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The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

theregister.com

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Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#71

Post by scotty79 »

SoftTalker wrote: post #15
aabhay wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many fast food places now have tablet based ordering, so turns out AI wasn’t needed for software to take away jobs. That said, AI could do that job perfectly well. The reason we still have human to human interaction when you order is that it creates a more interesting environment for employees, who crave at least some kind of human contact. And customers will pay marginally more for the food if they get some human co…

> Many fast food places now have tablet based ordering As an experience though, they could hardly have implemented it in a worse way. A big part of the reason I don't go to McDonald's any more is that the experience of using the ordering kiosks is so awful compared to just telling a human what I want.

I have exactly opposite experience. If tablets are out of order for some reason, I just go somewhere else rather than attempting to talk to a human.

And the best way is just sit at the table, order with your phone and somebody brings the tray to you.

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#72

Post by jjmarr »

SkyPuncher wrote: post #65
ecshafer wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I worked at McDonalds, a major thing I learned is that when 95% of people say they got an order wrong, the customer ordered it wrong without realizing it. Customer says "I want a cheeseburger, plain", Mcdonalds puts that in as "Cheesebuger, no ketchup, mustard, onion or pickle". Customers will take plain to mean a dozen different things.

I also worked at McDonalds. You example is interesting because this specific issue came up often. Different people interpreted it to mean different things. The cashiers who'd been around the longest had learned to clarify exactly what the customer wants. Also, this is absolutely NOT a customer issue. It's a restaurant issue to clarify. Plain means different things at different restaurants, so the solution is to _alwa…

Every fast food place I've been to, a "plain cheeseburger" includes cheese. However, at every high-end burger place I've been to, "plain" does NOT include cheese. So there is a somewhat standard meaning.

I have this conversation enough that I now call out "plain no cheese" and ensure "no cheese" is written on the ticket.

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#73

Post by NKosmatos »

wood_spirit wrote: post #14

This post from earlier today was imo a better take https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45008209

Thanks for posting this and yes you’re right, it’s a more detailed and well written post, giving a better explanation of the AI situation. We “old timers” love TheRegister but it has a certain style and way of writing, especially the original UK version (where BOFH gained fame).

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#74

Post by xenonite »

diggan wrote: post #22
SoftTalker wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many fast food places now have tablet based ordering As an experience though, they could hardly have implemented it in a worse way. A big part of the reason I don't go to McDonald's any more is that the experience of using the ordering kiosks is so awful compared to just telling a human what I want.

> A big part of the reason I don't go to McDonald's any more is that the experience of using the ordering kiosks is so awful compared to just telling a human what I want. Huh, for me is the polar opposite. Maybe it's because I mumble, is unclear or don't speak the native language as well as the natives where I live, but I always preferred the kiosks. I seem to always get what I order then, and it's a lot easier to cu…

Removing the seasoning from a McDonald’s burger is only possible with human contact afaik. So no, not any customization is possible.

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#75

Post by CheeseFromLidl »

jerf wrote: post #27
datadrivenangel wrote: post #4

Large Language Models will change a significant portion of how companies and thus the economy works. This will be transformational. AI Companies are still overhyped.

The analogy to the Dot Com bubble seems strong. Pretty much everything promised in the Dot Com bubble has come to pass. It just didn't come to pass on the time frame the stock valuations implied. And given that the time value of money is an exponential process and not just a linear one, missing by 10-15 years is missing by a lot . I don't know that AI is going to miss in the same way by 15 years but I also don't see…

  It just didn't come to pass on the time frame the stock valuations implied.
There’s always “urgency” involved when pumping money around the system. And some win big with overselling this need to act fast. I don’t see how patience can be introduced.

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#76

Post by monster_truck »

bachmeier wrote: post #10
strict9 wrote: post #3

Interesting to see an opinion piece on the register pointing out 3 camps, none of which apply to most people I know who work in software development. Mainly that ai is a useful tool. Sometimes it is magical but has limits and is often wrong. It can be a great illustrator of sunk cost fallacy when working on very complex problems. But light years faster and more useful than googling for solutions when faced with a dif…

> On net I would much prefer to have ai around than not. I agree sort of, but on the other hand we don't know their true cost, whether that's the out-of-pocket expenses, or the pollution and high electricity/water costs that will result.

[flagged]

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#77

Post by mh- »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #50
strict9 wrote: post #3

Interesting to see an opinion piece on the register pointing out 3 camps, none of which apply to most people I know who work in software development. Mainly that ai is a useful tool. Sometimes it is magical but has limits and is often wrong. It can be a great illustrator of sunk cost fallacy when working on very complex problems. But light years faster and more useful than googling for solutions when faced with a dif…

Read on then — the author suggests a 4th camp that I believe you (and I as a matter of fact) can agree with. "I propose a fourth: AI is now as good as it's going to get, and that's neither as good nor as bad as its fans and haters think…" I suppose I disagree with "as good as it's going to get" … but for the time being (this decade?) this might be correct.

Taking out the fact we're talking about "AI" for the moment.. doesn't it seem unusual to speculate that despite recent progress, it's just going to be.. flat from here out? (That's directed at El Reg, not you.)

Hard to take the rest of it seriously with them taking a position like that. I can't think of a time that's been true for any technology in my career. Whether they were ones I found useful or not.

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#79

Post by mh- »

jjmarr wrote: post #72
SkyPuncher wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also worked at McDonalds. You example is interesting because this specific issue came up often. Different people interpreted it to mean different things. The cashiers who'd been around the longest had learned to clarify exactly what the customer wants. Also, this is absolutely NOT a customer issue. It's a restaurant issue to clarify. Plain means different things at different restaurants, so the solution is to _alwa…

Every fast food place I've been to, a "plain cheeseburger" includes cheese. However, at every high-end burger place I've been to, "plain" does NOT include cheese. So there is a somewhat standard meaning. I have this conversation enough that I now call out "plain no cheese" and ensure "no cheese" is written on the ticket.

That's a strange source of confusion. A plain cheeseburger without cheese has a different name: a plain hamburger. I can't imagine saying "cheeseburger", no matter what qualifying words around it, and being surprised it included cheese.

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#80

Post by mh- »

xenonite wrote: post #74
diggan wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A big part of the reason I don't go to McDonald's any more is that the experience of using the ordering kiosks is so awful compared to just telling a human what I want. Huh, for me is the polar opposite. Maybe it's because I mumble, is unclear or don't speak the native language as well as the natives where I live, but I always preferred the kiosks. I seem to always get what I order then, and it's a lot easier to cu…

Removing the seasoning from a McDonald’s burger is only possible with human contact afaik. So no, not any customization is possible.

You can order a hamburger with "no salt" now via the app (and probably the kiosk?). But I'm not sure if there are other seasonings you're referring to, though.
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