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Ex-Googler says company's AI panic is like Google+ fiasco all over again

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Re: Ex-Googler says company's AI panic is like Google+ fiasco all over again

#21

Post by moralestapia »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #11

As a software developer, I'm anxious about the AI gold rush being a bubble that's about to pop. I've been unemployed ever since the Great 15% Layoffs, about 14 months ago. I finally landed a job (well, once the paperwork is done) related to bringing up a new processor. But it's a DL accelerator. I really hope there's not another employment bloodbath if/when the AI bubble bursts, since my savings are pretty much deple…

I think (and hope!) you'll be fine. Hardware is doing quite well in this wave.

You should worry if you were working on a GPT-frontend, lol.

Re: Ex-Googler says company's AI panic is like Google+ fiasco all over again

#22

Post by packetlost »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #11

As a software developer, I'm anxious about the AI gold rush being a bubble that's about to pop. I've been unemployed ever since the Great 15% Layoffs, about 14 months ago. I finally landed a job (well, once the paperwork is done) related to bringing up a new processor. But it's a DL accelerator. I really hope there's not another employment bloodbath if/when the AI bubble bursts, since my savings are pretty much deple…

I'm not unemployed, but I too am worried about this. Practically everything besides big tech has been in a recessionary state for awhile now but the S&P looks great because nvidia's stock went to the moon and a few other tech companies are doing very well... for now. I'm not sure how much longer this can be sustained.

Re: Ex-Googler says company's AI panic is like Google+ fiasco all over again

#23

Post by TiredOfLife »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #6

At the other end of the spectrum there's Microsoft's marketing dominated approach, which is busy renaming everything they own into some variant of Copilot.

What have they renamed? It seems that everything named copilot is a new service/functionality.

Re: Ex-Googler says company's AI panic is like Google+ fiasco all over again

#24

Post by beezlebroxxxxxx »

It's not so bad to get caught flat-footed by something like ChatGPT (of course, it's not like Google didn't have AI stuff in development, for example that thing they showed once and then never brought up again when you could let Google Now talk to call reps), after all it seems like everyone was genuinely caught off guard by that first release of GPT and it's capabilities as a product.

The bigger issue for Google, at least in my view, seems to be that they don't seem capable of responding or competing in a real tangible way. Over the years they've seemingly lost the ability to rapidly and coherently release a product. Instead, you get this bizarre, incoherent, and spasmodic, response from all of these different product teams that don't seem to really work together all that well and don't have a clear product identity.

At this point, I doubt Google can turn the ship around. The company is just a gigantic behemoth of petty fiefdoms that will go the way of the Carolingian empire.

Re: Ex-Googler says company's AI panic is like Google+ fiasco all over again

#25

Post by mbreese »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #11

As a software developer, I'm anxious about the AI gold rush being a bubble that's about to pop. I've been unemployed ever since the Great 15% Layoffs, about 14 months ago. I finally landed a job (well, once the paperwork is done) related to bringing up a new processor. But it's a DL accelerator. I really hope there's not another employment bloodbath if/when the AI bubble bursts, since my savings are pretty much deple…

If you’re worried about the bursting of the AI bubble, then whatever you do, don’t look up “AI winter”.

This has all happened before and will happen again.

Re: Ex-Googler says company's AI panic is like Google+ fiasco all over again

#26

Post by foolswisdom »

StableAlkyne wrote: post #10

> Google's goal, according to Jenson, is to create a Jarvis-like assistant that keeps users locked into Google's ecosystem. The company is driven by the fear that someone else might get there first... > ...Apple is pursuing a similar AI lock-in strategy with Siri, Jenson believes. I remember when Microsoft got sued for including a web browser in Windows. Oh how anti-trust has fallen.

Yes, but there's recently been an antitrust case filed against Apple for the lock in strategy.

Re: Ex-Googler says company's AI panic is like Google+ fiasco all over again

#27

Post by stephc_int13 »

ben_w wrote: post #17
stephc_int13 wrote: post #2

This is not only Google. Most of the big and medium tech companies CEOs have been about as gullible and delusional as the crypto-bros of 2k18. And now, as all the FOMO-driven AI integrations are starting to bear fruits, it seems that we're going to enter a chapter of unprecedented bullshit and disappointment in the history of personal computers.

You're reminding me of the takes in the original dot-com bubble — which was indeed a bubble, don't get me wrong — all the nay-sayers 24 years ago asking why anyone would want to shop or bank online, missing that it was easy, fast, cheap, convenient, and sufficiently good. Of course, just a lot of companies went under when that bubble collapsed, and there's no guarantee that any of the current AI players will make the…

This is completely unrelated.

We are talking about profitable and established businesses trying to catch the train before it leaves.

I think there is space for a lot of interesting innovations and products in the AI space, even within its current limitations.

But what we're seeing now is not smart, and frankly ridiculous.

Re: Ex-Googler says company's AI panic is like Google+ fiasco all over again

#28

Post by [deleted] »

scialex wrote: post #18

> Some of you may remember Google's much-hyped AI voice "Duplex," which was supposed to automate all those annoying phone calls and call centers. That was in 2018, six years ago. Since then, we've seen how it's turned out Reasonably successfully? Call screen is easily one of the best features of my phone. Call hold navigation is also really useful. It calling restaurants and the like is not something I commonly use b…

[deleted]

Re: Ex-Googler says company's AI panic is like Google+ fiasco all over again

#29

Post by xxs »

mbreese wrote: post #25
CoastalCoder wrote: post #11

As a software developer, I'm anxious about the AI gold rush being a bubble that's about to pop. I've been unemployed ever since the Great 15% Layoffs, about 14 months ago. I finally landed a job (well, once the paperwork is done) related to bringing up a new processor. But it's a DL accelerator. I really hope there's not another employment bloodbath if/when the AI bubble bursts, since my savings are pretty much deple…

If you’re worried about the bursting of the AI bubble, then whatever you do, don’t look up “AI winter”. This has all happened before and will happen again.

“AI winter”... is long overdue.
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