Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears • Hacker News Board

Re: Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears

#771

Post by conartist6 » Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 4:48 AM UTC

scq wrote: post #728

e2021 wrote: post #726

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Metaverse was a flop maybe, but meta makes something like $1 billion a week from its mobile apps, it'd be crazy to say that is not successful. The fact that it was so successful, and that zuck picked mobile to be the next big thing before many of his peers and against what managers in the company wanted to do is probably what has made him now overconfident that he can do it again

By "pivot into mobile" I suspect the other poster is referring to Facebook Home, an ill-fated Android skin and line of smartphones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Home

No. Back when smartphones were still in the process of taking over the market, Zuck saw the adoption curve and realized that future ad revenue would be from phone scrollers.

At the time most features were designed and implemented first for desktop and later ported to mobile. He issued an edict to all hands: design and build for mobile first. Not at some point in the future but for everything, starting immediately.

Maybe this doesn't sound major, but for the company it was a turn on a dime, and the pivot was both well informed and highly successful in practice.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears

#772

Post by Imustaskforhelp » Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 4:48 AM UTC

standardUser wrote: post #723

danpalmer wrote: post #706

Zuckerberg either doesn't have the resolve for changing the business, or just keeps picking the wrong directions (depending on your biases). First Facebook tried to pivot into mobile, pushed really hard for a short time and then flopped. Then Facebook tried really hard to make the Metaverse a thing, and for a while, but eventually Meta stopped finding it interesting and significantly reduced investment. Then AI was t…

> Then Facebook tried really hard to make the Metaverse a thing... An unforced error on the scale of HBO switching to MAX, except likely far more expensive. What is the Metaverse anyway?

man hbo's name changes are just so funny. I just searched, 4 name changes are wild.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears

#773

Post by paool » Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 4:49 AM UTC

ath3nd wrote: post #742

standardUser wrote: post #723

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then Facebook tried really hard to make the Metaverse a thing... An unforced error on the scale of HBO switching to MAX, except likely far more expensive. What is the Metaverse anyway?

It's the future! The same as Zuck's bet on VR (remember Oculus?). Similar to Zuck's promises of superintelligence. Just one of the many futures wherein Meta poured a lot of money and achieved nothing. I hope in their real future there is bankruptcy and ruin.

Short sighted. I wouldn't count VR out until the fidelity is good enough and cheap enough that everyone who has a smartphone can experience VR/AR.

If it still doesn't take off, fair.

But I bet the form factor will be glasses because now you can have a screen way bigger than a phone or monitor and the interface is way smarter (ai).

It's just a matter of when everyone can afford one

Re: Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears

#774

Post by Imustaskforhelp » Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 4:52 AM UTC

platevoltage wrote: post #739

postalrat wrote: post #697

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it's the biggest change since the Internet but what will be bigger will probably remain subjective.

I’d say that the social media revolution had a bigger effect than AI has at this point.

That is a genuinely fair take. I agree

Social media was a quality of life upgrade where it wasn't promising too much, and it delivered on what it promised. (maybe a little too much)

AI on the other hand just like blockchain feels like hype.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears

#775

Post by Imustaskforhelp » Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 4:55 AM UTC

aspenmayer wrote: post #737

jeremyjh wrote: post #735

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The market can stay irrational for longer than you can stay solvent.

That was my point, if someone thinks that Meta is overvalued, they can put their money where their mouth is. The fact that the share price hasn’t cratered is a kind of collective belief in the opposite.

I can't/won't short the stock because shorting usually is for 14 days etc. and I can't be certain in that timeframe about meta or any company

I mean, theoretically you could short a company for a really long time it seems like, I just searched, I always assumed it to usually be of 14 days but still.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears

#776

Post by Imustaskforhelp » Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 4:56 AM UTC

aspenmayer wrote: post #753

ath3nd wrote: post #751

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edgy prediction: Meta is irrelevant and on a path to even further irrelevancy, and, fingers crossed, a bankruptcy or at least Zuck being removed as the main man

Edgier prediction: Meta is too (big, but more importantly) relevant to (be allowed to) fail, because it can be co-opted by TLAs due to its apps being pre-loaded on mobile devices. https://news.ycombinator.com/context?id=44979751

There were a lot of things too big to fail

Lehman brothers, Enron.

When this bubble pops, its going to be absolute chaos maybe just like last time

Re: Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears

#777

Post by Imustaskforhelp » Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 4:58 AM UTC

ath3nd wrote: post #749

jiveturkey wrote: post #644

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sometimes you lose

And like VR? And like...LLAMa? Maybe also like adding ads in WhatsApp cause we gotta squeeze our users so we can spend on... AI gurus? Meta has not had a win since they named themselves Meta. It's enjoyable to watch them flail around like clueless morons jumping on every fad and wasting their time and money.

It makes me feel better / more comfortable with myself seeing what meta does. Almost being childish.

Maybe this sounds selfish but its a little fun to me to see them lose. I just don't like meta and its privacy in sensitive ad network bullshit.

Like the fact that if someone clicked a photo and deleted it then show them beauty ads because they are insecure. I can't give 2 cents about the growth of such a black mirror -esque company

Re: Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears

#778

Post by aspenmayer » Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 4:59 AM UTC

Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #775

aspenmayer wrote: post #737

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was my point, if someone thinks that Meta is overvalued, they can put their money where their mouth is. The fact that the share price hasn’t cratered is a kind of collective belief in the opposite.

I can't/won't short the stock because shorting usually is for 14 days etc. and I can't be certain in that timeframe about meta or any company I mean, theoretically you could short a company for a really long time it seems like, I just searched, I always assumed it to usually be of 14 days but still.

Isn’t that the reason options even exist? You need to know you won’t starve and die if your harvest doesn’t come in. I’ll admit that I’m no expert on finance and innovations in financial instruments, but I think short selling has been around in some form or another for centuries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_(finance)

> The practice of short selling was likely invented in 1609 by Dutch businessman Isaac Le Maire, a sizeable shareholder of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC in Dutch).

Re: Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears

#779

Post by elphinstone » Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 5:00 AM UTC

danpalmer wrote: post #706

Zuckerberg either doesn't have the resolve for changing the business, or just keeps picking the wrong directions (depending on your biases). First Facebook tried to pivot into mobile, pushed really hard for a short time and then flopped. Then Facebook tried really hard to make the Metaverse a thing, and for a while, but eventually Meta stopped finding it interesting and significantly reduced investment. Then AI was t…

>Then Facebook tried really hard to make the Metaverse a thing, and for a while, but eventually Meta stopped finding it interesting and significantly reduced investment.

That's a charitable description of a massive bonfire of cash and credibility for an end product that looks worse than a 1990s MMORPG and has fewer active users than a small town sports arena.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears

#780

Post by Imustaskforhelp » Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 5:01 AM UTC

mrheosuper wrote: post #725

rTX5CMRXIfFG wrote: post #696

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think that’s the point. Yes, Siri is crap, but Apple is already working on integrating LLMs at the OS level and those are shipping soon. It’s a quick fix to catch up in the AI game, but considering their track record, they’re likely to eventually retire third party partnerships and vertically integrate with their own models in the future. The incentive is there—doing so will only boost their stock price.

Just because the LLM can access kernel does not miracle make it better. Do you think the problem with Apple AI right now is because they don't have access to OS components?

There was this project that recently dropped open source https://github.com/minitap-ai/mobile-use

I do think that kernel level access is not needed as this is some good amount of automation though I assume what apple can make do however is actually not require another laptop connected to automate your mobile but rather the npu?/gpu? inside your phone.

I am surprised by why they haven't done it already.