7 ms·

All small businesses are not pure profit maximizers. Anyway even if they were, there’s MORE money to be made by empowering employees to use powerful tools which

All small businesses are not pure profit maximizers. Anyway even if they were, there’s MORE money to be made by empowering employees to use powerful tools which can increase revenues and profits much more than just firing. Doing so generates goodwill which improves employee effectiveness and drive.

jprete 4y ago
Goodwill doesn’t pay the bills, most businesses don’t care, and most CEOs etc cannot acquire more customers and contracts fast enough to multiply the available work by ten in the time frame required.
- eropple 4y ago
  Yeah, the idea that there is somehow Unlimited Demand to tap is just woefully underexposed to business realities. Demand at most businesses is a river, not a municipal waterline with a spigot at one end. It ebbs and it flows, and building for a hypothetical high-demand future is what you do when you have venture capital expecting it of you--not when you're building a "small business" (or even a medium to large one, if you want to be resilient). It is, however, a really convenient excuse for people who don't regularly think about how people who don't work "above the API" actually exist in the world.
- moneywoes 4y ago
  Seems most people miss this. If anything businesses will increase their profits instead
eropple 4y ago
Small businesses get eaten. That's the entire point of modern venture capital, even! Find ways to out-operationalize small businesses in sub-optimally exploited markets while burning an ocean of cash, then seek profits when you no longer have to dump to be competitive. It's okay to not think every technology under the sun is a good thing. You don't have to have heart-eyes emojis for the immiseration machine.
- Robotbeat 4y ago
  Sounds like a good idea to embrace new tech, then, instead of get eaten.
  - eropple 4y ago
    Cool, so we're back to "streamlining" and mass unemployment just in time to get eaten anyway. Once more for emphasis: you do not have to cheer on the immiseration machine.
    - Robotbeat 4y ago
      No, we’re not. Small businesses embracing technology to get more done with the same number of people is not “immiseration.” And I take it from your use of Marxist terminology that you’re coming from that the perspective. 20th Century Marxists embraced technological advancement, and used that to advance the cause of the proletariat. The REAL immiseration is to embrace paleoconservative ludditism.
- czbond 4y ago
  Most small businesses skimp by on very small margins - often run by "crafters" or "artistans" who generally couldn't tell you much about margins besides "cash in the bank" I believe AGI can help small businesses have higher margins for the same service level - but lower cost.
turnsout 4y ago
This! If you can 10X an employee, the obvious play is to retain all ten employees and get 10X widget output. Yes, you could fire nine people to retain 1X output—but your competition also has access to LLMs, and may choose the former option. Can you compete?
- eropple 4y ago
  > If you can 10X an employee, the obvious play is to retain all ten employees and get 10X widget output. Have you ever run a business that employed other people and relied on operational income rather than venture capital to function? Because this "obvious play" is a screaming red flag for misunderstanding the fundamentals of how business works when money isn't free and speculative.
  - turnsout 4y ago
    No, but I have been an employee in a business that had layoffs, then had reduced capacity, and had to scramble to hire new employees. You can't be too reactive with talent. If you hired 10 people, you should be figuring out how to make that talent pool as happy and productive as possible, not firing them out of fear at the earliest opportunity.
    - pixl97 4y ago
      Said business has to hire employees because they can't replace them with tools and AI. When said business can replace the employees with tools and AI, they will.
      - turnsout 4y ago
        "Replace" is very different from "Enhance" or "Augment." There are certainly roles that could be 100% replaced, but I think they'll be the exception, not the rule. Guess we'll find out!
- lpapez 4y ago
  This assumes that there is a need for 10x amount whichever service these entities are providing. For some cases that may be true, but for many (most?) it is not. In fact demand will most likely remain about the same, and all competitors will need to adpot LLMs and fire 9 people to remain afloat.

jprete 4y ago

Goodwill doesn’t pay the bills, most businesses don’t care, and most CEOs etc cannot acquire more customers and contracts fast enough to multiply the available work by ten in the time frame required.

eropple 4y ago
Yeah, the idea that there is somehow Unlimited Demand to tap is just woefully underexposed to business realities. Demand at most businesses is a river, not a municipal waterline with a spigot at one end. It ebbs and it flows, and building for a hypothetical high-demand future is what you do when you have venture capital expecting it of you--not when you're building a "small business" (or even a medium to large one, if you want to be resilient). It is, however, a really convenient excuse for people who don't regularly think about how people who don't work "above the API" actually exist in the world.
moneywoes 4y ago
Seems most people miss this. If anything businesses will increase their profits instead

eropple 4y ago

Small businesses get eaten. That's the entire point of modern venture capital, even! Find ways to out-operationalize small businesses in sub-optimally exploited markets while burning an ocean of cash, then seek profits when you no longer have to dump to be competitive. It's okay to not think every technology under the sun is a good thing. You don't have to have heart-eyes emojis for the immiseration machine.

Robotbeat 4y ago
Sounds like a good idea to embrace new tech, then, instead of get eaten.
- eropple 4y ago
  Cool, so we're back to "streamlining" and mass unemployment just in time to get eaten anyway. Once more for emphasis: you do not have to cheer on the immiseration machine.
  - Robotbeat 4y ago
    No, we’re not. Small businesses embracing technology to get more done with the same number of people is not “immiseration.” And I take it from your use of Marxist terminology that you’re coming from that the perspective. 20th Century Marxists embraced technological advancement, and used that to advance the cause of the proletariat. The REAL immiseration is to embrace paleoconservative ludditism.
czbond 4y ago
Most small businesses skimp by on very small margins - often run by "crafters" or "artistans" who generally couldn't tell you much about margins besides "cash in the bank" I believe AGI can help small businesses have higher margins for the same service level - but lower cost.

turnsout 4y ago

This! If you can 10X an employee, the obvious play is to retain all ten employees and get 10X widget output. Yes, you could fire nine people to retain 1X output—but your competition also has access to LLMs, and may choose the former option. Can you compete?

eropple 4y ago
> If you can 10X an employee, the obvious play is to retain all ten employees and get 10X widget output. Have you ever run a business that employed other people and relied on operational income rather than venture capital to function? Because this "obvious play" is a screaming red flag for misunderstanding the fundamentals of how business works when money isn't free and speculative.
- turnsout 4y ago
  No, but I have been an employee in a business that had layoffs, then had reduced capacity, and had to scramble to hire new employees. You can't be too reactive with talent. If you hired 10 people, you should be figuring out how to make that talent pool as happy and productive as possible, not firing them out of fear at the earliest opportunity.
  - pixl97 4y ago
    Said business has to hire employees because they can't replace them with tools and AI. When said business can replace the employees with tools and AI, they will.
    - turnsout 4y ago
      "Replace" is very different from "Enhance" or "Augment." There are certainly roles that could be 100% replaced, but I think they'll be the exception, not the rule. Guess we'll find out!
lpapez 4y ago
This assumes that there is a need for 10x amount whichever service these entities are providing. For some cases that may be true, but for many (most?) it is not. In fact demand will most likely remain about the same, and all competitors will need to adpot LLMs and fire 9 people to remain afloat.