5 ms·

What labor did the current AI save yet? All I see so far is billions or even trillions in capex for stuff that barely works…

Phiwise_ 3y ago
The value equivalent of that was invested into computation technology long before even a half-MIPS machine was produced. Its funders had the foresight to look beyond the present day.
freedomben 3y ago
I just wrote a blog post and need a graphic to go with it. My options are: 1. Spend hours and $ hiring a graphic designer to make one 2. Spend hours learning/doing it myself 3. Spend time searching the internet looking for images that aren't copyrighted, or spend time finding an image I like and spend time and $ figuring out how to pay/license it 4. Spend a few seconds prompting AI
- apsurd 3y ago
  or not add fluff images to your blog post. I know this comes off snarky but it's been decades now and we've got to be the change we want to see in the world. "business person at the office" banner image is completely useless.
  - neglesaks 3y ago
    I agree that the stock business images of smiling guys in suit & tie are cringe as hell at this point. That being said, visual input and aesthetic are deeply intrinsic human things and expecting us to move beyond that is very unrealistic. The best we can do is optimise the IG methodology and/or use open, perpetually royalty free images and clipart for illustration.
  - freedomben 3y ago
    I fully agree there are plenty of blog posts where the image is completely useless at best, misleading at worst, and I react in a very similar manner. But I've found a pretty interesting middle-ground/sweet spot (mainly with less technical audiences) where a nice graphic can really improve attention and retention, especially on a slide deck. For a recent example, I wrote about the importance of passwords for a "security awareness" training (the audience here are people in Pakistan who have only recently started using the internet). To help illustrate/reinforce the idea that if somebody gets your password they can "hack" you, I generated some colorful images of hackers, computer security, and even one with a person being arrested (in that section I was describing the law that could hold them accountable for breach of others personal information if their negligence allowed an adversary to gain access to the system). Personally to me it's fluff, but I ran a small (and not very scientific) A/B test with the first and second group and the version with the graphics was shockingly better at it's goal of raising awareness.
  - sheeshkebab 3y ago
    it seems you can add fluff to existing projects with this round of AI but replacing labor that goes into dealing with the core of the tasks not so much. I’m not sure gen ai even helps with increasing productivity yet - since tons of existing tools and services do all the same things without having much of this ai (ai chatbot better than a web search? gimme a break…)
mdale 3y ago
I don't get why this would be someone's position. If it "barely works" it would not sustain mass usage across many product lines. Just recently, I used generative AI integrated into databricks to build complex sql queries via English, used Google Gemini in Google sheet to formula a tricky pivot table, chatGPT build a cloud formation schema for new infra for a service & to navigate some tricky database primarily key setup for dynamodb; used copilot integrated into my IDE to speed up unit test and simple refractors and code complete every other line written. I nor the other millions of subscribers to these tools are not subscribed because it barely works it's because it lets me work more efficiently. It save tons of time across many product for many things that used to be sources of frustration or slow mundane tasks.
- Mistletoe 3y ago
  Those things are great but did you actually pay for them? At some point it has to actually make money. We are on the “fueled by investors and mania” part that made us think scams like WeWork and Uber would work at the low prices for a while. I use Google Gemini sometimes for questions but if I had to pay the real energy and financial costs it took to arrive at my innocuous question’s answer I doubt it would be feasible.
- coldtea 3y ago
  >I don't get why this would be someone's position. If it "barely works" it would not sustain mass usage across many product lines. "Hype" is all it takes for that to be the case. Then every product had to "add AI" features to keep ahead of competitor's marketing.
lumost 3y ago
How many people processes do you currently interact with that "barely work". - Call Customer Service, go through a crazy flow chart and be redirected to 10 different people. - Go shopping, sift through thousands of reviews/images/fake products to find one that works. - Manually create graphics/designs for unique rooms - Request a junior employee to write some basic code. - Request a junior employee to perform task X. The AI also has the advantage that it can scale up to 24/7, on-demand work without an additional engineer.
Ukv 3y ago
Product/material QC that previously took a human is now commonly done by detector networks. Improved spam filtering saves a little of everyone's time. Automated voice dictation, language translation, and video transcription have also improved massively. For applications like weather forecasting/early-warning systems or tumor segmentation and protein folding, "saving" is a bit more literal.

