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Weird, I thought AI was going to create so much economic surplus that we wouldn’t know what to do with it. What happened?
by mbgerring 6mo ago
Weird, I thought AI was going to create so much economic surplus that we wouldn’t know what to do with it. What happened?
- bloodyplonker22 6mo agoPlease read the actual article instead of blindly responding to the title.
- anon84873628 6mo agoTo be fair, the article hardly says anything more than "the middle class of the city has hollowed out".
- mbgerring 6mo agoI did read it, what do you think I missed? The article very clearly and explicitly made the point that despite huge speculative funding for an influx of AI startups, San Francisco’s economy isn’t doing all that well. Which I can confirm, as a longtime and current San Francisco resident.
- jibal 6mo agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that".
- Mistletoe 6mo agoSame place it always goes, yachts.
- sonofhans 6mo agoIt is happening, just as planned and predicted. Last I checked every so-called AI company is swimming in cash, and so are their founders and leaders. You didn’t think the economic surplus would be evenly distributed, did you?
- pilgrim0 6mo agoSwimming in borrowed or imaginary cash without any hope of paying it back in the foreseeable future.
- refulgentis 6mo agoInvestors are people who just literally hand you cash, its not imaginary
- avaer 6mo agoSome people said in their manifestos that AI was going to be Open and democratized and would benefit all of humanity. It was 100% a rugpull but charitably not quite 100% predictable.
- refulgentis 6mo agoWhat people? What do you mean by "open"? By "open" did those people mean "free as in beer"? What does rugpull mean in this context?
- irjustin 6mo agoOpenAI was originally founded on the parent's concepts, but obviously that changed at some point. Currently, Elon is suing Altman because Altman turned it for profit. Oddly, in that Elon is taking the moral road?
- happymellon 6mo ago> Oddly, in that Elon is taking the moral road? Holding other people to standards he wouldn't hold himself to? Sounds totally on-brand.
- avaer 6mo agoI was talking about OpenAI, referencing their original mission statement. Other companies have said similar things. Rugpull means they "pulled the rug out" from underneath those who believed their mission statement, and decided instead to take over the world and screw everyone else.
- bigdubs 6mo agoStraight into landlord's pockets.
- moonraker 6mo agoThat's a multi-decade phenomenon based on historical precedents (in the best case scenario). Ultimately, whether that "best case" manifests is dependent on whether SF residents want it badly enough. It's a matter of political will -- residents' Progressive values have to actually align with how they vote and act (over the long-term)
- visarga 6mo ago> Weird, I thought AI was going to create so much economic surplus that we wouldn’t know what to do with it. What happened? The surplus is converted in new structure and becomes baseline. Even if a company does not change, their competition does (with AI), and their customers & investors change their values as well. So the structure in which the company exists has changed. That forces everyone to adapt, but most importantly surplus cannot be captured. Everyone is working harder just to stay in place. AI is like internet, Google search and MS office - everyone has them. They provide no competitive advantage, no moat for using them.