing market share.
But products like Claude absolutely provide both of the benefits (and detriments) I mentioned
Profitability is the point, right? Moving goods from one place to another at a loss in the expectation that scale and market share will pan out is perfectly acceptable.
Vaporware for $40/mo. Is not. Claude can’t ever be profitable at its price point, and even with the price so low its market share is abysmal. There’s delaying profitability and there’s burning unconscionable piles of cash without any idea of how it can become profitable.
AI’s adoption has been atrocious by any stretch so unless the plan us to continue to fuck up an unbelievable number of models and processes in the hope some future Ed McMahon hands over an enormous oversized novelty check worth billions, their activities are scandalously unprofitable.
Why does profit matter? I don’t personally give a shit about the longevity, margins or market share of any company invested in the technology, but I am generally in favor of research and development of any technology. In most research it’s hard to predict the future applications.
That’s not to say development is always smart, or safe, or ethical, just that it has to happen in order to see where this goes. Even if there’s an end point it’s helpful to know where it is.
Unfortunately, capitalism requires a sacrifice to the economy in order to pursue anything. That’s what sucks about this. If we weren’t hard wired to justify existence in capital there wouldn’t be so much occlusive hype around it.
Answered your own question there.
Can’t argue with that. It is almost entirely a cash grab that is astonishing in its overreach and astounding in its apparent failure.
More profit does not equal more research and development, since there’s an awful lot of development happening despite the lack of profit.
I won’t speculate on the failure of the technology because I don’t know what was supposed to be achieved on what timeline.
But I’ll agree the industry is ripe with shit marketing and overselling/misrepresentating its current capabilities, because of capitalism.