Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

General Discussion

MineralMan

(151,359 posts)

10. Makes perfect sense to me.

Reply to highplainsdem (Original post)

Fri Apr 3, 2026, 10:22 AM

Apr 3

The amount of money and energy being invested in AI is staggering. The benefits, however, are far less clear.

I think there is going to be a huge fallout in the AI industry before very long. That is not to say that AI won't eventually be something that has a high value, but the time for that is in the future somewhere.

Right now, it simply does not warrant the investment in huge data farms. It smacks to me of "mining" crypto currency. Nothing of value is actually being dug up with crypto. It's all in the imagination. Same thing with AI. It might make some intellectual effort more efficient, but so far the results are weak or even completely erroneous.

So, I can't imagine investing in that technology, much less doing so massively.

A correction is in order, I'm pretty sure.

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

Recommendations

2 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

FakeNoose highplainsdem

19 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Ed Zitron on AI companies having deceived users w/subsidized rates they can't afford: There's no way to right this ship [View all] highplainsdem Apr 2 OP

If you like your news/commentary in audio, Ed Zitron also has a podcast, "Better Offline" RockRaven Apr 2 #1

Thanks! There's also an r/BetterOffline subreddit where Ed posts as ezitron. highplainsdem Apr 2 #3

Much love to Ed! BlueNProud Apr 2 #2

He's been doing brilliant analysis of the AI industry. highplainsdem Apr 2 #4

Yes indeed BlueNProud Apr 2 #6

That's kind of the standard business practice now EdmondDantes_ Apr 2 #5

It's the extent to which they're running at a loss that's anything but standard. Most users now pay $20 or highplainsdem Apr 3 #11

Yup get them hooked at a cheap price newdeal2 Apr 3 #12

True. But as I said above, we've probably never seen this great a disparity between what customers highplainsdem Apr 3 #17

Hard for me to say because I wonder about enterprise customers newdeal2 Apr 3 #19

They'll make a quick pivot to mass government surveillance... hunter Apr 3 #7

I hope they won't get enough from the government to make up for their losses with all other highplainsdem Apr 3 #13

Really interesting WSHazel Apr 3 #8

I'm sure there are, but I can't make any recommendations offhand. Ed does link to lots of sources, highplainsdem Apr 3 #14

I'm pretty sure Chinese AI will be better and more affordable. David__77 Apr 3 #9

Still with the same illegal-training problem, though, and another surveillance worry. highplainsdem Apr 3 #15

Makes perfect sense to me. MineralMan Apr 3 #10

Thanks! I hope the correction happens soon, so investment money and valuable expertise will go to highplainsdem Apr 3 #16

Agreed! MineralMan Apr 3 #18