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LLM usage is still gaining traction. OpenAI may not be on top anymore, but they still have useful services, and they aren’t going under anytime soon. And time

LLM usage is still gaining traction. OpenAI may not be on top anymore, but they still have useful services, and they aren’t going under anytime soon. And time spent dealing with laws and regulations may decrease efficiency, leading to increased power consumption, resulting in greater water usage in datacenters for cooling and more greenhouse gas emissions. Controlling demand for services is something that could stop this, but it’s technological progress, which could enable solutions for global warming, hunger, and disease. It’s a locomotive out-of-control. Prayer is the answer I’d think of.

potato3732842 2y ago
>And time spent dealing with laws and regulations may decrease efficiency, leading to increased power consumption, resulting in greater water usage in datacenters for cooling and more greenhouse gas emissions. They don't care about that if they get a regulatory moat around them.
- claude_thinking 2y ago
  There’s only so much of that you can do without it becoming a problem you have to deal with. There is a limited supply of water in any area of the earth.
  - clown_strike 2y ago
    Maybe buying up all the water rights so nobody can use it to cool their own server farm is the literal moat that would serve them best.
    - PeterStuer 2y ago
      They should hook up with Nestle.
breckenedge 2y ago
If they’re not making money[1], and competitors are, or competitors are able to run at a negative for longer, then things could definitely wrap up for them quickly. To most consumers, LLMs will be a feature (of Google/Bing/X/Meta/OS), not a product itself. [1] https://www.itpro.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/people-use-it-much-more-than-we-expected-sam-altman-says-openai-is-losing-money-despite-launching-usd200-chatgpt-pro-subscription https://www.itpro.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/peo...
- dmix 2y ago
  I remember for years people on HN said Uber would never work as a profitable business because it spent a lot of VC money earlier on without having enough revenue to cover it all. It's been around for 16yrs now despite running in the black until 2023.
  - DesaiAshu 2y ago
    uber is like a fine wine. it will appreciate and pay dividends until it bursts when waymo et. al. take over the streets in 20 years
    - dmix 2y ago
      Waymo has ~1000 cars. Uber has 8 million drivers. Worst case Uber will be acquired or merger or make a deal with one of the many AI driving startups. I predict Waymo will have their own struggles with profitability. Last I heard the LIDAR kit they put on cars costs more than the car. So they'll have to mass produce + maintain some fancy electronics on a million+ cars.
  - realityfactchex 2y ago
    FYI: s/running in the black/running in the red/ [0] https://languagesystems.edu/history-of-idioms-to-be-in-black-and-to/ https://languagesystems.edu/history-of-idioms-to-be-in-black...
  - dartos 2y ago
    Do you remember when people also thought rabbit would be a revolutionary AI device?

potato3732842 2y ago

>And time spent dealing with laws and regulations may decrease efficiency, leading to increased power consumption, resulting in greater water usage in datacenters for cooling and more greenhouse gas emissions. They don't care about that if they get a regulatory moat around them.

claude_thinking 2y ago
There’s only so much of that you can do without it becoming a problem you have to deal with. There is a limited supply of water in any area of the earth.
- clown_strike 2y ago
  Maybe buying up all the water rights so nobody can use it to cool their own server farm is the literal moat that would serve them best.
  - PeterStuer 2y ago
    They should hook up with Nestle.

breckenedge 2y ago

If they’re not making money[1], and competitors are, or competitors are able to run at a negative for longer, then things could definitely wrap up for them quickly. To most consumers, LLMs will be a feature (of Google/Bing/X/Meta/OS), not a product itself. [1] https://www.itpro.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/people-use-it-much-more-than-we-expected-sam-altman-says-openai-is-losing-money-despite-launching-usd200-chatgpt-pro-subscription https://www.itpro.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/peo...

dmix 2y ago
I remember for years people on HN said Uber would never work as a profitable business because it spent a lot of VC money earlier on without having enough revenue to cover it all. It's been around for 16yrs now despite running in the black until 2023.
- DesaiAshu 2y ago
  uber is like a fine wine. it will appreciate and pay dividends until it bursts when waymo et. al. take over the streets in 20 years
  - dmix 2y ago
    Waymo has ~1000 cars. Uber has 8 million drivers. Worst case Uber will be acquired or merger or make a deal with one of the many AI driving startups. I predict Waymo will have their own struggles with profitability. Last I heard the LIDAR kit they put on cars costs more than the car. So they'll have to mass produce + maintain some fancy electronics on a million+ cars.
- realityfactchex 2y ago
  FYI: s/running in the black/running in the red/ [0] https://languagesystems.edu/history-of-idioms-to-be-in-black-and-to/ https://languagesystems.edu/history-of-idioms-to-be-in-black...
- dartos 2y ago
  Do you remember when people also thought rabbit would be a revolutionary AI device?