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AI is too expensive

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51–60 of 165 posts

Re: AI is too expensive

#51
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber is a good comparison because everyone was predicting the demise of ride sharing as soon as they tried to become profitable. The subsidies went away gradually and the prices leveled out in a spot where the services are heavily used. Uber became profitable. Ride sharing is affordable. I think our $20/month plans might become a little less generous and the $200/month plan won’t always allow non-stop vibe coding, bu…

No it’s a bad example as uber had solid unit economics. Uber is more Akin to Amazon.

I would love to see the data to support the idea that Uber had solid unit economics during their expansion.

Re: AI is too expensive

#52

If you're older than 30, you've seen this play out before… This is just how the VC game works. Cross-town Uber rides don't stay $5 forever. The bright side is: this is a golden era of subsidized tokens. It will not always be like this, so now is the time to churn out your passion projects.

[deleted]

Re: AI is too expensive

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile Meta / Mark Zuck is in crisis mode trying to come up with some meaningful way to break into AI, instead of competing in what's currently hot, they'll probably remake Elons weird persona system, which is not exactly the hottest thing on the planet, and billions down the drain that could have gone into building more efficient LLMs instead.

> billions down the drain that could have gone into building more efficient LLMs instead. Or any one of thousands of other ventures which could be more beneficial to humanity, the environment, etc.

Agree, though if he's so fixated on AI, and Meta has released plenty of things in AI that have affected the industry in general, he could invest in making less resource intensive LLMs.

Re: AI is too expensive

#54
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it’s a bad example as uber had solid unit economics. Uber is more Akin to Amazon.

I would love to see the data to support the idea that Uber had solid unit economics during their expansion.

State your priors so I can determine whether you are qualified to have this discussion.

Re: AI is too expensive

#55
post #36

I really respected Ed Zitron, but I feel like he's very much lost the plot on AI. Scroll back not too far and he was publishing criticisms that no one wants to spend actual money AI. Anthropic has shattered all notions of that since then. Then there was the idea that even if people want it, we have way too much GPU capacity to ever be saturated. Now almost all providers are hitting limits. Now, its the next iteration…

I agree. He plainly has an axe to grind. I'm as AI-skeptical as the next guy, but I can't handle Ed Zitron. Doesn't seem like a good faith actor.

Re: AI is too expensive

#56

If you're older than 30, you've seen this play out before… This is just how the VC game works. Cross-town Uber rides don't stay $5 forever. The bright side is: this is a golden era of subsidized tokens. It will not always be like this, so now is the time to churn out your passion projects.

I like writing my passion projects without AI. Is this so strange?

Using AI to write my software just takes all the fun out of it for me.

It feels like just reading a summary or recap instead of reading the actual full novel myself. Like it defeats the whole purpose of it. I write software because it's fun and it stimulates my mind and teaches me things and improves my skills.

Re: AI is too expensive

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably the worst comparison I have seen on the topic. gz.

Eventually you come to realize the more things change the more they stay the same.

Sorry but no. It's a flawed analogy to suggest that an emerging technology like AI follows the same scaling laws as the taxi industry. AI benefits from active R&D, rapidly improving hardware, compounding software efficiencies, and deflationary cost curves that simply have no equivalent in a labor- and vehicle-dependent service...

Re: AI is too expensive

#59

The rug pull on users is bound to happen and it will involve advertising.

Algorithmically and seamlessly weaving undisclosed advertising (or other editorial content) into conversational output is their holy grail. It's the endgame. There's a reason they're pushing so hard.

I'd even walk back on just calling it advertising, because we immediately think of the usual ads we see everywhere. The actual thing here might be much more subtle and worrying, you could call it undisclosed influence.
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