Open AI's business model is - essentially - based upon theft. Imagine going into a business meeting and explaining to potential investors that your entire strategy is to steal people's stuff and then sell it back to them?
…i’m not so convinced people will get upset by this…more and more of everyone i meet every day is “into it” and tells me how cool the thing they do with it is…this is unfortunately too big to fail…i think we are closer to a.i. creating a doomsday then anyone in tech ever quitting building and growing its capabilities…but maybe when we all go poor broke and hungry we’ll fight back?…
Remember mash ups? That's what AI is now. They're selling something that can take over entire industries as a cute gizmo that can make a Terminator cartoon in the style of the Flintstones as written by Tarantino with a John Williams soundtrack.
New theory: given that memes have actually moved the needle some on political change, it’s entirely possible that there is an attempt to destroy said memes by flooding the internet with AI generated memes.
I want to know if Meta is using our WhatsApp messages... Surely they are! Sooo hard to persuade people to move away from WhatsApp (let alone the ones who are still on FB Messenger)
All of us, reading this, have spent thousands of $ for books, magazines, records, CDs whatsoever to build up our knowledge. Our countries' tax payers have invested in our education and now some AI mega-corporations train their products with our work without paying any author's rights?
Let's consider the music streaming platforms, also somehow questionable with respect to their algorithms. At least they only keep 30% and need to pay the rest to the music industry, and hence to the artists. I believe the AI industry should pay at least 30% of their net income to author's rights associations.
Oh, I’m plenty pissed off. Been pissed off since 1979, when I finally learned the truth that the most valuable forms of property are the intangible ones, including ideas. It even says so in the Declaration of Independence, to which everyone pays lip service, and then promptly turns around and ignores. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are the forms of property that are mentioned, all intangible. The tangible stuff is subsumed under “the pursuit of happiness”, but clearly that stuff was considered secondary by the author of that phrase, Thomas Paine. (How the phrase made its way into the Declaration is a long story, not for here.)
Anyhow, I was an early rejector of Facebook when I read the e-mail exchange between Mr. Zuckerberg and a college friend of his. Zuckerberg told his friend about his idea, which ultimately became Facebook, and the friend instantly recognized the idiocy of people compromising their privacy and security by using such a platform, and asked, “Why would anyone do that?” Zuckerberg replied, “I don’t know…dumb fucks, I guess.” That clinched it for me; I had only had a Facebook account for a couple of months, and had hardly used it. I immediately deleted the account. I’m not inclined to make someone who thinks I’m a “dumb fuck” a billionaire.
But the deeper point is that it’s a matter of principle. Where’s the compensation to all those who have traded their privacy and security for the privilege of having their personal information stolen? I recognize the fact that they don’t see it that way, but that’s what makes it a fraud. The fact that it’s a fraud in which they willingly participate doesn’t make it any less fraudulent. And it doesn’t make the theft of their data any less of a theft. I wonder how many people would still think it’s a good thing that the man who has become a billionaire by stealing their data thinks they’re “dumb fucks”.
But you know what the hell of is Stephen? You nailed it in your post. Call me a cynic if you want, but I suspect that most Facebook users have become so addicted to whatever benefits they derive from using the platform that even if they knew Zuckerberg’s opinion of their “dumb fucked-ness”, it wouldn’t make any difference to them.
This is a consequence of living in a culture wherein moral relativism increasingly holds sway, integrity is something people desire in the way others treat them, but don’t value it in themselves, and the notion that there are absolute principles of right and wrong only applies when the lack of such principles in the behavior of others inconveniences them. Then they squeal and squawk, demanding that “There oughta be a law”, as though transferring the responsibility for securing their unalienable rights to the political state is any more likely to secure those rights than it has ever been.
The truth is that the price of freedom is personal responsibility, and we do not live in a culture that even recognizes that principle, let alone teaches it to its citizens.
