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Play is a path to discovery. There's a lot of hype and vaporware in AI these days. There's also some real value there, but I'm not sure we've really figured out

Play is a path to discovery. There's a lot of hype and vaporware in AI these days. There's also some real value there, but I'm not sure we've really figured out what the real value propositions are. I strongly suspect the inherent limitations in AI means that many of the current applications are doomed to failure. Playing with AI will give people a better internalized sense of the strengths and weaknesses, and it will do that broadly in ways that will let more people with more problems recognize when these tools can actually help them. The real problem we have today is that most people just don't really have a good intuition for that.

prox 3y ago
Unfortunately what we see so often is that a lot of money is being poured into something that is just a sinkhole. Take NFTs for instance. People get swept up by fads far easier than by genuine improvements. I am actually in favor of a global debate on AI at this point, probably led by the UN so to reach as much nations as possible. Because we already know this is going to be needed as the year rolls on. Because the ball is moving fast.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  Crypto saw a very slow reaction, and you'd think something that might disrupt the global financial system would be a big deal. Why would their response to AI be any different?
  - prox 3y ago
    It is one of those crystal ball moments, nobody really knows what impact it’s going to have and at what speed. Will my job (frontend dev) be gone by years end? Maybe, maybe not. But if the numbers do get scary, I think we do need to have a collective sit down as societies come under stress of job loss.
- cookingrobot 3y ago
  I’d say approximately nobody believed NFTs had any value or invested any money. AI seems quite different.
  - endisneigh 3y ago
    that's definitely not true. Unstoppable raised like 70 million and that was a single company.
  - red-iron-pine 3y ago
    Plenty of people thought they did, esp. hucksters and rubes. There is a use for NFTs, and I could see implementations being a thing in industries like title insurance and deeds. But as it stands, right now it's mostly bag holders and money laundering.
- monero-xmr 3y ago
  NFTs are still happening, but the insane multi-million dollar monkey jpegs are not really happening anymore. At GDC this year web3 had a big presence, most firms are investigating or starting it in some way. Like all tech there is hype then trough of disillusionment. NFTs are in the trough and AI chat tools will get there soon, just like self driving cars are in it right now.
  - LawTalkingGuy 3y ago
    > NFTs are still happening, but the insane multi-million dollar monkey jpegs are not really happening anymore I think all the high valuations are money laundering. You create a pre-order system and get your friends on it, then buy their monkey pics for your near-stolen (FTX, etc) crypto and they give some back under the table. > web3 had a big presence The NFT tech is pretty cool. It lets (by packaging a friendly UI around it) people be their own identity providers.
    - aeternum 3y ago
      >I think all the high valuations are money laundering Yes, but the same can be said of most of the art world, and that has survived for Millenia.
    - kaycey2022 3y ago
      I am hopeful that NFTs along with zero knowledge proofs will enable completely open markets with no intermediary for the transfer of digital goods and maybe even services. That is very cool and more important than just monkey jpegs.
tinglymintyfrsh 3y ago
This is true. The missing step is productizing for commercially-useful problems. Start with a goofy app that accurately discerns what ugly sweaters you would wear to semi-automated product recommendation engines.

prox 3y ago

Unfortunately what we see so often is that a lot of money is being poured into something that is just a sinkhole. Take NFTs for instance. People get swept up by fads far easier than by genuine improvements. I am actually in favor of a global debate on AI at this point, probably led by the UN so to reach as much nations as possible. Because we already know this is going to be needed as the year rolls on. Because the ball is moving fast.

hammyhavoc 3y ago
Crypto saw a very slow reaction, and you'd think something that might disrupt the global financial system would be a big deal. Why would their response to AI be any different?
- prox 3y ago
  It is one of those crystal ball moments, nobody really knows what impact it’s going to have and at what speed. Will my job (frontend dev) be gone by years end? Maybe, maybe not. But if the numbers do get scary, I think we do need to have a collective sit down as societies come under stress of job loss.
cookingrobot 3y ago
I’d say approximately nobody believed NFTs had any value or invested any money. AI seems quite different.
- endisneigh 3y ago
  that's definitely not true. Unstoppable raised like 70 million and that was a single company.
- red-iron-pine 3y ago
  Plenty of people thought they did, esp. hucksters and rubes. There is a use for NFTs, and I could see implementations being a thing in industries like title insurance and deeds. But as it stands, right now it's mostly bag holders and money laundering.
monero-xmr 3y ago
NFTs are still happening, but the insane multi-million dollar monkey jpegs are not really happening anymore. At GDC this year web3 had a big presence, most firms are investigating or starting it in some way. Like all tech there is hype then trough of disillusionment. NFTs are in the trough and AI chat tools will get there soon, just like self driving cars are in it right now.
- LawTalkingGuy 3y ago
  > NFTs are still happening, but the insane multi-million dollar monkey jpegs are not really happening anymore I think all the high valuations are money laundering. You create a pre-order system and get your friends on it, then buy their monkey pics for your near-stolen (FTX, etc) crypto and they give some back under the table. > web3 had a big presence The NFT tech is pretty cool. It lets (by packaging a friendly UI around it) people be their own identity providers.
  - aeternum 3y ago
    >I think all the high valuations are money laundering Yes, but the same can be said of most of the art world, and that has survived for Millenia.
  - kaycey2022 3y ago
    I am hopeful that NFTs along with zero knowledge proofs will enable completely open markets with no intermediary for the transfer of digital goods and maybe even services. That is very cool and more important than just monkey jpegs.

tinglymintyfrsh 3y ago

This is true. The missing step is productizing for commercially-useful problems. Start with a goofy app that accurately discerns what ugly sweaters you would wear to semi-automated product recommendation engines.