I liked this. It got me thinking: Are there any large consumer software companies (just software; no hardware or retail) that are not advertising based?
Microsoft? They do advertising among other things, but I don't think it makes the largest chunk of their revenue
The AI lifestyle subsidy is going to end
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Re: The AI lifestyle subsidy is going to end
#82Future ain't what it used to be. The web is dead (worse actually, it's a putrid rotting zombie, destroying our children's lives and ours), but the internet will survive.
Re: The AI lifestyle subsidy is going to end
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
>So what exactly is the "AI lifestyle subsidy" The world's richest subsiding the real cost of offering AI services with the current state of our technology. Once it's clear the AGI won't come anytime in 20X, where X is under 40, money tap will begin to close
> AGI won't come anytime in 20X, where X is under 40 Honestly, I think that's quite generous. And I only phrase it that way, rather than more like "that X should be 99" because trying to predict more than about 15 years out in tech, especially when it comes to breakthroughs, is a fool's errand. But that's what it's going to take to reach AGI: a genuine unforeseeable breakthrough that lets us do new things with machin…
I know! I set a rather low one to avoid having all the HN LLM Koolaid drinkers and LLM astroturfers have a go at it
Re: The AI lifestyle subsidy is going to end
#84So what exactly is the "AI lifestyle subsidy"? The article doesn't seem entirely clear on it seeing as the last line essentially asks this same question. Some friends and I have been taking advantage of cheap GPU time from a company trying to break into that space, and of course lots of AI tools are being sold below cost but is that really it? Compare "GPU time is cheaper" to the classical "$10 steaks delivered direc…
Re: The AI lifestyle subsidy is going to end
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am bewildered to hear the sense of "local," in which I and engineers in my experience have for thirty years referred to things which are not remotely hosted, referred to as an "overload."
I thought it was friendlier than "abuse"
Re: The AI lifestyle subsidy is going to end
#86The subsidy is blatantly obvious when you compare the cost of self-hosting versus subscription, and the subscription is dramatically dramatically cheaper. The difference between Blue Apron and many AI tools is that the value add does exist. You can cut meal prep from your life, but by 2030, cutting whatever agentic code copilot exists by that point will be like cutting off your fingers for many workers and businesses…
Can you explain how? Will it be all vibe-coding?
Re: The AI lifestyle subsidy is going to end
#87Re: The AI lifestyle subsidy is going to end
#88I liked this. It got me thinking: Are there any large consumer software companies (just software; no hardware or retail) that are not advertising based?