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'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

theguardian.com

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Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#111

Post by array_key_first »

thunky wrote: post #107
vitally3643 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're being downvoted because you appear to be not asking genuinely and you're trying to cast doubt instead of seeking to understand. Because at this point there's really no excuse for not having any idea why people are mad about AI. If you can't guess it's because you're intentionally ignorant of the problem. Because "just asking" is a specific strategy used do doubt and discredit anyone you disagree with.

> You're being downvoted because you appear to be not asking genuinely I literally said I was asking genuinely. It's either one of two reasons imo: 1. Their son hates "ai slop" and doesn't think AI is useful. 2. Their son is afraid of not being employable. I see #1 the most here. But I suspect it's a front because the posters don't want to admit #2. Hence my question. I figured it's easier for someone to admit someon…

So you... weren't... asking genuinely. You already came to a conclusion and just wanted to argue.

Even if it's "secretly" #2 for most people, is that even unreasonable?

It's so bizarre to me that people are acting like a supposedly existential threat on their livelihood is not a reasonable complaint or fear. Historically people, like, behead other people for that.

I don't know, I'm older so I have much less fear about my livelihood but I can't blame young people for being worried about it. And, if they are, for choosing not to use AI. In a way, you could argue that using AI is self-destructive.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#113

Post by thunky »

techblueberry wrote: post #109
thunky wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're being downvoted because you appear to be not asking genuinely I literally said I was asking genuinely. It's either one of two reasons imo: 1. Their son hates "ai slop" and doesn't think AI is useful. 2. Their son is afraid of not being employable. I see #1 the most here. But I suspect it's a front because the posters don't want to admit #2. Hence my question. I figured it's easier for someone to admit someon…

Why would no one want to admit #2? I’m afraid. Also it feels like you responded to “people are downvoting you because it feels like a gotcha” with “yes, it is in fact a gotcha”

I'm just saying I don't see that much here. Most of the negativity is something like "its just a token generator".

I don't care about downvotes. I'm just said that from my perspective anything positive about AI on this site will be met with them. What a twist for a tech site.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#114

Post by array_key_first »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #71
Sharlin wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, that’s not exactly a new thing, it’s just sensitive to the exact phase of the Great AI Freeze/Thaw Cycle. A lot of now-ordinary automation used to be "AI" until it become commonplace and no longer buzzword-worthy and thus no longer regarded as "AI", and/or an AI winter hit. Last time that AI was big before DL it was the "big data" fad and everything had to be big data. Marketing has never not been about h…

I understand why companies try to brand themselves as the latest and greatest tech innovation. What I don't understand is why it works or who falls for it. It's quite trivial to determine whether or not this is e.g. transformer-based AI. I remember in the years before the pandemic that I would joke that all you had to do was "sprinkle in some blockchain" to your VC pitch and your valuation would automatically go up b…

Well I think most investors are dumb as rocks. I'm not sure most even know what a transformer is, or what LLM stands for.

Same thing with blockchain. I talked to many, many non-tech people who were very excited about blockchain. Most could not explain what, exactly, blockchain is.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#115

Post by salawat »

thunky wrote: post #107
vitally3643 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're being downvoted because you appear to be not asking genuinely and you're trying to cast doubt instead of seeking to understand. Because at this point there's really no excuse for not having any idea why people are mad about AI. If you can't guess it's because you're intentionally ignorant of the problem. Because "just asking" is a specific strategy used do doubt and discredit anyone you disagree with.

> You're being downvoted because you appear to be not asking genuinely I literally said I was asking genuinely. It's either one of two reasons imo: 1. Their son hates "ai slop" and doesn't think AI is useful. 2. Their son is afraid of not being employable. I see #1 the most here. But I suspect it's a front because the posters don't want to admit #2. Hence my question. I figured it's easier for someone to admit someon…

>But I suspect it's a front because the posters don't want to admit #2. Hence my question.

And that's why you're getting reflexively downvoted. Because we can already tell by the way you telegraphed the question you aren't worth wasting time on. As it turns out, some of us don't think our youth shouldn't be able to have the same opportunities we did because a bunch of techies got the financial sector to go all in on greedmaxing. Those of us that actually believe in keeping society functional find very little to be recommended by blind "believer" types who just think you can yank the rug out from under your descendants, and force them to have to shape their life around choices you think are cool.