They desire to make incursions into gaming, movies, everything, even industry and such. I can see a time where movies are ground out at a ridiculous pace, Die Hard Predator, completely done by AI. There is however, a response. Not a great response, but in the face of it, it's all we can do. Gen Z are beginning to turn back to old ways. The human need for real work and real interaction is great.
great post, I found this part particularly thought provoking: "Next year will see stronger pushback as generative AI continues to fail to justify the resources it uses, fails to justify the frankly insane money that’s been pumped into it, and fails to find genuine use cases beyond ‘do some thing a little faster.’"
Do you have a view as to what the end game here is?
Not really… GenAI is going nowhere. Too much money and resources spent, companies like OpenAI probably “too big to fail” now, and other countries are going to get involved (or already are) like China. While I don’t think it’s going to be as revolutionary as once predicted, it will find more use cases, and smart people will find smart ways to use it. But as to the lingering feeling that corporates and industries will use it to replace human labour… it’s just inevitable right?
I think you're right. In the corporate world there's a strong lean towards thinking that technology will alway bring cost savings. Therefore, I think the trajectory of travel is that people will be replaced by AI, then tons of money will need to be spent cleaning up the eventual mess.
Open AI's business model is - essentially - based upon theft. Imagine going into a business meeting and explaining to potential investors that your entire strategy is to steal people's stuff and then sell it back to them?
Deez timez!
You’d probably get a standing ovation these days
…i’m not so convinced people will get upset by this…more and more of everyone i meet every day is “into it” and tells me how cool the thing they do with it is…this is unfortunately too big to fail…i think we are closer to a.i. creating a doomsday then anyone in tech ever quitting building and growing its capabilities…but maybe when we all go poor broke and hungry we’ll fight back?…
Yeah. I agree. Should be angry, but most won’t be
Remember mash ups? That's what AI is now. They're selling something that can take over entire industries as a cute gizmo that can make a Terminator cartoon in the style of the Flintstones as written by Tarantino with a John Williams soundtrack.
…yay we get more horrible music and memes!…
New theory: given that memes have actually moved the needle some on political change, it’s entirely possible that there is an attempt to destroy said memes by flooding the internet with AI generated memes.
...the meme wars begin!...
I want to know if Meta is using our WhatsApp messages... Surely they are! Sooo hard to persuade people to move away from WhatsApp (let alone the ones who are still on FB Messenger)
No it shouldn’t be. Emphasis on shouldn’t…
…google is 100% training on all docs and emails…
Oh yeah. I’m trapped in that with my work — Google docs and Google sheets all day.
WhatsApp chats are encrypted so unless Meta has a secret backdoor, your message content is fine.
When you recommend a switch, what’s your go to alternative?
Usually I suggest Signal (which isn't perfect). For the more tech-savvy, there's Matrix (self-hosted).
I tried unsuccessfully to persuade people to use signal. I’ll check out matrix. Thanks.
Good morning! Been yelling non stop for over two years.
Hero!
Constantly getting pissed siphons your peace and well being.
True, but I can’t help it 😂
All of us, reading this, have spent thousands of $ for books, magazines, records, CDs whatsoever to build up our knowledge. Our countries' tax payers have invested in our education and now some AI mega-corporations train their products with our work without paying any author's rights?
Let's consider the music streaming platforms, also somehow questionable with respect to their algorithms. At least they only keep 30% and need to pay the rest to the music industry, and hence to the artists. I believe the AI industry should pay at least 30% of their net income to author's rights associations.
rocknrolll
Tbh they are shafting a lot of musicians too, plus when you throw in labels and other scrapers that take their money.
But in principle, it makes sense. The problem? It would probably force OpenAI etc to go bust. I think it’s a total non-starter for them
I politely decline an office version of ChatGPT this week. I won’t ever use it. Doing my small part.
With generative AI the environmental impact pisses me off just as much, if not more than as much, as the theft of all of our data.
