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Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?

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Re: Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?

#151

Post by mattgreenrocks »

vrganj wrote: post #53
oulipo2 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If we wanna go full-on Marxist analysis it is an attempt of the capitalist class to finally rid themselves of their dependence on labor and their pesky demands like sick leave and fair wages. Through that analysis, one can also explain why the managerial caste is so obsessed with it - it is nothing less than an ideological device. One can also see this in the actual deification happening in some VC cycles and their b…

Yeah. Oftentimes get crickets here when I talk along those lines. Can't tell if apathy, learned helplessness, or obliviousness. Regardless, devs seem like an extremely docile labor group based on how they react to this and other economic pressures.

Re: Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?

#152

Post by Lerc »

Never tired of talking about AI. There are so many fascinating aspects to explore and papers delivering new ideas. It's a bit tiring keeping up with the new stuff but talking about what we've found is one of the things that makes it easier to keep up.

I'm somewhat tired of seeing the same rehashed claims of future ability, non-ability, profit, loss.

I actually like talking about the implications, future risks and challenges of AI. I have made submissions on ways AI should be regulated to benefit society. The problem is the assumption of what is happening and what will happen.

To many people seem to enter the conversation feeling that the absence of doubt is the same thing as being informed.

And especially people making claims based on premises that they seem to believe that if they build big enough towers on them, they will become true.

The number one thing that bothers me in all this, is people assuming the contents of the minds of others.

I find the pathologising of Sam Altman to be the most egregious form of this. It is one thing to disagree with someone's decisions, another thing to disagree with their stated opinions, but to decide upon a person's character based upon what you believe they are thinking in their private thoughts is simply projection.

I know this is an opinion of little worth to many, but my impression of Sam Altman is just a person who has different perspectives to me. The capitalist tech world he lives in would inevitably shape different values to me. What I have seen of him is consistent with a sincere expression of values. I can accept that a person might do something different to what I would, even the opposite of what I want while believing that they can be doing so for reasons that seem to be morally the right thing to do.

This also happened with cryptocurrency. Crypto advocates believe that it is a good thing for the world. Too many consider those who believe that crypto could benefit society to be evil. There is a difference between being wrong and being evil. No matter how certain you are you can still be wrong, in fact beyond a point I would say increased certancy would indicate a higher likelihood of being wrong.

So I'm happy to talk about AI. I have plenty to learn. I wonder if others went in with the goal to learn whether they would find it less tiring.

Re: Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?

#153

Post by _doctor_love »

This might sound like snark, but I truly don’t mean it that way.

I think what’s interesting about AI, and why there’s so much conversation, is that in order to be a good user of AI, you have to really understand software development. All the people I work with who are getting the most value out of using AI to deliver software are people who are already very high-skilled engineers, and the more years of real experience they have, the better.

I know some guys who were road warriors for many years —- everything from racking and cabling servers, setting up infrastructure, and getting huge cloud deployments going all the way to embedded software, video game backends, etc. These guys were already really good at automation, seeing the whole life cycle of software, and understanding all the pressure points. For them, AI is the ultimate power tool. They’re just flying with it right now. (All of them also are aware that the AI vampire is very real.)

There’s still a lot to learn, and the tools are still very, very early on, but the value is clear.

I think for quite a few people, engaging with AI is maybe the first time ever in their entire career they are having to engage with systems thinking in a very concrete and directed way. Consequently, this is why so many software engineers are having an identity crisis: they’ve spent most of their career focusing on one very small section of the overall SDLC, meanwhile believing that was mostly all there was that they needed to know.

So I think we’re going to keep talking for quite a while, and the conversation will continue to be very unevenly distributed. Paradoxically, I’m not bored of it, because I’m learning so much listening to intelligent people share their learnings.

Re: Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?

#154

Post by jakelsaunders94 »

lukev wrote: post #46

This is bad in tech. But at least we are (relatively) well equipped to deal with it. My partner teaches at a small college. These people are absolutely lost , with administration totally sold on the idea that "AI is the future" while lacking any kind of coherent theory about how to apply it to pedagogy. Administrators are typically uncritically buying into the hype, professors are a mix of compliant and (understandab…

This is really interesting. I've been out of education for a long time, but I was wondering how they were dealing with the advent of AI. Are exams still a thing? Do people do coursework now that you can spew out competent sounding stuff in seconds?