One can be a tech enthusiast and still see that AI is crack cocaine to the type of people who'd set society on fire given they can find someone to help them think through the implementation details, which before AI, was basically the last control the professional caste had over the Capital class. The kids can understand this. Strangely, there is a surprising number of adults who don't seem to ever make the jump to understanding not everyone has entirely benevolent intentions hidden behind their smile.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#116

Post by thunky »

array_key_first wrote: post #111
thunky wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're being downvoted because you appear to be not asking genuinely I literally said I was asking genuinely. It's either one of two reasons imo: 1. Their son hates "ai slop" and doesn't think AI is useful. 2. Their son is afraid of not being employable. I see #1 the most here. But I suspect it's a front because the posters don't want to admit #2. Hence my question. I figured it's easier for someone to admit someon…

So you... weren't... asking genuinely. You already came to a conclusion and just wanted to argue. Even if it's "secretly" #2 for most people, is that even unreasonable? It's so bizarre to me that people are acting like a supposedly existential threat on their livelihood is not a reasonable complaint or fear. Historically people, like, behead other people for that. I don't know, I'm older so I have much less fear abou…

You're putting a lot of words in my mouth.

I shared my assumption.

I asked the question to get a real perspective from someone who was already sharing. I didn't know their answer before I asked and still don't.

Also I never said #2 was unreasonable. And I don't blame anyone for being fearful either.

But there is an anti-tech sentiment on this tech site, and I find ironic and disappointing.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#117

Post by llbbdd »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #73
autoexec wrote: post #69

I hope these companies aren't in for a shock when the younger generation rejects their brands https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/920401/g... If negative perception towards AI grows, either because of negative experiences after having it forced on them, or as people's utility bills skyrocket, or as the environmental impact becomes more apparent, they might find that what appeals to shareholders doesn'…

My kid was an excited Duolingo user who immediately cut it off entirely as soon as he heard that they were doing something with AI. That was all it took. He heard "Duolingo's AI now" on some YouTube video, and it was immediately dead to him. I don't think people understand just how viscerally negative the perception of AI is for the youth.

Duolingo is a game, they publish papers studying the addictive properties of their product I comparison to slot machines. They are incentivized heavily to not produce fluent learners. If he's being pushed in another direction to learn, for whatever reason, all the better for him.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#118

Post by tracerbulletx »

array_key_first wrote: post #111
thunky wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're being downvoted because you appear to be not asking genuinely I literally said I was asking genuinely. It's either one of two reasons imo: 1. Their son hates "ai slop" and doesn't think AI is useful. 2. Their son is afraid of not being employable. I see #1 the most here. But I suspect it's a front because the posters don't want to admit #2. Hence my question. I figured it's easier for someone to admit someon…

So you... weren't... asking genuinely. You already came to a conclusion and just wanted to argue. Even if it's "secretly" #2 for most people, is that even unreasonable? It's so bizarre to me that people are acting like a supposedly existential threat on their livelihood is not a reasonable complaint or fear. Historically people, like, behead other people for that. I don't know, I'm older so I have much less fear abou…

The idea that building a hive machine world of ultimate efficiency is a moral imperative greater than creating a good and fair life for the living people of the world is psychotic. We could of course use AI to benefit everyone, but it's so incredibly obvious to everyone that's not going to happen and its hand waved. That's insulting.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#119

Post by bigstrat2003 »

thunky wrote: post #113
techblueberry wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would no one want to admit #2? I’m afraid. Also it feels like you responded to “people are downvoting you because it feels like a gotcha” with “yes, it is in fact a gotcha”

I'm just saying I don't see that much here. Most of the negativity is something like "its just a token generator". I don't care about downvotes. I'm just said that from my perspective anything positive about AI on this site will be met with them. What a twist for a tech site.

> from my perspective anything positive about AI on this site will be met with them. What a twist for a tech site.

Yes, people are hostile towards a crappy technology that doesn't work as advertised, and is looking like it will cause job shortages because companies are trying to lean on the tech even though it doesn't work. That shouldn't be remotely surprising.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#120

Post by ReliantGuyZ »

thunky wrote: post #110
moshun wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the person you asked, but my nephews and mentees (all under 18), very plainly see it as the destruction of their own future careers (regardless of field), assimilation of everything meaningful humans have ever created into a copy machine , massive privacy violations, wrecking the environment and generally run by some of the biggest sociopaths in human history. When looking at it practically over the last few year…

That makes sense and matches my perspective, thanks for answering. I don't normally see anyone on this site admit they are afraid of losing their jobs. My comment here repeats that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48260369 Personally I don't think the environment is a factor, because young people seem just fine with crypto. I also don't think the privacy issue is a factor because young people don't have much tha…

That's an interesting point regarding crypto. My guess is that most young people have very low exposure to crypto, with it being kind of a niche subcultural thing at this point after its height of cultural relevance in 2021, whereas AI is simply everywhere and is inescapable.
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