Phiwise_ 3y ago

The value equivalent of that was invested into computation technology long before even a half-MIPS machine was produced. Its funders had the foresight to look beyond the present day.

freedomben 3y ago

I just wrote a blog post and need a graphic to go with it. My options are: 1. Spend hours and $ hiring a graphic designer to make one 2. Spend hours learning/doing it myself 3. Spend time searching the internet looking for images that aren't copyrighted, or spend time finding an image I like and spend time and $ figuring out how to pay/license it 4. Spend a few seconds prompting AI

apsurd 3y ago
or not add fluff images to your blog post. I know this comes off snarky but it's been decades now and we've got to be the change we want to see in the world. "business person at the office" banner image is completely useless.
- neglesaks 3y ago
  I agree that the stock business images of smiling guys in suit & tie are cringe as hell at this point. That being said, visual input and aesthetic are deeply intrinsic human things and expecting us to move beyond that is very unrealistic. The best we can do is optimise the IG methodology and/or use open, perpetually royalty free images and clipart for illustration.
- freedomben 3y ago
  I fully agree there are plenty of blog posts where the image is completely useless at best, misleading at worst, and I react in a very similar manner. But I've found a pretty interesting middle-ground/sweet spot (mainly with less technical audiences) where a nice graphic can really improve attention and retention, especially on a slide deck. For a recent example, I wrote about the importance of passwords for a "security awareness" training (the audience here are people in Pakistan who have only recently started using the internet). To help illustrate/reinforce the idea that if somebody gets your password they can "hack" you, I generated some colorful images of hackers, computer security, and even one with a person being arrested (in that section I was describing the law that could hold them accountable for breach of others personal information if their negligence allowed an adversary to gain access to the system). Personally to me it's fluff, but I ran a small (and not very scientific) A/B test with the first and second group and the version with the graphics was shockingly better at it's goal of raising awareness.
- sheeshkebab 3y ago
  it seems you can add fluff to existing projects with this round of AI but replacing labor that goes into dealing with the core of the tasks not so much. I’m not sure gen ai even helps with increasing productivity yet - since tons of existing tools and services do all the same things without having much of this ai (ai chatbot better than a web search? gimme a break…)

mdale 3y ago

I don't get why this would be someone's position. If it "barely works" it would not sustain mass usage across many product lines. Just recently, I used generative AI integrated into databricks to build complex sql queries via English, used Google Gemini in Google sheet to formula a tricky pivot table, chatGPT build a cloud formation schema for new infra for a service & to navigate some tricky database primarily key setup for dynamodb; used copilot integrated into my IDE to speed up unit test and simple refractors and code complete every other line written. I nor the other millions of subscribers to these tools are not subscribed because it barely works it's because it lets me work more efficiently. It save tons of time across many product for many things that used to be sources of frustration or slow mundane tasks.

Mistletoe 3y ago
Those things are great but did you actually pay for them? At some point it has to actually make money. We are on the “fueled by investors and mania” part that made us think scams like WeWork and Uber would work at the low prices for a while. I use Google Gemini sometimes for questions but if I had to pay the real energy and financial costs it took to arrive at my innocuous question’s answer I doubt it would be feasible.
coldtea 3y ago
>I don't get why this would be someone's position. If it "barely works" it would not sustain mass usage across many product lines. "Hype" is all it takes for that to be the case. Then every product had to "add AI" features to keep ahead of competitor's marketing.

lumost 3y ago

How many people processes do you currently interact with that "barely work". - Call Customer Service, go through a crazy flow chart and be redirected to 10 different people. - Go shopping, sift through thousands of reviews/images/fake products to find one that works. - Manually create graphics/designs for unique rooms - Request a junior employee to write some basic code. - Request a junior employee to perform task X. The AI also has the advantage that it can scale up to 24/7, on-demand work without an additional engineer.

Ukv 3y ago

Product/material QC that previously took a human is now commonly done by detector networks. Improved spam filtering saves a little of everyone's time. Automated voice dictation, language translation, and video transcription have also improved massively. For applications like weather forecasting/early-warning systems or tumor segmentation and protein folding, "saving" is a bit more literal.