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IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

businessinsider.com

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Re: IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

#281

Post by AdrianB1 »

bigwheels wrote: post #205
slashdave wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 years is long, actually. This is not a GPU thing. It's standard for server hardware.

Because usually it's more efficient for companies to retire the hardware and put in new stuff. Meanwhile, my 10-15 year old server hardware keeps chugging along just fine in the rack in my garage.

I thought the same until I calculated that newer hardware consumes a few times less energy and for something running 24x7 that adds up quite a bit (I live in Europe, energy is quite expensive).

So my homelab equipment is just 5 years old and it will get replaced in 2-3 years with something even more power efficient.

Re: IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

#282

Post by stingraycharles »

jimmar wrote: post #275
getnormality wrote: post #265

A decade ago, IBM was spending enormous amounts of money to tell me stuff like "cognitive finance is here" in big screen-hogging ads on nytimes.com. They were advertising Watson, vaporware which no one talks about today. Are they bitter that someone else has actually made the AI hype take off?

I don't know that I'd trust IBM when they are pitching their own stuff. But if anybody has experience with the difficulty of making money off of cutting-edge technology, it's IBM. They were early to AI, early to cloud computing, etc. And yet they failed to capture market share and grow revenues sufficiently in those areas. Cool tech demos (like the Watson Jeopardy) mimic some AI demos today (6-second videos). Yeah, i…

Xerox was also famously early with a lot of things but failed to create proper products out of it.

Google falls somewhere in the middle. They have great R&D but just can’t make products. It took OpenAI to show them how to do it, and the managed to catch up fast.

Re: IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

#283

Post by slashdave »

bigwheels wrote: post #205
slashdave wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 years is long, actually. This is not a GPU thing. It's standard for server hardware.

Because usually it's more efficient for companies to retire the hardware and put in new stuff. Meanwhile, my 10-15 year old server hardware keeps chugging along just fine in the rack in my garage.

More than that. The equipment is depreciated on a 5 year schedule on the company balance sheet. It actually costs nothing to discard it.

Re: IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

#284

Post by jmspring »

ekropotin wrote: post #236
1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #176

One thing we saw with the dot-com bust is how certain individuals were able to cash in on the failures, e.g., low cost hardware, domain names, etc. (NB. prices may exceed $2) Perhaps people are already thinking about they can cash in on the floor space and HVAC systems that will be left in the wake of failed "AI" hype

Can’t wait for all this cheap ddr5 memory and GPUs

I was looking at my Newegg orders recently. 7/18/2023 - 64GB (2 x 32GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) --> $260. Now, $750+.

Re: IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

#285

Post by slashdave »

matt-p wrote: post #234
slashdave wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 years is long, actually. This is not a GPU thing. It's standard for server hardware.

5 years is a long time for GPUs maybe but normal servers have 7 year lifespans in many cases fwiw. These GPUs I assume basically have potential longevity issues due to the density, if you could cool it really really well I imagine no problem.

Normal servers are rarely run flat-out. These GPUs are supposed to be run that way. So, yeah, age is going to be a problem, as will cooling.

Re: IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

#286

Post by emodendroket »

mywittyname wrote: post #168
jamesbelchamber wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we moron our way to large-scale nuclear and renewable energy rollout however..

I highly doubt this will happen. It will be natural gas all the way, maybe some coal as energy prices will finally make it profitable again.

If for no other reason than they're actively attacking renewable capacity even amid surging demand

Re: IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

#287

Post by broodbucket »

edm0nd wrote: post #278
getnormality wrote: post #265

A decade ago, IBM was spending enormous amounts of money to tell me stuff like "cognitive finance is here" in big screen-hogging ads on nytimes.com. They were advertising Watson, vaporware which no one talks about today. Are they bitter that someone else has actually made the AI hype take off?

Honestly I'm not even sure what IBM does these days. Seems like one company that has slowly been dying for decades. but when I look at their stock, its at all time highs lol no idea

IBM is probably involved somewhere in the majority of things you interact with day to day

Re: IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

#288

Post by emodendroket »

ericmcer wrote: post #78
ayaros wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a younger millennial. I'm always seeing homeless people in my city and it's an issue that I think about on a daily basis. Couldn't we have spent the money on homeless shelters and food and other things? So many people are in poverty, they can't afford basic necessities. The world is shitty. Yes, I know it's all capital from VC firms and investment firms and other private sources , but it's still capital . It shou…

The last 10 years has seen CA spend more on homelessness than ever before, and more than any other state by a huge margin. The result of that giant expenditure is the problem is worse than ever. I don't want to get deep in the philosophical weeds around human behavior, techno-optimism, etc., but it is a bit reductive to say "why don't we just give homeless people money".

Well I mean, they didn't "just give homeless people money" or just give them homes or any of those things though. I think the issue might be the method and not the very concept of devoting resources to the problem.

Re: IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

#289

Post by ares623 »

stingraycharles wrote: post #277
getnormality wrote: post #265

A decade ago, IBM was spending enormous amounts of money to tell me stuff like "cognitive finance is here" in big screen-hogging ads on nytimes.com. They were advertising Watson, vaporware which no one talks about today. Are they bitter that someone else has actually made the AI hype take off?

I still have PTSD from how much Watson was being pushed by external consultants to C levels despite it being absolutely useless and incredibly expensive. A/B testing? Watson. Search engine? Watson. Analytics? Watson. No code? Watson. I spent days, weeks arguing against it and ended up having to dedicate resources to build a PoC just to show it didn’t work, which could have been used elsewhere.

It's like poetry, it rhymes

Re: IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

#290

Post by broodbucket »

getnormality wrote: post #265

A decade ago, IBM was spending enormous amounts of money to tell me stuff like "cognitive finance is here" in big screen-hogging ads on nytimes.com. They were advertising Watson, vaporware which no one talks about today. Are they bitter that someone else has actually made the AI hype take off?

IBM ostensibly failing with Watson (before Krishna was CEO for what it's worth) doesn't inherently invalidate his assessment here
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