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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'

#81
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?

[deleted]

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

#82
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's absurd. It's also incredibly profitable to rob a bank or to dump chemicals in the river instead of properly cleaning them up, but that's not a signal the law is broken.

You've missed the "if you have to ignore it to succeed" part of my comment. You'll do fine without robbing a bank or dumping chemical waste (neither of which are profitable in practice now, as well). Meanwhile society is littered with so many small instances of copyright infringement (memes, which usually are not fair use; fan art; etc.) that it's common practice for rightsholders to look the other way - but it shoul…

> Also copyright infringement does not physically harm people.

Starving artists might disagree here.

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

#83
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's absurd. It's also incredibly profitable to rob a bank or to dump chemicals in the river instead of properly cleaning them up, but that's not a signal the law is broken.

You've missed the "if you have to ignore it to succeed" part of my comment. You'll do fine without robbing a bank or dumping chemical waste (neither of which are profitable in practice now, as well). Meanwhile society is littered with so many small instances of copyright infringement (memes, which usually are not fair use; fan art; etc.) that it's common practice for rightsholders to look the other way - but it shoul…

How about slave labor? Definitely more profitable than paying employees. Is the law broken here, too?

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

#84

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.

If something is clearly illegal or immoral to you don't do it. This is more about if its ambiguous or you believe your companies goal is a good thing and it's unclear if you will get sued for it.

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

#85
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

That's absurd. It's also incredibly profitable to rob a bank or to dump chemicals in the river instead of properly cleaning them up, but that's not a signal the law is broken.

The average (successful) bank robber gets less than $5000 in exchange for a substantial risk of going to prison for 10-25 years. It does not actually pay if you think ahead enough to do the math.

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

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Obviously I'm not talking specifically about corporate taxes, here. In fact the example was about personal taxes. It's a generality about the attitude of "Ignore the rules, do what you have to now, and worry about the consequences later."

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

#87
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's absurd. It's also incredibly profitable to rob a bank or to dump chemicals in the river instead of properly cleaning them up, but that's not a signal the law is broken.

You've missed the "if you have to ignore it to succeed" part of my comment. You'll do fine without robbing a bank or dumping chemical waste (neither of which are profitable in practice now, as well). Meanwhile society is littered with so many small instances of copyright infringement (memes, which usually are not fair use; fan art; etc.) that it's common practice for rightsholders to look the other way - but it shoul…

> You've missed the "if you have to ignore it to succeed" part of my comment.

Breaking the law makes a lot of terrible business models instantly profitable.

Imagine I have a uranium refinement company. It is a colossal capital investment and not many companies do it. Law forbids me to sell weapons grade uranium for random people, but it just happens those very people are the ones who are willing to pay a lot of money for it as long as I don’t ask too many questions.

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

#88
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've missed the "if you have to ignore it to succeed" part of my comment. You'll do fine without robbing a bank or dumping chemical waste (neither of which are profitable in practice now, as well). Meanwhile society is littered with so many small instances of copyright infringement (memes, which usually are not fair use; fan art; etc.) that it's common practice for rightsholders to look the other way - but it shoul…

How about slave labor? Definitely more profitable than paying employees. Is the law broken here, too?

Just look at the pyramids. Thanks to slave labour Egypt has now a reliable source of income from tourism. Let’s make it legal again.

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

#89
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Of course, I thought that my comment didn't touch on the critical part about it. I just liked the talk he gave. Should I also criticize when saying 'It's great' so I can express myself in a perfectly balanced way between justice and what people think he said badly? I'm asking an honest question

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

#90
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's describing a completely absurd fantasy. No matter how amazing your agent's code generation capabilities are, you can't simply snap your fingers and acquire the userbase that makes social media sites notionally valuable, and even if you could the market would be so flooded with people creating the same kind of garbage that absolutely nothing would "go viral".

Occasionally a song by a new recording artist will go viral even when it's no better than the thousands of other songs released every week. Popularity in media and entertainment often comes down to timing and luck.

There's a world of difference between a song and an entire social media platform.
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