5 ms·

All the compute being built out is very impressive and it's nice to think it could be used to further science, further our understanding, just in some way for t

All the compute being built out is very impressive and it's nice to think it could be used to further science, further our understanding, just in some way for the greater good. But I think mostly it will be used to serve ads.

graphime 4mo ago
[flagged]
Gigachad 4mo ago
It’ll get used to generate an endless stream of AI slop short form videos to captivate viewers to watch more ads.
cyanydeez 4mo ago
common now, think positive: local sex bots in your area waiting to chat
ares623 4mo ago
Ads are the future. If you don't like them then you're a luddite.
- kibwen 4mo ago
  Frankly, it should be a crime, a felony even, to purchase something if you haven't seen an ad for it beforehand. Think of the poor middlemen!
- user3939382 4mo ago
  Tell that to São Paulo.
- jrflowers 4mo ago
  Look everybody it’s 1670s London haberdasher Jonathon Holder!
- leptons 4mo ago
  They're going to need quite a lot more ads to try to sell stuff to people who don't have jobs anymore because of all the datacenters built for AI.
tdb7893 4mo ago
It's already being used for the greatest good of all, creating value for the shareholders!
- winrid 4mo ago
  Which does technically distribute wealth to thousands of people
- rcpt 4mo ago
  Have you considered becoming a shareholder?
ddxv 4mo ago
Unpopular take I know. But ads are a source of revenue for much of the free and open internet. The alternatives are paid features that are a regressive tax on poorer people who can't afford them or fork up larger amounts of their discretionary budget. While popups and bad ad practices have always been a problem, it's sad to see that they became so bad that the response to them is to paygate web content. More and more sites are locked behind paywalls.
- Gigachad 4mo ago
  Ads create a terribly perverse incentive to increase users viewing time on platforms. It's the whole reason most of the internet has become so horrible. My email provider doesn't try to drive up my engagement because they have no incentive for me to use the product more than I naturally want to. I'd also be willing to bet that the current ad funded system ends up costing the average person more than just paying for services when they get influenced to buy the things in the ads. That's the whole point of advertising after all. We have already long since had a solution for low income people getting access to paid content, libraries provided access to paid books and newspapers for free. People with higher income would still buy copies themselves for convenience but there was a free option. We also have public funded news orgs providing ad free news and reporting.
  - throwway120385 4mo ago
    Next you'll tell me that doing something at cost as a public service is somehow better than getting the same thing but with a 20% margin tacked on for the shareholders.
    - Schiendelman 4mo ago
      The hard part is that when you have a few companies competing to do something, they very quickly start doing it for less money than government does because they innovate to compete with each other. You can take a snapshot in time and pretend cutting 20% off the top is worth it, but by the time you do the political organization you've usually lost the plot. Plus all of the mechanics of taxation and bureaucracy are usually more expensive…
protocolture 4mo ago
Amazons business is just cloud services tbh. I dont know what Amazons customer base looks like in aggregate but I bet its more interesting than just ads.
tengbretson 4mo ago
In the 10 years prior to like 2023, any new large scale data center build-out was explicitly for serving more ads. Meanwhile, now that we have a new tech that's literally solving unsolved math problems, we're suddenly doomers. Why?
- halestock 4mo ago
  Because it's pretty evident that all these data centers are primarily intended to eliminate jobs and make more trillionaires and destroy democracy, and the positive stuff (like solving unsolved math problems) doesn't remotely justify that.
  - fooster 4mo ago
    The number of doomers and luddites with extremely hyperbolic views on a site for tech entrepreneurs is wild.
    - jkwn 4mo ago
      You have no frame of reference, Donny. I'm guessing you have no conception of what the world used to be like before 9/11. Back then, the news was reported, and people got outraged at things. Sure, there was injustice then too, and all wars are a racket, but there were still standards of morals. Today, you have a level of corruption in all things that is beyond the imagination, out in the open; and it is out in the open because the powers that be have been using technology to silence dissent and cancel everyone who speaks out against it. Those with eyes to see see very clearly where the times are headed; it's a cross between 1984, Minority Report, the Hunger Games, and Back to the Future 2, and the Terminator series. If you don't see it coming, don't know what to tell ya. It's already here, but you don't see it in your feed by design. What's wild is how long it took for HN to wake up. You're the straggler.
      - tengbretson 4mo ago
        You have to admit-- it is interesting that all of this media, that was made during a time when there were standards and morals, has painted such a clear picture of what you now expect life to be like.
kylehotchkiss 4mo ago
Or generate political slops to rile up older people
laughing_man 4mo ago
That's what pays the bills. You wouldn't expect someone to spend this kind of money without a way to make it back (and then some).
- Arainach 4mo ago
  Most of the tech startup ecosystem for the last 20 years has been spending crazy money without a clear plan for how to make it back.
  - icepush 4mo ago
    The plan was always to get acquired by Google and then killed off two years later!
  - laughing_man 4mo ago
    It really does have that 1998 feel to it.
brunoborges 4mo ago
> But I think mostly it will be used to serve ads. If only... I do believe that access to commercial AI should be regulated, heavily taxed, and controlled just as much as access to dangerous chemicals and weapons. Only this way the best AI models are more likely to indeed be used for frugal purposes (sadly, however, including ads).
- weird-eye-issue 4mo ago
  Wouldn't that just incentivize more consumption of models that fall outside of the jurisdiction of whatever you are proposing would be in charge of taxing these so-called best AI models?
  - brunoborges 4mo ago
    If you get caught with illegal guns and illegal chemicals, well... there are consequences. Bad actors will always find a way, at the risk of getting caught. However, the vast majority of people will rely on commercial AI models.
    - weird-eye-issue 4mo ago
      Wait, so now you are saying that consumption of models that fall outside of the tax jurisdiction would be illegal?? What other goods or services have this sort of precedent? "API call to a company that routed it to a Chinese model? Believe it or not, jail."
jmalicki 4mo ago
Five years ago it would be to serve ads. Today it will be used to power AI girlfriends.