Re: Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?

#155

Post by erikerikson »

mr_bob_sacamano wrote: post #119
erikerikson wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is hacker news. Somebody made that and uses it so they don't see this post to tell you about that but it exists.

a Kafkaesque loop

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35654401

Re: Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?

#156

Post by yladiz »

01100011 wrote: post #121
vrganj wrote: post #18

AI is fine . The hype is annoying. What's even worse though are the incredible amounts of money and energy that are being thrown at it, with no regard for the consequences, in times of record inequality and looming climate apocalypse. AI is the red herring that'll waste all our attention until it's too late.

It's a hail mary dash towards AGI. If we get computers to think for us, we can solve a lot of our most pressing issues. If not, well we've accelerated a lot of our worst problems(global warming, big tech, wealth inequality, surveillance state, post-truth culture, etc).

This sounds just like the idea that quantum computing will solve a lot of computational issues, which we know isn’t true. Why would AGI be any different?

Re: Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?

#157

Post by matsemann »

MrLeap wrote: post #37

I'm old enough to remember being fatigued with so many people talking about making "apps". Programs that run on a phone. Before that everyone was excited about blogging. Web 2.0 ugh. Before that we were excited about the wheel and the creation of fire. All capital drained into those ephemeral fancies. The cycles cycle on.

Yeah. I don't mind AI, but I'm waiting for it to stabilize and a good work flow being replicable for non-toy problems that should survive and evolve for a long time. I don't think I lose out much by not having 10 agents doing my work for me right now. In 6 months or some years or whatever I can just learn the new way of doing it. It's just exhausting with how much it changes month to month. Do I use it? Yes. Probably suboptimally. I'll learn later, though.

Like the new frontend frameworks coming every week after 2010 sometime. Not jumping on every single one, and waiting until react was declared the winner and learn that worked well. Sure, someone that used it from day 1 had more experience, but one quickly catch up.

Re: Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?

#158

Post by Forgeties79 »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #98
vrganj wrote: post #18

AI is fine . The hype is annoying. What's even worse though are the incredible amounts of money and energy that are being thrown at it, with no regard for the consequences, in times of record inequality and looming climate apocalypse. AI is the red herring that'll waste all our attention until it's too late.

> AI is fine. The hype is annoying. I'm finding the detractors worse than the hype, because it seems like a certain subset of detractors [0] formed their opinion on AI in late 2022/early 2023 when ChatGPT came out (REALLY!? Over 3 years ago!?) and then never updated their opinions since then. They'll say things like "why would I want to consume X amount of energy and Y amount of water just to get a wrong answer?" In…

This is going to sound flippant, but truly, I imagine most people find the group that disagrees with their take annoying as well.

Re: Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?

#159

Post by mtndew4brkfst »

jimjimjim wrote: post #36

It feels like during the previous hype cycle of bitcoins, blockchains and NFTs. People are trying to find uses for new technologies but it seems like a lot of the conversations come from people (at this point I guess it's still people?) trying to increase the hype. Maybe they are trying to be thought leaders or maybe they are trying to boost some stock valuations.

The amount of questions I fielded about web3, coins, ledgers, etc as an IC speaking with customers or internal leadership was around an order of magnitude lower, and well-known brands weren't trying to sell me any of them. It was much rarer for it to get shoved into a product it wasn't helpful for, too.

Never thought I'd feel nostalgic about that era...

Re: Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?

#160

Post by amelius »

lpcvoid wrote: post #42
vrganj wrote: post #18

AI is fine . The hype is annoying. What's even worse though are the incredible amounts of money and energy that are being thrown at it, with no regard for the consequences, in times of record inequality and looming climate apocalypse. AI is the red herring that'll waste all our attention until it's too late.

AI is one of the causes that climate change is accelerating, which is another in a long list of reasons to hate it.

> AI is one of the causes that climate change is accelerating, which is another in a long list of reasons to hate it.

If you want to point at causes of climate change, look no further than adtech. It's the driving force behind our overconsumption.

And it has perhaps an even longer list of reasons to hate it.

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