5 ms·

Perplexity CEO offers to replace striking NYT staff with AI

46 points by impish9208 2y ago

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
tedivm 2y ago
I honestly hope they do, just so we can all watch the entire thing crash and burn. Don't get me wrong, I've worked in the ML/AI industry since 2014 and helped bring products with LLMs to radiologists (Rad AI). I'm not opposed to AI. I just think the idea that this company can replace IT staff to be absolutely laughable.
minimaxir 2y ago
> Srinivas may simply be trying to make sure people have the information they need on election day. That's a charitable take, to put it mildly.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
ipsum2 2y ago
This is just some lighthearted trolling, and its hilarious that some are taking the bait. No one believes Perplexity will replace anyone anytime soon, based on how much hallucination it does currently.
- kibwen 2y ago
  It's been over a decade since "it's just a joke bro, lol baited" became the favorite defense of morons trying to desperately clutch for plausible deniability for their ass-backwards takes. If your CEO is happy to sit around and shitpost on company time, how soon until we replace him with AI?
  - ipsum2 2y ago
    It's free advertising for the company. Perplexity is a bad product from my own experience, but their marketing is top notch.
    - minimaxir 2y ago
      "All publicity is good publicity" hasn't been true for a very long time.
    - alangibson 2y ago
      Been napping for the last decade? One big publicity misstep can end a company.
sitkack 2y ago
Wow, that is some serious signaling about whose side Perplexity is on. Don't volunteer too quickly gentlemen.
wg0 2y ago
Oh man ... The arrogant confidence of tech bros in arrays of floating point numbers is a sight to behold. This surely would go into history's museums as one of the most iconic relics of the era.
- exe34 2y ago
  you prefer your floating points in carbon based gunk instead of silicon I take it?
DataDaemon 2y ago
Time to protest and stop using Perplexity. Perplexity gets a content and rewrite it as it's own content. Time to shutdown this site.
- quantum_state 2y ago
  Would second your proposal
xemoka 2y ago
I'll be no longer using or recommending Perplexity. This behaviour is unacceptable. It's one thing to make it an eventual goal to replace workers with AI, it's another to step in and say "hey, our AI can be your labour" when there is a labour dispute in progress. Saying nothing was the correct response, or even "if AI was your labour, this wouldn't happen". But to offer to replace a striking workforce is super shitty.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > when there is a labour dispute in progress The Times is suing Perplexity. This is a publicity stunt. From the looks of it a damn successful one.
  - Loughla 2y ago
    Publicity stunt or not, this tells me everything I need to know about this company.
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      You're not the target demographic. It's an enterprise play.
  - apwell23 2y ago
    > From the looks of it a damn successful one. Not sure what makes this 'successful
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      > Not sure what makes this 'successful You're talking about it. Also highlights to Perplexity's enterprise customers (who is their primary market) their value.
      - Uehreka 2y ago
        > You're not the target demographic. It's an enterprise play. > You're talking about it. I love these kinds of arguments. If we think the marketing isn’t working then we’re not important enough to matter, but then also the fact that we’re talking about it matters and shows that it’s working.
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
Related: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42040795 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42040795
pants2 2y ago
> Perplexity is on standby to help ensure your essential coverage is available to all through the election. This doesn't read to me as it's interpreted in the headline. Perplexity is not an AI software engineer product, it's an AI powered search engine with an election monitoring page[1]. To me it sounds like he's offering Perplexity's homepage as a platform for NYT to cover the election on, not that he's offering to replace NYT workers with AI. That's a bit of a stretch. 1. https://www.perplexity.ai/elections/2024-11-05/us/voting https://www.perplexity.ai/elections/2024-11-05/us/voting
- jprete 2y ago
  If Perplexity can substitute for the NYT's staff for an essential news story, then it can substitute for their staff for almost all stories. However, I don't think that's even the attack Srinivas was going for - he's indirectly claiming that the NYT's subscribers don't need the NYT for the source of its prestige and power - its news reporting.
g8oz 2y ago
Scabs as a service, what a tool this guy is.
- imglorp 2y ago
  Isn't replacing various workforces the majority driver of this soon-to-be trillion dollar market? Everyone is speculating by counting the chickens they'll be eliminating. This usecase has to be worth more than showing us ads.
A4ET8a8uTh0 2y ago
I thought about it for a moment and beyond the obvious negative reaction I think it is hard not to marvel at the level of hubris this displays among executives. In a sense, you can understand that he is simply 'selling' his product. That said, I think most people here played with LLMs in some capacity and while they can be useful, it is hard not to be left with an impression that, to put it charitably, 'there is room to improve'. Not to search very far, I was researching magnetism yesterday and my local LLM confidently recommended me with some follow up reading on non-existent authors. Needless to say, it is a genuine recipe for disaster just waiting to happen. I said this particular thought here before, but old guard media has a chance now to differentiate itself from the torrent shit unleashed upon the world wide web partially by being 'certified human' product ( and following some basic journalistic principles like not -- maybe -- putting one's thumb on a scale ). The window won't be open for that long, because this shift has been under way for a while now and it appears to be slowly closing. But.. having seen reality for what it is, I do not expect this to happen.
baudpunk 2y ago
Huh. Pretty sure I saw the Perplexity CEO at Github Universe being introduced as a new partner. This stains both brands for me, unfortunately.
freejazz 2y ago
These guys are so tone-deaf
- slater 2y ago
  Maybe they can ask A.I. to read the room for them
7e 2y ago
Can we replace the Perplexity CEO with AI?
arresin 2y ago
This is in very bad taste.

