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The librarian immediately attempts to sell you a vuvuzela

kaveland.no

131–140 of 346 posts

Re: The librarian immediately attempts to sell you a vuvuzela

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m constantly confused why Google wants me to use Gemini so much. Why would they want me to use an AI that doesn’t show ads, isn’t their search, and costs them money to generate the responses? The instant we see ads in LLMs we will stop using them, it will be as abrupt and as annoying as the vuvuzela example because using an LLM is a very intimate interaction. It will feel much more jarring when your intimate chat f…

> The instant we see ads in LLMs we will stop using them You mean like how the instant we see ads on YouTube we will stop using it?

Or like how the instant Netflix disables password sharing, we will stop subscribing to it.

Re: The librarian immediately attempts to sell you a vuvuzela

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YET.

You obviously haven't been A/B tested yet. I got very obvious advertisements in a super simple question I asked last week to ChatGPT. The question was "When was the last year it was really smokey in Canada" it answered in one paragraph, then gave me about 6 paragraphs of ads for air purifiers, masks etc. I'd guess we're only 6-12 months out from a full advertisement takeover.

It was a quote, which I failed to format in this app I use.

Re: The librarian immediately attempts to sell you a vuvuzela

#133
post #15

The author would do well to check out Kagi -- the search results for all of the suggested queries are, to my eye, better than the results they found. Given that Kagi's higher tier plans come with search-enabled LLM chat interfaces, and those searches use Kagi's results (which, again, appear to be superior) it seems to me that you get the best of both worlds: Better search, and better search results to feed into your…

I've been using Preplexity lately while learning to use Yamaha SeqTrack synthesizer. I have the UserGuide, but I find it easier and faster to ask Preplexity for things like "How do I mute a track?". It never occurred to me I could use Google this way. And it is a novel idea to me, that it seems to be better to use AI than read a manual.

If Google's LLM is trained on the SeqTrack manual, then yes.

If it's not then it will just invent some plausible-souding bullshit that doesn't actually work.

After the fifth time you get burnt by this the whole LLM experience starts to sour.

Re: The librarian immediately attempts to sell you a vuvuzela

#134
post #2

> These days, I find that I am using multiple search engines and often resort to using an LLM to help me find content. For a few months, I've been wondering: how long until advertisers get their grubby meathooks into the training data? It's trivial to add prompts encouraging product placement, but I would be completely shocked if the big players don't sell out within a year or two, and start biasing the models themse…

not quite ads in LLMS, but I had an interesting experience with google maps the other day. the directions voice said "in 100 feet, turn left at the ". Normally it would say "at the traffic light" or similar. And this wasn't some easy to miss hidden street, it was just a normal intersection. I can only hope they aren't changing the routes yet to make you drive by the highest bidder

Most users want the best directions possible from their maps app, and that includes easily recognizable landmarks, such as fast food restaurants.

"Turn left at McDonalds" is what a normal person would say if you asked for directions in a town you don't know. Or they could say "Turn left at McFritzberger street", but what use would that be for you?

Although I've had Google Maps say "Turn right after the pharmacy", and there's three drug stores in the intersection...

Re: The librarian immediately attempts to sell you a vuvuzela

#135

The money situation is what gives me pause with LLMs. The amount of money it's burned on this is giant; those companies will need to make so much money to have any possibility of return. The idea is that we will all spend more money on AI that we spend on phones, and we will spend it on those companies only... I don't know, it just doesn't add up. As a user it's a great free ride though. Maybe there IS such a thing a…

YET.

It's very possible that they never will, that instead the advertising will be so subtle nobody will be able to detect it. Including phrases similar to what products, brands, and their actual ads use in positive contexts, sentences that don't mention but make you think of products, being just slightly likely to bring a brand up than its competitor, and a tiny bit more critical of it, etc.

The goal isn't to have an ad->purchase, the goal is to make sure the purchase is more likely in the long term.

Re: The librarian immediately attempts to sell you a vuvuzela

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google was founded in 1998 and you could buy ads on the search results page in 2000. https://googlepress.blogspot.com/2000/10/google-launches-sel...

It’s crazy on the web when you point out that google or google products used to be much better in the past someone will come out of nowhere to tell you it’s always been that way what is this instinct? anyone that’s over the age of 25 would know

Many people who post here are, were, or would like to be Googlers. Maybe not so much astroturfing ao much as a kind of corporate hasbara (though maybe both).

Re: The librarian immediately attempts to sell you a vuvuzela

#137

The money situation is what gives me pause with LLMs. The amount of money it's burned on this is giant; those companies will need to make so much money to have any possibility of return. The idea is that we will all spend more money on AI that we spend on phones, and we will spend it on those companies only... I don't know, it just doesn't add up. As a user it's a great free ride though. Maybe there IS such a thing a…

Regarding money, they label a lot of expenses as R&D and write them off taxes. Taxpayers foot the bill to some extent.

Re: The librarian immediately attempts to sell you a vuvuzela

#138

The money situation is what gives me pause with LLMs. The amount of money it's burned on this is giant; those companies will need to make so much money to have any possibility of return. The idea is that we will all spend more money on AI that we spend on phones, and we will spend it on those companies only... I don't know, it just doesn't add up. As a user it's a great free ride though. Maybe there IS such a thing a…

They’re all investing with the assumption they can be the ‘winner’ and take all the spoils.

Maybe nvidia can be a winner selling shovels but it seems like everyone else will just be fighting each other in the massive pit they dug.

Re: The librarian immediately attempts to sell you a vuvuzela

#139

The money situation is what gives me pause with LLMs. The amount of money it's burned on this is giant; those companies will need to make so much money to have any possibility of return. The idea is that we will all spend more money on AI that we spend on phones, and we will spend it on those companies only... I don't know, it just doesn't add up. As a user it's a great free ride though. Maybe there IS such a thing a…

Ai is in its early youtube phase. Everyone loves that it's free and adfree and that its algorithm's primary purpose is to serve relevant content not profitable content, everyone knows it can't stay that way, and we are all waiting for the enshittification to kick in on the march to profitability.

The question is, will AI chat or search ever be profitable? What enshittification will happen on that road? Will AIs be interrupting conversations to espouse their love of nordvpn or raid shadow legends?

Re: The librarian immediately attempts to sell you a vuvuzela

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YET.

It's very possible that they never will, that instead the advertising will be so subtle nobody will be able to detect it. Including phrases similar to what products, brands, and their actual ads use in positive contexts, sentences that don't mention but make you think of products, being just slightly likely to bring a brand up than its competitor, and a tiny bit more critical of it, etc. The goal isn't to have an ad-…

This gave me creeps. Modern tech is good an opening up new dimensions of dystopian hell.
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