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OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race

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Re: OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race

#111

"Code red" feels like theater. Competition is healthy - Google's compute advantage was always going to matter once they got serious. The real question isn't who's ahead this quarter, but whether anyone can maintain a moat when the underlying tech is rapidly commoditizing.

It feels like (to me) that Google's TPU advantage (speculation is Meta is buying a bunch) will be one of the last things to be commoditized, which gives them a larger moat. Normal chips are hard enough to come by for this stuff.

Re: OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race

#112
post #71

> There will be a daily call for those tasked with improving the chatbot, the memo said, and Altman encouraged temporary team transfers to speed up development. It's incredible how 50 year-old advice from The Mythical Man-Month are still not being heed. Throw in a knee-jerk solution of "daily call" (sound familiar?) for those involved while they are wading knee-deep through work and you have a perfect storm of terrib…

Don't forget the bleak subtext of all this. All these engineers working 70 hour weeks for world class sociopaths in some sort of fucked up space race to create a technology that is supposed to make all of them unemployed .

These engineers make enough money to comfortably retire by the time they are replaced with AI.

Re: OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race

#113

Conspiracy time. >be Google >watch regulators circle like vultures >realize antitrust heat is rising faster than stock buybacks can hide >notice a small lab called OpenAI making exotic tech and attracting political fascination >calculate that nothing freezes regulators like an unpredictable new frontier >decide to treat OpenAI as an accidental firebreak >let them sprint ahead unchecked watch lawmakers panic about hyp…

It's a fun idea but there's ample public reporting about how Google reacted to the rise of ChatGPT. There is reporting that Google was taken by surprise. You can be skeptical of that, but that's what the reporting says. ChatGPT went viral in Nov/Dec 2022, and by February or March Google was scrambling to stand up Bard as a viable competitor.

https://web.archive.org/web/20221221100606/https://www.nytim...

https://web.archive.org/web/20230512133437/https://www.theve...

Re: OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race

#115
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly advise never using Google's Drive storage. They're known to scan all content, and to disable all access if even a single file is "problematic", often misclassified by a bot. If you do use the storage, do backup all your files, and be ready to lose access at any time, with no way to reach any intelligent human.

Since we are on the topic of bans & Google, I have a question. How likely or difficult is it for Google to engage in, for lack of better word, "thought policing"? You ask your "private" AI assistant to answer a naughty question or help with problematic task(from Google's hidden list) and then you eventually face the ban hammer. Did anybody ever get banned for searching the wrong keywords?

> Did anybody ever get banned for searching the wrong keywords?

No, but they probably pass clusters of (perceived to be) dangerous searches on to the Feds. Talking out my ass though.

Re: OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race

#116

AI creates the possibility to disrupt existing power structures - this is the only reason it gathers so much focus. If it were merely tool that increased efficiency of work, few would care so much. We already frequently get such tools which draw far less attention.

So far all it has done is entrench existing power structures by dis-empowering people who are struggling the most in current economic conditions. How exactly do you suppose that's going to change in the future if currently it's simply making the rich richer & the poor poorer?

Re: OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race

#117

Heard all the news how Gemini 3 is passing everyone on benchmarks, so quickly tested and still find it a far cry from ChatGPT in real world use when testing questions on both platforms. But importantly the ChatGPT app experience at least for iPhone/Mac users is drastically superior vs Google which feels very Google still. So Gemini would have to be drastically better answer wise than ChatGPT to lure users from a bett…

That's really fascinating. Every real world use case I've tried on Gemini (especially math-related) absolutely slaughtered the performance of ChatGPT in speed and quality, not even close. As an Android user, the Gemini app is also far superior, since the ChatGPT app still doesn't properly display math equations, among plenty of other bugs.

Re: OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race

#119
I see google partnering with different companies to mine their data for AI, but I don't see that with OpenAI. They had a good thing going with Microsoft but it looks like that relationship is a bit sour now?

Surely they know that they can't just keep scraping the internet to train models.

If I don't use a Microsoft product, I'd have to go out of my way to use an OpenAI service. But they don't have a specialized "service" (like anthropic and developers) either. Gemini is there by default with Google/Reddit. To retain their first-to-market advantage, they'd need to be the default in more places, or invest in models and services that cater to very specific audiences.

I think their best best is to partner with different entities. But they lost reddit and twitter, and FB is doing their own thing too, so who's left? linkedin? school systems (but ChromeBook has them beat there), perhaps telecoms preloading chatgpt apps into phones?

In my layperson's opinion, I think they have an access problem. Windows 11/Copilot (Github and in windows) seems to be the main access stream and people hate both, and they don't have branding there either, just back-end. There is no device you can buy, service you can get that has an OpenAI branded thing on it as a value added feature.

I'm sure they'll do ok, but i keep hearing they need to do a lot more than just 'ok'.

Re: OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race

#120

"Code red" feels like theater. Competition is healthy - Google's compute advantage was always going to matter once they got serious. The real question isn't who's ahead this quarter, but whether anyone can maintain a moat when the underlying tech is rapidly commoditizing.

Yeah, but now it's questionable whether the insane investments will ever pay off.

wasn't it always?
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