8 ms·

Linus Torvalds slams AI as '90% marketing and 10% reality'

13 points by mikece 2y ago

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
drcwpl 2y ago
Let's focus on LLMs because I think that is the gist of this article. Whilst Linus may not like the BS, as most of us don't, I disagree that LLMs are not useful. There are many companies now implementing LLMs, even the EU parliament has implemented Claude and there are a growing list of use cases from banks, pharma, FMCG and others. The article also digresses by stating "companies are struggling to deploy meaningful AI tools for a variety of reasons, including poor infrastructure and a lack of readiness on the parts of both workers and leaders." That is not because the LLMs are not useful - it is actually fear and inertia. So many companies are afraid to implement LLMs because a) horror stories on helpfullness, harmlessness and honesty of LLMs and b) fear of the time and infrastructure it will take because big IT projects took years and were over budget - but LLMs are different - the EU implemented Claude in less than 6 months on millions of disparate data and systems.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  LLMs can be useful, but outside of a couple of niche areas, they aren't incredibly so as near as I can see.
rubicon33 2y ago
I’m with him. AI is cool but its mainstream appeal right now is an improved search. All the other forms of generative AI are gimmicks. All classification ai seems to have hit a limit in how useful it can be. Take recognition. It’ll never be 99.999%, and so we can only depend on it so much.
- drcwpl 2y ago
  OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar says #AI isn't experimental anymore. She says banks, financial institutions and fintech's are using it everyday in their business. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCqFgVqWbEs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCqFgVqWbEs
  - Wheatman 2y ago
    >"Open AI CFO". While i don't want to say completely ignore what she says based on her postion, the fact that she is the Chief "Financial" adviser should atleast raise a few red flags when considering her words on the matter. [PS:Why does your comment feel like an SEO article? That hastag feels so random?]
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    That's hardly an objective source. She not only is in the C suite of a genAI company, she's the CFO of OpenAI itself. Everything she has to say is going to be a sales pitch.
  - mandmandam 2y ago
    > banks, financial institutions and fintech's are using it everyday in their business. They absolutely are. They'd be crazy not to. And many people are being laid off as a result, which is why they're keeping it quiet.
Wheatman 2y ago
While i somewhat agree, the real sad thing is that 10% is real and usefull, yet it gets overshadowed by that 90% hype based products. Think of how mych money is being thrown at hype products that could have been allocated to the next Cancer detection AI, or AI prosthetic, but instead these things have to take 2nd place behind stuff like the Rabbit R1, or Devin, or the AI washing machine. At least their is a somewhat usefull product this time, unlike with NFT. Besides, i was like 3 when 2008 happened, and it dodnt really happen in my country, so it would be nice to experience what a real recession feels like :v
rsynnott 2y ago
Slams? I'd say that's being generous, if anything.

13 points by mikece 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

Let's focus on LLMs because I think that is the gist of this article. Whilst Linus may not like the BS, as most of us don't, I disagree that LLMs are not useful. There are many companies now implementing LLMs, even the EU parliament has implemented Claude and there are a growing list of use cases from banks, pharma, FMCG and others. The article also digresses by stating "companies are struggling to deploy meaningful AI tools for a variety of reasons, including poor infrastructure and a lack of readiness on the parts of both workers and leaders." That is not because the LLMs are not useful - it is actually fear and inertia. So many companies are afraid to implement LLMs because a) horror stories on helpfullness, harmlessness and honesty of LLMs and b) fear of the time and infrastructure it will take because big IT projects took years and were over budget - but LLMs are different - the EU implemented Claude in less than 6 months on millions of disparate data and systems.

JohnFen 2y ago
LLMs can be useful, but outside of a couple of niche areas, they aren't incredibly so as near as I can see.

rubicon33 2y ago

I’m with him. AI is cool but its mainstream appeal right now is an improved search. All the other forms of generative AI are gimmicks. All classification ai seems to have hit a limit in how useful it can be. Take recognition. It’ll never be 99.999%, and so we can only depend on it so much.

drcwpl 2y ago
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar says #AI isn't experimental anymore. She says banks, financial institutions and fintech's are using it everyday in their business. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCqFgVqWbEs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCqFgVqWbEs
- Wheatman 2y ago
  >"Open AI CFO". While i don't want to say completely ignore what she says based on her postion, the fact that she is the Chief "Financial" adviser should atleast raise a few red flags when considering her words on the matter. [PS:Why does your comment feel like an SEO article? That hastag feels so random?]
- JohnFen 2y ago
  That's hardly an objective source. She not only is in the C suite of a genAI company, she's the CFO of OpenAI itself. Everything she has to say is going to be a sales pitch.
- mandmandam 2y ago
  > banks, financial institutions and fintech's are using it everyday in their business. They absolutely are. They'd be crazy not to. And many people are being laid off as a result, which is why they're keeping it quiet.

Wheatman 2y ago

While i somewhat agree, the real sad thing is that 10% is real and usefull, yet it gets overshadowed by that 90% hype based products. Think of how mych money is being thrown at hype products that could have been allocated to the next Cancer detection AI, or AI prosthetic, but instead these things have to take 2nd place behind stuff like the Rabbit R1, or Devin, or the AI washing machine. At least their is a somewhat usefull product this time, unlike with NFT. Besides, i was like 3 when 2008 happened, and it dodnt really happen in my country, so it would be nice to experience what a real recession feels like :v

rsynnott 2y ago

Slams? I'd say that's being generous, if anything.