graphime 4mo ago

[flagged]

Gigachad 4mo ago

It’ll get used to generate an endless stream of AI slop short form videos to captivate viewers to watch more ads.

cyanydeez 4mo ago

common now, think positive: local sex bots in your area waiting to chat

ares623 4mo ago

Ads are the future. If you don't like them then you're a luddite.

kibwen 4mo ago
Frankly, it should be a crime, a felony even, to purchase something if you haven't seen an ad for it beforehand. Think of the poor middlemen!
user3939382 4mo ago
Tell that to São Paulo.
jrflowers 4mo ago
Look everybody it’s 1670s London haberdasher Jonathon Holder!
leptons 4mo ago
They're going to need quite a lot more ads to try to sell stuff to people who don't have jobs anymore because of all the datacenters built for AI.

tdb7893 4mo ago

It's already being used for the greatest good of all, creating value for the shareholders!

winrid 4mo ago
Which does technically distribute wealth to thousands of people
rcpt 4mo ago
Have you considered becoming a shareholder?

ddxv 4mo ago

Unpopular take I know. But ads are a source of revenue for much of the free and open internet. The alternatives are paid features that are a regressive tax on poorer people who can't afford them or fork up larger amounts of their discretionary budget. While popups and bad ad practices have always been a problem, it's sad to see that they became so bad that the response to them is to paygate web content. More and more sites are locked behind paywalls.

