Earlier quoted context omitted.
Only because they currently contract it out to Palantir (at least the bits that NSA isn't handling)
News to me. I can’t find any details though. Can you share your source?
OpenAI wins $200M U.S. defense contract
281–290 of 303 posts
Re: OpenAI wins $200M U.S. defense contract
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe this is implied in the parent's post. We fund the military industrial complex to such a ludicrous degree that $200m can just disappear on bullshit contracts to cronies that go nowhere, and politicians don't bat an eye. Nobody with power cares about the debt. They just keep borrowing money and handing it to the defense industry. This is one of only a handful of issues on which there is bipartisan agreement.
Yes, the real government is the one in agreement, and the "handful of issues" account for almost all of the spending. Their disagreements, in budget terms and in reality, are cheap and pretentious theatrics. But I doubt the politicians "don't bat an eye" at 200M, for they know that money is going straight out of the economy and into private coffers. The government budgeters are not naive to the economics of military…
No one here is excusing anything, but rather just stating how things are. And if you think that those with the power actually give any consideration to us, let alone think "hey, they dont care, carry on!", then you've truly lost the plot
Re: OpenAI wins $200M U.S. defense contract
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
That 200 Million is chump change only to people who think like chumps. In reality it is total waste, unproductive taxation that doubles as a counter balance to inflation, so doubly wasteful. Chump together all the 100s of millions in waste year over year; the change to your chumping is not good change, its inflation and general impoverishment. Every penny of that 200 is a note in the bank of inflation and degradation…
Is all of that truely "waste", if it is being paid toward onshore companies? The money doesn't disappear, it gets redistributed to American companies.
Are you really unable to distinguish the difference in value between, say, funding infrastructure maintenance - or 1000 other things - and just filling some crony's pockets?
Re: OpenAI wins $200M U.S. defense contract
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
That 200 Million is chump change only to people who think like chumps. In reality it is total waste, unproductive taxation that doubles as a counter balance to inflation, so doubly wasteful. Chump together all the 100s of millions in waste year over year; the change to your chumping is not good change, its inflation and general impoverishment. Every penny of that 200 is a note in the bank of inflation and degradation…
Is all of that truely "waste", if it is being paid toward onshore companies? The money doesn't disappear, it gets redistributed to American companies.
Re: OpenAI wins $200M U.S. defense contract
#285Despite what every AI exec will say publicly, I'm pretty sure they're salivating at the prospect of war/defense related applications of AI. There's just too much money floating around in the military industrial complex for them to ignore. This is doubly so if the "business" part of your AI company is about as solid as a fart in the wind.
i don’t think they actually care about the applications. I think what really matters to them is making money as the middleman between AI providers and the government, pushing whatever flashy-sounding nonsense will keep the generals happy, especially the ones getting treated to thousand-dollar steak dinners and promised cushy private-sector jobs.
Re: OpenAI wins $200M U.S. defense contract
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
> why do they cost the government over 2 trillion? Because these are interacting with and purchasing services from a market-driven healthcare system which is optimized for profit, not health outcomes.
Thanks for defining corruption.
Medicare and Medicaid are expensive because we incorrectly apply market economics to healthcare.
None of that requires corruption. It's a mixture of over-commitment to market-based solutions and a bare minimum of empathy enshrined into law.
Re: OpenAI wins $200M U.S. defense contract
#287Judging from how the DoD currently buys software, lots of money will be spent, many headlines will be written, awards will be handed out, and zero software will make it on to user workstations. End users will continue to use Excel for everything.
You almost had it until the end. This will be used to generate even more powerpoint.
"Hi there. It looks like you're trying to write a document. Would you like me to open Word?"
This upgrade was long overdue.
Re: OpenAI wins $200M U.S. defense contract
#288Paul Graham tends to be against Silicon Valley participation in the defense industry, while Marc Andreessen is all for it. Palmer Lucky makes a very good case why AI applications in military are a very good thing, and I tend to agree with him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooMXEwl7N8Y It's American technology and industry that won the major wars of the 20th century. If Western technology companies abdicate that res…
Also a pretty acceptable, and hopefully self evident, statement that technology and industry are relevant to "winning wars" (regardless of nation), even with the loaded assumption on "[american tech and industry]... won the major wars of the 20th century".
> If Western technology companies abdicate that responsibility, we will all need to learn Mandarin.
This bit killed it for me. It's completely reasonable and I encourage others to understand and perhaps accept a Realist[0] worldview, where obviously major powers are engaged in security competition.
I observe this too often, and it saddens me, that "western" people might truly believe in things like this.
My country and region was actively interfered, militarily and politically, by the US. We never were approached for deals as respectful partners, always a condescending and agenda driven deal with strings attached. Chinese relations with my country, and economic opportunities, flourish and give me hope that it might kickstart improvements I've lingered for since my teens (infrastructure, particularly rail for me).
Don't get me wrong, I am extremely suspicious of China politics and its goals. And of course this is part of its soft power ambitions, believe me that us "non-westerns" are perhaps not as dumb as we might seem (perhaps as problematic in other areas though).
Unless US, EU, Israel, or whatever considered to be "western" do not paranoia themselves and believe their own propaganda that China should be nuked you should indeed learn Mandarin, reason a little bit different than perhaps you assumed for on this statement: they treat others with; even if some underlying goal might exist; actual respect.
Look at yourselves in the mirror.
0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_(international_relatio...
Re: OpenAI wins $200M U.S. defense contract
#289Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's do a thought exercise on your loaded question, considering government waste and corruption has been thoroughly covered by journalists since the invention of the free press and are a Google search away for you. If I don't post sources, then you just accept government corruption doesn't exist, simply because nobody Googled for you? If I do post sources, then what? Do you just suddenly change your mind and accept…
> If I do post sources, then what? Do you just suddenly change your mind and accept that stuff documented by the press it does exist? Then I can read them, find similar sources, judge how much I trust them, and get a better idea of how much corruption and waste you are claiming exists. While I am sure corruption and waste occurs, if it’s such a serious problem, there ought to be some evidence of it, direct or indirec…
Yes?! Is that too much to ask for that you do research before commenting?
>Why should I believe you?
I didn't tell you to believe me, I told you to go do your own research if you don't believe me.
Re: OpenAI wins $200M U.S. defense contract
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
So ... corruption.
No. How is "voters choose to have a system that optimizes for profit" an example of "corruption?" Please explain your logic step by step.
I've never heard Americans say "I want a system that costs me a lot, makes other people rich and give me northing in return".
Explain how that isn't corruption.