The real engine behind "AI" is the bad tech economy
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Re: The real engine behind "AI" is the bad tech economy
#2The real engine behind “internet” is the bad tech economy.
Vendors need something to sell, companies need to show results to investors, team leads need to justify staffing, devs need to stand out to avoid layoffs.
Insert any buzzy topic into this mix it will get eviscerated by the starving packs of tech jackals… regardless of what actual users want.
I’m excited about the potential behind the technology. But we’re in a state where many emporers have no clothes, and nobody quite wants to say it.
Re: The real engine behind "AI" is the bad tech economy
#3Not really sure what exactly the author is getting at but let's be real: the IT industry is awash with investor dollars hoping to fund the next facebook. AI enters and it starts doing actual, useful work, and now there are a zillion VCs dumping out their wallets trying to get a piece of the next facebook.
None of this means that AI is dumb, rather, VCs are dumb and will chase literally anything that smells like money.
Re: The real engine behind "AI" is the bad tech economy
#4The real engine behind “internet” is the bad tech economy. Vendors need something to sell, companies need to show results to investors, team leads need to justify staffing, devs need to stand out to avoid layoffs. Insert any buzzy topic into this mix it will get eviscerated by the starving packs of tech jackals… regardless of what actual users want. I’m excited about the potential behind the technology. But we’re in…
Well "Internet" went through its own boom and bust crash during the dotcom era. With lots of dumb money chasing dumb investments.
My hypothesis would be that cycle is going to be very heavily accelerated due to the current economy. Many companies aren't operating from a position of strength, but more of desperation. Some tiny few will do well. Many announcing their "AI thing" suddenly becoming AI companies overnight will probably crash and burn.
I could be wrong though.
Re: The real engine behind "AI" is the bad tech economy
#5Not really sure what exactly the author is getting at but let's be real: the IT industry is awash with investor dollars hoping to fund the next facebook. AI enters and it starts doing actual, useful work, and now there are a zillion VCs dumping out their wallets trying to get a piece of the next facebook. None of this means that AI is dumb, rather, VCs are dumb and will chase literally anything that smells like money…
Are they dumb or are they good at investing in stuff on very favorable terms for them and then pumping and dumping their portfolio of hype companies on the unsuspecting masses at a major premium to their initial investment?
Re: The real engine behind "AI" is the bad tech economy
#6What does he mean by "bad"? What would a "good" tech economy look like? Hard to define. Easy to misinterpret and argue over our different understandings of what he meant.
Re: The real engine behind "AI" is the bad tech economy
#7Not really sure what exactly the author is getting at but let's be real: the IT industry is awash with investor dollars hoping to fund the next facebook. AI enters and it starts doing actual, useful work, and now there are a zillion VCs dumping out their wallets trying to get a piece of the next facebook. None of this means that AI is dumb, rather, VCs are dumb and will chase literally anything that smells like money…
Independent of the "real" value of AI
My argument would be the sudden pivot of EVERYONE to AI is more indicative of a lack of good prospects for investments, rather than companies actually discovering products users want and like.
Of course there's real value, but I'd believe the hype more in a strong tech economy, and am distrustful of every company becoming an AI expert overnight in our current weak tech economy.
Re: The real engine behind "AI" is the bad tech economy
#8AI is a marketing term. The people using it are marketing something. You would never use the term in a technical description because it's too ambiguous. Everything he's describing: Companies showing off to investors, devs showing off to management is about marketing.
Re: The real engine behind "AI" is the bad tech economy
#9Not really sure what exactly the author is getting at but let's be real: the IT industry is awash with investor dollars hoping to fund the next facebook. AI enters and it starts doing actual, useful work, and now there are a zillion VCs dumping out their wallets trying to get a piece of the next facebook. None of this means that AI is dumb, rather, VCs are dumb and will chase literally anything that smells like money…
And i wouldn't even say VCs are dumb because they keep hitting success chasing that money. It's why they have this money to throw around.
The labor market is USD$144 trillion worldwide in salary. Automate a fraction of a percentage of the worldwide labor? You have a company with more annual revenue than Apple.
Is it that hard to understand? Can people not think of scenarios where the current generation of AI may be able to automate some percentage of jobs? eg. Do people have any idea how much is spent on paralegals looking up case study law and how good LLMs are at finding such links in an automated way?
I keep seeing people with no idea of the market pushing bad ideas. "LOL CEO said 'AI' to make stock go up". "Nvidia can't possibly be worth more than it once was because AI isn't real". "It's hype and doesn't work". etc.
Re: The real engine behind "AI" is the bad tech economy
#10What does he mean by "bad"? What would a "good" tech economy look like? Hard to define. Easy to misinterpret and argue over our different understandings of what he meant.
"bad" means investors want to make money on their investments, and tech workers want to advance their careers, I guess.