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The Grid: Certainly Misguided, Probably a Scam

benhorrix.com

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Re: The Grid: Certainly Misguided, Probably a Scam

#11

Post by rstupek »

segphault wrote: post #10

The people behind TheGrid are also the same people behind Grid Stylesheets, which uses an implementation of the cassowary constraint system to facilitate web layout: https://gridstylesheets.org/ Grid Stylesheets are actually a pretty compelling approach and it was well-received here when they first shared it with HN. While the claims about machine learning and AI are arguably eyeroll-worthy, there's definitely some n…

I think the OP is saying he can't evaluate the actual technology in question because there is nothing to see. You are asked to take the word of thegrid folks that they have something and that they have 100 people testing it.

Re: The Grid: Certainly Misguided, Probably a Scam

#12

Post by segphault »

rstupek wrote: post #11
segphault wrote: post #10

The people behind TheGrid are also the same people behind Grid Stylesheets, which uses an implementation of the cassowary constraint system to facilitate web layout: https://gridstylesheets.org/ Grid Stylesheets are actually a pretty compelling approach and it was well-received here when they first shared it with HN. While the claims about machine learning and AI are arguably eyeroll-worthy, there's definitely some n…

I think the OP is saying he can't evaluate the actual technology in question because there is nothing to see. You are asked to take the word of thegrid folks that they have something and that they have 100 people testing it.

Yes, but OP is wrong when he says that there is nothing to see. He just didn't take the time to even look. The source code of the underlying layout engine is published on GitHub: https://github.com/gss/engine

Re: The Grid: Certainly Misguided, Probably a Scam

#15

Post by sago »

reustle wrote: post #2

Seeing so many ads for them was an immediate red flag for me. Clearly they were trying to milk more sign ups out of their promise before people started to realize it was a joke.

I don't think it is a joke. It is classic AI marketing.

From what I can tell their 'AI' chooses colors, and fonts and does some basic layout. All three bits can be done very simply. So you choose a template, it stores a few basic qualities, then uses those qualities later to choose how to parameterise its tools for adding new content to your site.

It's not strong AI, you might want to claim it isn't AI at all. But even backtracking best-first search qualifies as 80s-era symbolic AI. I don't think you need to have an undergrad CompSci to do that. My AI textbook is used by plenty of non-graduates, I certainly hope it contains enough to implement those kinds of tools without my readers needing advanced degrees or research credentials!

So I found the article overly cynical: I don't think they're claiming it will translate your human language into a site. I didn't get that claim, at least. I interpreted it as them using the inherent magicness of 'artificial intelligence' as a marketing term, confusing together things that their tool will do, with things that the AI code will do.

Overhyped product which is a big UX investment masquerading as technical IP? Definitely! A scam with no intent to deliver? I don't think so.

My first reaction seeing the video a few months ago was 'clever'. Not 'clever' as in 'clever AI or tech', but 'a neat use of very simple AI tools with a UX focus to make blogging / portfolio software a bit more flexible.'

[edit: add last para]

Re: The Grid: Certainly Misguided, Probably a Scam

#16

Post by murukesh_s »

As a person who is building something similar, I do know this is certainly possible with today's technology. And most probably not a scam. The team is the same team behind noflojs.org, so they do have some credibility.

But there is a misconception about Artificial Intelligence in general and its kind of true that the term is being overused. Putting couple of If/Else statement nowadays or using a Machine Learning library (Say, to find a good colour contrast - http://harthur.github.io/brain/), developers claim they are using machine intelligence and the general public might get a notion that they are doing some high-end research, while in principle they might be using one or two generally available library that any developer can use with 5-10 minutes of learning.. They really do not need to be AI experts.

Re: The Grid: Certainly Misguided, Probably a Scam

#17

Post by tedunangst »

segphault wrote: post #10

The people behind TheGrid are also the same people behind Grid Stylesheets, which uses an implementation of the cassowary constraint system to facilitate web layout: https://gridstylesheets.org/ Grid Stylesheets are actually a pretty compelling approach and it was well-received here when they first shared it with HN. While the claims about machine learning and AI are arguably eyeroll-worthy, there's definitely some n…

Questions to ask: will they eventually deliver something that roughly satisfies their claims? (Yes?) will they eventually deliver something akin to what their backers expected? (No?)

Re: The Grid: Certainly Misguided, Probably a Scam

#18

Post by nateabele »

I don't know this guy, and I haven't read any of his other stuff, so this isn't a judgement of him, it's just how I interpret the tone and content of the article itself, but...

It sounds like a rant by a corporate code-pusher who's never done anything particularly complex or sophisticated, and feels defensive about the security of his career.

Maybe that's just me. Again, I don't know this guy. I'm not passing judgement. That's just what I pick up when I read between the lines.

Re: The Grid: Certainly Misguided, Probably a Scam

#19

Post by unethical_ban »

nateabele wrote: post #18

I don't know this guy, and I haven't read any of his other stuff, so this isn't a judgement of him, it's just how I interpret the tone and content of the article itself, but... It sounds like a rant by a corporate code-pusher who's never done anything particularly complex or sophisticated, and feels defensive about the security of his career. Maybe that's just me. Again, I don't know this guy. I'm not passing judgeme…

"I'm not judging, but here's my judgement"

It sounds like there's a Kickstarter, which is targeted often to the general public, asking for money to develop a technology that eludes the pinnacle of AI research at the most well-funded organizations on the planet.

Re: The Grid: Certainly Misguided, Probably a Scam

#20

Post by mrmcq2u »

stijlist wrote: post #9

curious. I thought "the grid" was about using a constraint solver + A/B testing to optimize websites for arbitrary metrics - pageviews or sales or whatever. the "AI" marketing makes some sense in that context, at least.

This is not a scam, it is making use of a lot of the work done porting gimp filters to gegl/opencl. http://www.jonnor.com/tag/gegl/feed/
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