46 points by impish9208 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

I honestly hope they do, just so we can all watch the entire thing crash and burn. Don't get me wrong, I've worked in the ML/AI industry since 2014 and helped bring products with LLMs to radiologists (Rad AI). I'm not opposed to AI. I just think the idea that this company can replace IT staff to be absolutely laughable.

minimaxir 2y ago

> Srinivas may simply be trying to make sure people have the information they need on election day. That's a charitable take, to put it mildly.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

ipsum2 2y ago

This is just some lighthearted trolling, and its hilarious that some are taking the bait. No one believes Perplexity will replace anyone anytime soon, based on how much hallucination it does currently.

kibwen 2y ago
It's been over a decade since "it's just a joke bro, lol baited" became the favorite defense of morons trying to desperately clutch for plausible deniability for their ass-backwards takes. If your CEO is happy to sit around and shitpost on company time, how soon until we replace him with AI?
- ipsum2 2y ago
  It's free advertising for the company. Perplexity is a bad product from my own experience, but their marketing is top notch.
  - minimaxir 2y ago
    "All publicity is good publicity" hasn't been true for a very long time.
  - alangibson 2y ago
    Been napping for the last decade? One big publicity misstep can end a company.

sitkack 2y ago

Wow, that is some serious signaling about whose side Perplexity is on. Don't volunteer too quickly gentlemen.

wg0 2y ago

Oh man ... The arrogant confidence of tech bros in arrays of floating point numbers is a sight to behold. This surely would go into history's museums as one of the most iconic relics of the era.

exe34 2y ago
you prefer your floating points in carbon based gunk instead of silicon I take it?

DataDaemon 2y ago

Time to protest and stop using Perplexity. Perplexity gets a content and rewrite it as it's own content. Time to shutdown this site.

quantum_state 2y ago
Would second your proposal

xemoka 2y ago

I'll be no longer using or recommending Perplexity. This behaviour is unacceptable. It's one thing to make it an eventual goal to replace workers with AI, it's another to step in and say "hey, our AI can be your labour" when there is a labour dispute in progress. Saying nothing was the correct response, or even "if AI was your labour, this wouldn't happen". But to offer to replace a striking workforce is super shitty.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> when there is a labour dispute in progress The Times is suing Perplexity. This is a publicity stunt. From the looks of it a damn successful one.
- Loughla 2y ago
  Publicity stunt or not, this tells me everything I need to know about this company.
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    You're not the target demographic. It's an enterprise play.
- apwell23 2y ago
  > From the looks of it a damn successful one. Not sure what makes this 'successful
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    > Not sure what makes this 'successful You're talking about it. Also highlights to Perplexity's enterprise customers (who is their primary market) their value.
    - Uehreka 2y ago
      > You're not the target demographic. It's an enterprise play. > You're talking about it. I love these kinds of arguments. If we think the marketing isn’t working then we’re not important enough to matter, but then also the fact that we’re talking about it matters and shows that it’s working.

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

Related: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42040795 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42040795

pants2 2y ago

> Perplexity is on standby to help ensure your essential coverage is available to all through the election. This doesn't read to me as it's interpreted in the headline. Perplexity is not an AI software engineer product, it's an AI powered search engine with an election monitoring page[1]. To me it sounds like he's offering Perplexity's homepage as a platform for NYT to cover the election on, not that he's offering to replace NYT workers with AI. That's a bit of a stretch. 1. https://www.perplexity.ai/elections/2024-11-05/us/voting https://www.perplexity.ai/elections/2024-11-05/us/voting

jprete 2y ago
If Perplexity can substitute for the NYT's staff for an essential news story, then it can substitute for their staff for almost all stories. However, I don't think that's even the attack Srinivas was going for - he's indirectly claiming that the NYT's subscribers don't need the NYT for the source of its prestige and power - its news reporting.

g8oz 2y ago

Scabs as a service, what a tool this guy is.

imglorp 2y ago
Isn't replacing various workforces the majority driver of this soon-to-be trillion dollar market? Everyone is speculating by counting the chickens they'll be eliminating. This usecase has to be worth more than showing us ads.

A4ET8a8uTh0 2y ago

I thought about it for a moment and beyond the obvious negative reaction I think it is hard not to marvel at the level of hubris this displays among executives. In a sense, you can understand that he is simply 'selling' his product. That said, I think most people here played with LLMs in some capacity and while they can be useful, it is hard not to be left with an impression that, to put it charitably, 'there is room to improve'. Not to search very far, I was researching magnetism yesterday and my local LLM confidently recommended me with some follow up reading on non-existent authors. Needless to say, it is a genuine recipe for disaster just waiting to happen. I said this particular thought here before, but old guard media has a chance now to differentiate itself from the torrent shit unleashed upon the world wide web partially by being 'certified human' product ( and following some basic journalistic principles like not -- maybe -- putting one's thumb on a scale ). The window won't be open for that long, because this shift has been under way for a while now and it appears to be slowly closing. But.. having seen reality for what it is, I do not expect this to happen.

baudpunk 2y ago

Huh. Pretty sure I saw the Perplexity CEO at Github Universe being introduced as a new partner. This stains both brands for me, unfortunately.

freejazz 2y ago

These guys are so tone-deaf

slater 2y ago
Maybe they can ask A.I. to read the room for them

7e 2y ago

Can we replace the Perplexity CEO with AI?

arresin 2y ago

This is in very bad taste.