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At $250M, top AI salaries dwarf the Manhattan Project and the Space Race

arstechnica.com

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Re: At $250M, top AI salaries dwarf the Manhattan Project and the Space Race

#11

Post by eviks »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #9
eviks wrote: post #4

> A 24 year-old AI researcher will earn 327x what Oppenheimer made while developing the atomic bomb. Where is the contradiction??? Oppenheimer was in no way connected to the "value" generated by his invention. The AI researcher can be part of a small company and have a tiny chance of huge success, so direct connection to the value generated by his work. Also, it's not like Oppenheimer could get offers in the open mar…

The fact does not contradict economic analyses, it points out what a great shift there has been. Of course working for the atomic bomb or a cold war fuelled space race is also questionable, but the motivation of people doing it was for the perceived common greater good, while now we seem to be drowned in greed and vanity.

> for the perceived common greater good

Even if we agree with this myth, there is an infinite amount of that in AI! People literally think they'll save humanity if they invent AGI! So even here there is no shift

Re: At $250M, top AI salaries dwarf the Manhattan Project and the Space Race

#12

Post by ben_w »

eviks wrote: post #11
4gotunameagain wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact does not contradict economic analyses, it points out what a great shift there has been. Of course working for the atomic bomb or a cold war fuelled space race is also questionable, but the motivation of people doing it was for the perceived common greater good, while now we seem to be drowned in greed and vanity.

> for the perceived common greater good Even if we agree with this myth, there is an infinite amount of that in AI! People literally think they'll save humanity if they invent AGI! So even here there is no shift

> People literally think they'll save humanity if they invent AGI!

Yes, but do any of them work for Zuckerberg or with LeCun? The impression I've been getting is they see the idea of superintelligence as more like the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, rather than as a Culture Mind.

Re: At $250M, top AI salaries dwarf the Manhattan Project and the Space Race

#13

Post by tomhow »

Now on front page:

A.I. Researchers Are Negotiating $250 Million Pay Packages - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44766758

We let that article take precedence on the front page, as the top commenter on this thread makes a good point that the comparisons to the Manhattan Project and Space Race can be regarded a red herring and diminish the weight of the article. The NYT story on the front page focuses on the central topic of comp offers to A.I. talent.

Re: At $250M, top AI salaries dwarf the Manhattan Project and the Space Race

#15

Post by daft_pink »

Those were government projects.

Think about all the useful and necessary things that professional athlete's salaries dwarf.

I feel that at least these researchers are getting paid their perceived value instead of all that value being absorbed by FANNG.

I think AI research is sort of like cutting a diamond, where every few percent more efficient could result in huge sums saved in infrastructure costs for training and inference and Capex.

Re: At $250M, top AI salaries dwarf the Manhattan Project and the Space Race

#16

Post by chii »

vinni2 wrote: post #10
eviks wrote: post #4

> A 24 year-old AI researcher will earn 327x what Oppenheimer made while developing the atomic bomb. Where is the contradiction??? Oppenheimer was in no way connected to the "value" generated by his invention. The AI researcher can be part of a small company and have a tiny chance of huge success, so direct connection to the value generated by his work. Also, it's not like Oppenheimer could get offers in the open mar…

> Oppenheimer was in no way connected to the "value" generated by his invention. Oppenheimer didn’t just participate in nuclear bomb project. He has made contributions in nuclear physics has advanced nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

you misunderstood the parent post - "connected" is meant to be understood as "privately capture", rather than participation.

Oppenheimer's value generation is not captured by him, but by the taxpayers (and whoever is the funder of his endeavours).

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