Yup. I think we are only at the beginnings of coming to terms with that impact…
Oh, I’m plenty pissed off. Been pissed off since 1979, when I finally learned the truth that the most valuable forms of property are the intangible ones, including ideas. It even says so in the Declaration of Independence, to which everyone pays lip service, and then promptly turns around and ignores. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are the forms of property that are mentioned, all intangible. The tangible stuff is subsumed under “the pursuit of happiness”, but clearly that stuff was considered secondary by the author of that phrase, Thomas Paine. (How the phrase made its way into the Declaration is a long story, not for here.)
Anyhow, I was an early rejector of Facebook when I read the e-mail exchange between Mr. Zuckerberg and a college friend of his. Zuckerberg told his friend about his idea, which ultimately became Facebook, and the friend instantly recognized the idiocy of people compromising their privacy and security by using such a platform, and asked, “Why would anyone do that?” Zuckerberg replied, “I don’t know…dumb fucks, I guess.” That clinched it for me; I had only had a Facebook account for a couple of months, and had hardly used it. I immediately deleted the account. I’m not inclined to make someone who thinks I’m a “dumb fuck” a billionaire.
But the deeper point is that it’s a matter of principle. Where’s the compensation to all those who have traded their privacy and security for the privilege of having their personal information stolen? I recognize the fact that they don’t see it that way, but that’s what makes it a fraud. The fact that it’s a fraud in which they willingly participate doesn’t make it any less fraudulent. And it doesn’t make the theft of their data any less of a theft. I wonder how many people would still think it’s a good thing that the man who has become a billionaire by stealing their data thinks they’re “dumb fucks”.
But you know what the hell of is Stephen? You nailed it in your post. Call me a cynic if you want, but I suspect that most Facebook users have become so addicted to whatever benefits they derive from using the platform that even if they knew Zuckerberg’s opinion of their “dumb fucked-ness”, it wouldn’t make any difference to them.
This is a consequence of living in a culture wherein moral relativism increasingly holds sway, integrity is something people desire in the way others treat them, but don’t value it in themselves, and the notion that there are absolute principles of right and wrong only applies when the lack of such principles in the behavior of others inconveniences them. Then they squeal and squawk, demanding that “There oughta be a law”, as though transferring the responsibility for securing their unalienable rights to the political state is any more likely to secure those rights than it has ever been.
The truth is that the price of freedom is personal responsibility, and we do not live in a culture that even recognizes that principle, let alone teaches it to its citizens.
They desire to make incursions into gaming, movies, everything, even industry and such. I can see a time where movies are ground out at a ridiculous pace, Die Hard Predator, completely done by AI. There is however, a response. Not a great response, but in the face of it, it's all we can do. Gen Z are beginning to turn back to old ways. The human need for real work and real interaction is great.
Will it be enough? Doubtful.
Writing with human punch, I love this. Thank you. The fire of mortal spirit in this. Yes!
There is a substack setting that decides whether you share your writing for AI training. Default I think is yes. Have you seen this?
Yes. It’s off!
It is intellectual property theft and everyone should be pissed.
great post, I found this part particularly thought provoking: "Next year will see stronger pushback as generative AI continues to fail to justify the resources it uses, fails to justify the frankly insane money that’s been pumped into it, and fails to find genuine use cases beyond ‘do some thing a little faster.’"
Do you have a view as to what the end game here is?
Not really… GenAI is going nowhere. Too much money and resources spent, companies like OpenAI probably “too big to fail” now, and other countries are going to get involved (or already are) like China. While I don’t think it’s going to be as revolutionary as once predicted, it will find more use cases, and smart people will find smart ways to use it. But as to the lingering feeling that corporates and industries will use it to replace human labour… it’s just inevitable right?
I think you're right. In the corporate world there's a strong lean towards thinking that technology will alway bring cost savings. Therefore, I think the trajectory of travel is that people will be replaced by AI, then tons of money will need to be spent cleaning up the eventual mess.