4 ms·

Many folks, especially if they are into getting things free, don't really care much about privacy narrative. So yes, it is free.

Wilder7977 1y ago
This is not only a privacy concern (in fact, that might be a tiny part since the code might end up public anyway?). There is an element of disclosure of personal data, there are ownership issues in case that code was not - in fact - going to be public and more. In any case, not caring about the cost (at a specific time) doesn't make the cost disappear.
- greggsy 1y ago
  The point they are making is, that some people know that, and are not as concerned as others about it.
  - teiferer 1y ago
    Not being concerned doesn't make the statement "it's free" more true.
worik 1y ago
I understand. I get the point. I disagree Privacy absolutely does not matter, until it does, and then it is too late
barrell 1y ago
Plenty of people can also afford to subscribe to these without any issue. They don’t even know the price, they probably won’t even cancel it when they stop using it as they might not even realize they have a subscription. By your logic, are the paid plans not sometimes free?
- throwaway83711 1y ago
  While it is true that sometimes you are the product even if you're paying, I don't think anyone is trying to argue that obviously paid plans are free.
astrobe_ 1y ago
Sophistry. "many" according to which statistic? And just because some people consider that a trade is very favorable for them, doesn't it is not a trade and it doesn't mean they are correct - who's so naïve they can beat business people at their own game?
- astrobe_ 1y ago
  they +think they+ can beat business people
1dom 1y ago
> So yes, it is free. This sounds pedantic, but I think it's important to spell this out: this sort of stuff is only free if you consider what you're producing/exchanging for it to have 0 value. If you consider what you're producing as valuable, you're giving it away to companies with an incentive to extract as much value from your thing as possible, with little regard towards your preferences. If an idiot is convinced to trade his house for some magic beans, would you still be saying "the beans were free"?
- radio879 1y ago
  I should add a section to the site/guide about privacy, just letting people know they have somewhat of a choice with that. As for sharing code, most of the parts of a project/app/whatever have already been done and if an experienced developer hears what your idea is, they could just make it and figure it out without any code. The code itself doesn't really seem that valuable (well.. sometimes). Someone can just look at a screenshot of my aicodeprep app and just make one and make it look the same too. Not all the time of course - If I had some really unique sophisticated algorithms that I knew almost no one else would or has figured out, I would be more careful. Speaking of privacy.. a while back a thought popped into my head about Slack, and all these unencrypted chat's businesses use. It kinda does seem crazy to do all your business operations over unencrypted chat, Slack rooms.. I personally would not trust Zuckerberg to not look in there and run lots of LLMs through all the conversations to find anything 'good'! Microsoft.. kinda doubt would do that on purpose but what's to stop a rogue employee from finding out some trade secrets etc.. I'd be suprised if it hasn't been done. Security is not usually a priority in tech. They half-ass care about your personal info.
  - johnnyanmac 1y ago
    >Someone can just look at a screenshot of my aicodeprep app and just make one and make it look the same too. To some extent. But without your codebase they will make different decisions in the back which will affect a myriad of factors. Some may actually be better than your app, others will end up adding tech debt or have performance impacts. And this isn't even to get into truly novel algorithms; sometimes just having the experience to make a scalable app with best practices can make all the difference. Or the audience doesn't care and they take the cheaper app anyway. It's not always a happy ending.
coliveira 1y ago
Tech companies are making untold fortunes from unsophisticated people like you.
throwaway83711 1y ago
It's a transaction—a trade. You give them your personal data, and you get their services in exchange. So no, it's not free.
johnnyanmac 1y ago
if you consider watching a hour of Youtube and 30 minutes of ads to be "free videos", then be my guest. Not everything can be measured in a dollar value.

Wilder7977 1y ago

This is not only a privacy concern (in fact, that might be a tiny part since the code might end up public anyway?). There is an element of disclosure of personal data, there are ownership issues in case that code was not - in fact - going to be public and more. In any case, not caring about the cost (at a specific time) doesn't make the cost disappear.

greggsy 1y ago
The point they are making is, that some people know that, and are not as concerned as others about it.
- teiferer 1y ago
  Not being concerned doesn't make the statement "it's free" more true.

worik 1y ago

I understand. I get the point. I disagree Privacy absolutely does not matter, until it does, and then it is too late

barrell 1y ago

Plenty of people can also afford to subscribe to these without any issue. They don’t even know the price, they probably won’t even cancel it when they stop using it as they might not even realize they have a subscription. By your logic, are the paid plans not sometimes free?

throwaway83711 1y ago
While it is true that sometimes you are the product even if you're paying, I don't think anyone is trying to argue that obviously paid plans are free.

astrobe_ 1y ago

Sophistry. "many" according to which statistic? And just because some people consider that a trade is very favorable for them, doesn't it is not a trade and it doesn't mean they are correct - who's so naïve they can beat business people at their own game?

astrobe_ 1y ago
they +think they+ can beat business people

1dom 1y ago

> So yes, it is free. This sounds pedantic, but I think it's important to spell this out: this sort of stuff is only free if you consider what you're producing/exchanging for it to have 0 value. If you consider what you're producing as valuable, you're giving it away to companies with an incentive to extract as much value from your thing as possible, with little regard towards your preferences. If an idiot is convinced to trade his house for some magic beans, would you still be saying "the beans were free"?

radio879 1y ago
I should add a section to the site/guide about privacy, just letting people know they have somewhat of a choice with that. As for sharing code, most of the parts of a project/app/whatever have already been done and if an experienced developer hears what your idea is, they could just make it and figure it out without any code. The code itself doesn't really seem that valuable (well.. sometimes). Someone can just look at a screenshot of my aicodeprep app and just make one and make it look the same too. Not all the time of course - If I had some really unique sophisticated algorithms that I knew almost no one else would or has figured out, I would be more careful. Speaking of privacy.. a while back a thought popped into my head about Slack, and all these unencrypted chat's businesses use. It kinda does seem crazy to do all your business operations over unencrypted chat, Slack rooms.. I personally would not trust Zuckerberg to not look in there and run lots of LLMs through all the conversations to find anything 'good'! Microsoft.. kinda doubt would do that on purpose but what's to stop a rogue employee from finding out some trade secrets etc.. I'd be suprised if it hasn't been done. Security is not usually a priority in tech. They half-ass care about your personal info.
- johnnyanmac 1y ago
  >Someone can just look at a screenshot of my aicodeprep app and just make one and make it look the same too. To some extent. But without your codebase they will make different decisions in the back which will affect a myriad of factors. Some may actually be better than your app, others will end up adding tech debt or have performance impacts. And this isn't even to get into truly novel algorithms; sometimes just having the experience to make a scalable app with best practices can make all the difference. Or the audience doesn't care and they take the cheaper app anyway. It's not always a happy ending.

coliveira 1y ago

Tech companies are making untold fortunes from unsophisticated people like you.

throwaway83711 1y ago

It's a transaction—a trade. You give them your personal data, and you get their services in exchange. So no, it's not free.

johnnyanmac 1y ago

if you consider watching a hour of Youtube and 30 minutes of ads to be "free videos", then be my guest. Not everything can be measured in a dollar value.