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I think this depends a lot on where you are working. I've talked to academics who are getting discouraged that they don't see how their approach to AI is going

by lacker 4y ago

I think this depends a lot on where you are working. I've talked to academics who are getting discouraged that they don't see how their approach to AI is going to be possible any more, with so much funding going toward the largest models from industry. On the other hand I've talked to startup founders building AI products whose business is booming because ChatGPT brought so much attention to the entire space. We are certainly living in interesting times ;-)

karmakurtisaani 4y ago
A PhD student I recently talked to was complaining how in academia they will never have the resources it takes to train models like GPT. And how now some academics are only researching the input/outputs to these LLMs. Seems like it's pretty dire or at least uninspiring to all but very few at the moment.
- tayo42 4y ago
  why is that? don't like those academic particle researchers get tons of money to build wild experiments to measure waves or collide particles? unless i get the funding part wrong? are those not academic projects?
  - wardedVibe 4y ago
    Until the government funding agencies are willing to do "big science" in computer science we're not going to get particle accelerator sized projects. It sort of happened in France, and bloom was the result. https://huggingface.co/bigscience/bloom https://huggingface.co/bigscience/bloom
  - pixl97 4y ago
    The issue here is speed. If it takes 10 years to get funding on particle physics, generally it doesn't matter "that much" because that part of the science scene moves pretty slowly. If it takes 10 years to build a billion dollar cluster for AI today, what the hell is the AI world going to look like in 10 years anyway? Building a cluster to study AI ethics might be meaningless because a terminator may be pointing its laser rifle at our head by then telling us to be good little human subjects because Microsoft and OpenAI decided to move fast and break things.
    - WFHRenaissance 4y ago
      So basic science will have to move to the private sector.
  - bagels 4y ago
    They should join Facebook or Google, get paid a ton, and do research there with the resources they need.
ChatGTP 4y ago
I've talked to academics who are getting discouraged that they don't see how their approach to AI is going to be possible any more Welcome to how the entire world probably feels, but way worse because they haven't been getting 6-7 figure salaries for the last ten years to insulate themselves for what big tech wants to see happen. I think it's a positive thing that AI researchers are feeling this way because it might be the only thing that slows things down or at least shows us a little more empathy. I'm not counting on it, but yeah, all I can say is, get used to it. I'm basically just leaning on trying to enjoy things that aren't in front of me, kind of like being more mindful while we're in free fall, while simultaneous fretting and praying for future generations and hoping they have a future.

by lacker 4y ago

karmakurtisaani 4y ago

A PhD student I recently talked to was complaining how in academia they will never have the resources it takes to train models like GPT. And how now some academics are only researching the input/outputs to these LLMs. Seems like it's pretty dire or at least uninspiring to all but very few at the moment.

tayo42 4y ago
why is that? don't like those academic particle researchers get tons of money to build wild experiments to measure waves or collide particles? unless i get the funding part wrong? are those not academic projects?
- wardedVibe 4y ago
  Until the government funding agencies are willing to do "big science" in computer science we're not going to get particle accelerator sized projects. It sort of happened in France, and bloom was the result. https://huggingface.co/bigscience/bloom https://huggingface.co/bigscience/bloom
- pixl97 4y ago
  The issue here is speed. If it takes 10 years to get funding on particle physics, generally it doesn't matter "that much" because that part of the science scene moves pretty slowly. If it takes 10 years to build a billion dollar cluster for AI today, what the hell is the AI world going to look like in 10 years anyway? Building a cluster to study AI ethics might be meaningless because a terminator may be pointing its laser rifle at our head by then telling us to be good little human subjects because Microsoft and OpenAI decided to move fast and break things.
  - WFHRenaissance 4y ago
    So basic science will have to move to the private sector.
- bagels 4y ago
  They should join Facebook or Google, get paid a ton, and do research there with the resources they need.

ChatGTP 4y ago

I've talked to academics who are getting discouraged that they don't see how their approach to AI is going to be possible any more Welcome to how the entire world probably feels, but way worse because they haven't been getting 6-7 figure salaries for the last ten years to insulate themselves for what big tech wants to see happen. I think it's a positive thing that AI researchers are feeling this way because it might be the only thing that slows things down or at least shows us a little more empathy. I'm not counting on it, but yeah, all I can say is, get used to it. I'm basically just leaning on trying to enjoy things that aren't in front of me, kind of like being more mindful while we're in free fall, while simultaneous fretting and praying for future generations and hoping they have a future.