Gigachad 4mo ago
Ads create a terribly perverse incentive to increase users viewing time on platforms. It's the whole reason most of the internet has become so horrible. My email provider doesn't try to drive up my engagement because they have no incentive for me to use the product more than I naturally want to. I'd also be willing to bet that the current ad funded system ends up costing the average person more than just paying for services when they get influenced to buy the things in the ads. That's the whole point of advertising after all. We have already long since had a solution for low income people getting access to paid content, libraries provided access to paid books and newspapers for free. People with higher income would still buy copies themselves for convenience but there was a free option. We also have public funded news orgs providing ad free news and reporting.
- throwway120385 4mo ago
  Next you'll tell me that doing something at cost as a public service is somehow better than getting the same thing but with a 20% margin tacked on for the shareholders.
  - Schiendelman 4mo ago
    The hard part is that when you have a few companies competing to do something, they very quickly start doing it for less money than government does because they innovate to compete with each other. You can take a snapshot in time and pretend cutting 20% off the top is worth it, but by the time you do the political organization you've usually lost the plot. Plus all of the mechanics of taxation and bureaucracy are usually more expensive…

protocolture 4mo ago

Amazons business is just cloud services tbh. I dont know what Amazons customer base looks like in aggregate but I bet its more interesting than just ads.

tengbretson 4mo ago

In the 10 years prior to like 2023, any new large scale data center build-out was explicitly for serving more ads. Meanwhile, now that we have a new tech that's literally solving unsolved math problems, we're suddenly doomers. Why?

halestock 4mo ago
Because it's pretty evident that all these data centers are primarily intended to eliminate jobs and make more trillionaires and destroy democracy, and the positive stuff (like solving unsolved math problems) doesn't remotely justify that.
- fooster 4mo ago
  The number of doomers and luddites with extremely hyperbolic views on a site for tech entrepreneurs is wild.
  - jkwn 4mo ago
    You have no frame of reference, Donny. I'm guessing you have no conception of what the world used to be like before 9/11. Back then, the news was reported, and people got outraged at things. Sure, there was injustice then too, and all wars are a racket, but there were still standards of morals. Today, you have a level of corruption in all things that is beyond the imagination, out in the open; and it is out in the open because the powers that be have been using technology to silence dissent and cancel everyone who speaks out against it. Those with eyes to see see very clearly where the times are headed; it's a cross between 1984, Minority Report, the Hunger Games, and Back to the Future 2, and the Terminator series. If you don't see it coming, don't know what to tell ya. It's already here, but you don't see it in your feed by design. What's wild is how long it took for HN to wake up. You're the straggler.
    - tengbretson 4mo ago
      You have to admit-- it is interesting that all of this media, that was made during a time when there were standards and morals, has painted such a clear picture of what you now expect life to be like.

kylehotchkiss 4mo ago

Or generate political slops to rile up older people

laughing_man 4mo ago

That's what pays the bills. You wouldn't expect someone to spend this kind of money without a way to make it back (and then some).

Arainach 4mo ago
Most of the tech startup ecosystem for the last 20 years has been spending crazy money without a clear plan for how to make it back.
- icepush 4mo ago
  The plan was always to get acquired by Google and then killed off two years later!
- laughing_man 4mo ago
  It really does have that 1998 feel to it.

brunoborges 4mo ago

> But I think mostly it will be used to serve ads. If only... I do believe that access to commercial AI should be regulated, heavily taxed, and controlled just as much as access to dangerous chemicals and weapons. Only this way the best AI models are more likely to indeed be used for frugal purposes (sadly, however, including ads).

weird-eye-issue 4mo ago
Wouldn't that just incentivize more consumption of models that fall outside of the jurisdiction of whatever you are proposing would be in charge of taxing these so-called best AI models?
- brunoborges 4mo ago
  If you get caught with illegal guns and illegal chemicals, well... there are consequences. Bad actors will always find a way, at the risk of getting caught. However, the vast majority of people will rely on commercial AI models.
  - weird-eye-issue 4mo ago
    Wait, so now you are saying that consumption of models that fall outside of the tax jurisdiction would be illegal?? What other goods or services have this sort of precedent? "API call to a company that routed it to a Chinese model? Believe it or not, jail."

jmalicki 4mo ago

Five years ago it would be to serve ads. Today it will be used to power AI girlfriends.