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Ask yourself the same question but for web services, games, etc. A wealth gap will exist wrt access to better AI.

chatmasta 4y ago
Is that the analogy you're choosing? I'm not sure much of a wealth gap exists in software in general. In many ways software is the most egalitarian product in history, since it costs nothing to copy it. Sure, not everyone can afford a $60 game, but there are no $6,000 games. I think a better analogy (or perhaps a more specific one, since you did mention "web services") would be computing services, i.e. rich startups with hundreds of thousands in credits and funding vs. single bootstrapped founder with a little bit of cash.
- wsgeorge 4y ago
  > In many ways software is the most egalitarian product in history, Indeed, and that's kind of my point. Even in the most egalitarian product in history, a bit of a wealth gap exists. It's inescapable. That $60 game may not cost $6,000, but it won't run on cheap hardware. And it'll probably depend on a good, high speed Internet connection to acquire in the first place... Current AI is either relatively low cost but centralized, or very expensive to run locally. I believe AI will be more egalitarian than software in general (as Stanford Alpaca showed), if a lot of work is done to make inference at the edge practical. The open community shouldn't lose sight of this.
  - chatmasta 4y ago
    Yeah, I think the underlying theme here is that there is a wealth gap in early adoption of new technology. Nowadays you can buy a Chromebook for $200, but in the late 1990s you'd be lucky to get a computer for under $2000. That led to wealthier kids getting earlier access to computers, which gave them an advantage in early development as compared to their peers who never had the same opportunities. I agree we'll probably see a similar curve with AI. It's probably worth anticipating and finding a way to mitigate it. In the early days of computers and the internet, schools and libraries had computer labs that were a decent equalizer for kids who didn't have them at home. Maybe we should be thinking about how to make early AI similarly accessible.
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Ekaros 4y ago
A 200 and 2000 computer has power difference of a few times for example for gaming. And that is single machine where scaling is hard. With AI you can and actually have to throw more resources at.
DANmode 4y ago
Select few will pay for premium access, many or most will "pay" with their data. Trading your private info for societal gain is a proven model, it'll now extend to your..voice patterns?, and so on.

Is that the analogy you're choosing? I'm not sure much of a wealth gap exists in software in general. In many ways software is the most egalitarian product in history, since it costs nothing to copy it. Sure, not everyone can afford a $60 game, but there are no $6,000 games. I think a better analogy (or perhaps a more specific one, since you did mention "web services") would be computing services, i.e. rich startups with hundreds of thousands in credits and funding vs. single bootstrapped founder with a little bit of cash.

wsgeorge 4y ago
> In many ways software is the most egalitarian product in history, Indeed, and that's kind of my point. Even in the most egalitarian product in history, a bit of a wealth gap exists. It's inescapable. That $60 game may not cost $6,000, but it won't run on cheap hardware. And it'll probably depend on a good, high speed Internet connection to acquire in the first place... Current AI is either relatively low cost but centralized, or very expensive to run locally. I believe AI will be more egalitarian than software in general (as Stanford Alpaca showed), if a lot of work is done to make inference at the edge practical. The open community shouldn't lose sight of this.
- chatmasta 4y ago
  Yeah, I think the underlying theme here is that there is a wealth gap in early adoption of new technology. Nowadays you can buy a Chromebook for $200, but in the late 1990s you'd be lucky to get a computer for under $2000. That led to wealthier kids getting earlier access to computers, which gave them an advantage in early development as compared to their peers who never had the same opportunities. I agree we'll probably see a similar curve with AI. It's probably worth anticipating and finding a way to mitigate it. In the early days of computers and the internet, schools and libraries had computer labs that were a decent equalizer for kids who didn't have them at home. Maybe we should be thinking about how to make early AI similarly accessible.

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Ekaros 4y ago

A 200 and 2000 computer has power difference of a few times for example for gaming. And that is single machine where scaling is hard. With AI you can and actually have to throw more resources at.

DANmode 4y ago

Select few will pay for premium access, many or most will "pay" with their data. Trading your private info for societal gain is a proven model, it'll now extend to your..voice patterns?, and so on.