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Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'

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Re: Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'

#71

Post by ryandrake »

tracerbulletx wrote: post #59
omoikane wrote: post #17

It's hard to tell if what Eric Schmidt was saying was a joke, an observation, or a recommendation. One interpretation from the context of the transcript seem to be "AI can make/steal stuff and manual intervention (lawyers) can clean those up later". Another interpretation from the context of Eric Schmidt being a savvy businessman is that people should go ahead and solve all the technical challenges first, and everyth…

It's not specifically about technical problems. He's saying that you need to just go all in on getting traction and not constantly be worrying about things that aren't going to matter if you never get it. It's the same thing as people who just opine about how they'll handle the big server bills, or how they'll scale to a billion users, or how they'll deal with regulations, when they haven't gotten their first user ye…

This advice kind of feels like "Don't pay your taxes. Just go all in on enjoying your life and not constantly be worrying about things that aren't going to matter if you die. Worry about it later if the IRS goes after you."

You really should be preparing for the future and operating above board, even from day one.

Re: Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'

#72

Post by DaSHacka »

ronsor wrote: post #45
nradov wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can make a loose analogy, but there's an enormous difference between violating IP rights and literally stealing things with physical violence.

There was a time when things like the music industry's comparison of piracy to stealing cars would be laughed at.

And now people argue blocking certain network elements from loading on a website is "piracy"

Its frankly disappointing how passified most internet users have gotten with regard to corporate BS in recent years

Re: Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'

#73

Post by csouzaf »

shrubble wrote: post #67
csouzaf wrote: post #46

It's crazy to see the repercussions of the talk he gave at Stanford, even after the video was made private by the Stanford YouTube channel. I thought the talk was great. I remember in the talk he said something like this, but he was being really open about what normally happens in these types of companies. I think the problem is that he, as someone in a position of power, was too open about it?

Why was it made private? Isn’t the whole idea of a university to allow different opinions and views to be made available?

I don't know exactly why, but I suspect it's because of the repercussions that started popping up in the news just after the release. The talk was given 1 month prior to the publication of the video, so it was already a little outdated

Re: Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'

#74

Post by rbanffy »

kaffeeringe wrote: post #58
baxtr wrote: post #30

This is only half true. It needs to read: “ Any VC backed startup can steal IP and hire lawyers to clean up the mess” If you have money, you can usually buy influence and also buy your way out of a ‘mess’. Just make sure that those you steal from have less money/influence at their disposal than you.

Crime pays, when you are rich.

With enough money you can help elect someone to change the law and… whatever you did is no longer a crime.

Problem solved.

Re: Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'

#75

Post by seanmcdirmid »

ryandrake wrote: post #71
tracerbulletx wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not specifically about technical problems. He's saying that you need to just go all in on getting traction and not constantly be worrying about things that aren't going to matter if you never get it. It's the same thing as people who just opine about how they'll handle the big server bills, or how they'll scale to a billion users, or how they'll deal with regulations, when they haven't gotten their first user ye…

This advice kind of feels like "Don't pay your taxes. Just go all in on enjoying your life and not constantly be worrying about things that aren't going to matter if you die. Worry about it later if the IRS goes after you." You really should be preparing for the future and operating above board, even from day one.

You don’t have to pay income taxes until you record profit, at least, so that really is like what he is saying. The IRS is not going to think this is weird, many (most even) startups never get to the point of paying taxes, and non-profits by definition don’t.

Re: Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'

#76

Post by pjmorris »

ronsor wrote: post #11
seydor wrote: post #9

it worked for google, youtube, facebook, reddit, discord, tumblr, twitter . it's not exactly rocket science

It just works, and if anything, it's a sign the law is broken if you have to ignore it to succeed (and it's profitable to do so).

I want to probe a couple of assumptions here...

1. Isn't it possible that there are some businesses that shouldn't succeed? I could give examples.

2. What if someone doesn't 'have' to ignore the law, they choose to ignore it because they think they 'have' to?

Re: Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'

#77

Post by choppaface »

omoikane wrote: post #17

It's hard to tell if what Eric Schmidt was saying was a joke, an observation, or a recommendation. One interpretation from the context of the transcript seem to be "AI can make/steal stuff and manual intervention (lawyers) can clean those up later". Another interpretation from the context of Eric Schmidt being a savvy businessman is that people should go ahead and solve all the technical challenges first, and everyth…

Schmidt oversaw lots of “stealing” at Google, from Google Books (Author’s Guild), to Image Search (e.g. Perfect10 etc, before even Getty), the French press .. all before Viacom vs Youtube and others.

Schmidt was also notably part of the tech no-poach / wage suppression scheme ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust... ).

He knows very well the spectrum of stealing and liability. In this talk he’s pounding his chest in front of young investors and executives to celebrate what he got away with and to inflate his brand.

Contrast though with TK, who through Greyballing (among other things) wanted to “steal” the taxi market and make himself and Uber above the law.

So Schmidt’s raw ambition is no joke. But historically his actions have been perhaps more conservative than those of others.

Re: Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'

#78

Post by csouzaf »

mistrial9 wrote: post #54
csouzaf wrote: post #46

It's crazy to see the repercussions of the talk he gave at Stanford, even after the video was made private by the Stanford YouTube channel. I thought the talk was great. I remember in the talk he said something like this, but he was being really open about what normally happens in these types of companies. I think the problem is that he, as someone in a position of power, was too open about it?

> It's crazy that is a phrase often used by people who are appealing to an invisible sense of "us versus them", emphasizing that the crazy thing-person-event is "not us" ? > even after the video was made private by the Stanford YouTube channel private conversations among the very powerful is exactly the topic.. so this seems a bit of a Freudian slip > I thought the talk was great. I am one of "us" so why so much upse…

Sorry, mate. I'm really not immersed in the English-speaking world, so I don't exactly understand the use of 'crazy'. I just see this word being used and used it here. What I meant was that I think what he said was perfectly normal C-level talk, and that's it. I hope my words don't resonate badly

Really, I was just commenting something completely honest about what I thought.

Re: Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'

#79

Post by cyanydeez »

omoikane wrote: post #17

It's hard to tell if what Eric Schmidt was saying was a joke, an observation, or a recommendation. One interpretation from the context of the transcript seem to be "AI can make/steal stuff and manual intervention (lawyers) can clean those up later". Another interpretation from the context of Eric Schmidt being a savvy businessman is that people should go ahead and solve all the technical challenges first, and everyth…

If you make enough money, you just purchase laws.

No need to try and decontextualize.

Re: Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'

#80

Post by ryandrake »

csouzaf wrote: post #69
bugglebeetle wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I thought the talk was great. The talk was effectively how to be a criminal sociopath with some minor technology set dressing, so please elaborate on its greatness.

I really liked the openness he presented about himself. He talked to a bunch of students about things he knew, with little filter, that's it

You're allowed to both like the openness and criticize the character of the speaker who is being open.
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