The Future of AI

[Paul T]

Wow, this article is really something. I’ve only dipped my toe into this space and that was mostly a year or so ago using Claude to do some basic VBA coding for me. Can anyone who is deep in this space comment on this article and it’s validity?


https://x.com/mattshumer_/status/2021256989876109403

[berettafan]

Tracks with what i'm told by my contact in the industry.

What's happening now is AI companies, VC people involved with them, etc are quietly lobbying POTUS and Congress to keep this technology from paying the public for helping to build this tech with training. That is they feel they have created oxygen and want to be able to sell it and keep the money.

IMO there are times when a resource becomes so precious that it must not be owned privately. Tech bros realize The People will eventually come to this conclusion and grasp the idea that every bit of knowledge these systems have has been taken from them without payment. Their strategy to combat this is the China boogeyman. Every time you here David Sacks and others from the industry say 'if we don't win this AI war China will take over the world' you should understand they are simply trying to scare POTUS and Congress into letting them have what they want.

It is the mechanism by which private property (you will own nothing and like it) will be taken from The People. You and I will have no means of earning to pay for our assets. And that WILL spread as the trades and retail run out of customers.

Now put yourself in the place of Congress who is quietly being told what is happening (they got this article or one just like it long ago) and ask what you would do. White collar looting is happening now and will increase until it all collapses.

We have a choice today. Take this monster away from the greedy tech bro mafia and use every single dollar of proceeds to build this promised utopia that will never otherwise appear. And when the tech mafia threatens us with quitting over $$ we treat them the same way you would treat a soldier on the battlefield who refuses to fight. This is that big a deal.

Don't believe me? Listen to All In podcasts where these guys awkwardly try to slow our understanding of the reality this is bringing. Talk about electricians making $200k per year at massive data center projects and vague notions of 'no you won't lose your job, you'll just be more productive!'.

[herr_oberst]

That's a well written essay. For a luddite like myself, it lays out the issues and describes what's happening in a way the layman can understand. (Did AI write it, ha ha?). One thing I like is that the author offers a couple of solutions to the workforce that is most affected.

This is pretty unnerving stuff to me, even as a retiree; I can't imagine what it's like for some 45 year old middle manager in a high-paying job with a huge mortgage, a couple of car payments and maybe one or two offspring ready to head to college.

And while I'm on the subject, those AI ads that ran during the superbowl should be a wakeup to anyone who might not be pulling their weight at the cubicle farm - like this one, where Matthew Broderick suggests using AI to get a little time off from work by letting AI take over some of your tasks, bizarrely telling everyone that there's something out there that can do your job for you! What am I missing here?

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by berettafan

Tracks with what i'm told by my contact in the industry.

What's happening now is AI companies, VC people involved with them, etc are quietly lobbying POTUS and Congress to keep this technology from paying the public for helping to build this tech with training. That is they feel they have created oxygen and want to be able to sell it and keep the money.

IMO there are times when a resource becomes so precious that it must not be owned privately. Tech bros realize The People will eventually come to this conclusion and grasp the idea that every bit of knowledge these systems have has been taken from them without payment. Their strategy to combat this is the China boogeyman. Every time you here David Sacks and others from the industry say 'if we don't win this AI war China will take over the world' you should understand they are simply trying to scare POTUS and Congress into letting them have what they want.

It is the mechanism by which private property (you will own nothing and like it) will be taken from The People. You and I will have no means of earning to pay for our assets. And that WILL spread as the trades and retail run out of customers.

Now put yourself in the place of Congress who is quietly being told what is happening (they got this article or one just like it long ago) and ask what you would do. White collar looting is happening now and will increase until it all collapses.

We have a choice today. Take this monster away from the greedy tech bro mafia and use every single dollar of proceeds to build this promised utopia that will never otherwise appear. And when the tech mafia threatens us with quitting over $$ we treat them the same way you would treat a soldier on the battlefield who refuses to fight. This is that big a deal.

Don't believe me? Listen to All In podcasts where these guys awkwardly try to slow our understanding of the reality this is bringing. Talk about electricians making $200k per year at massive data center projects and vague notions of 'no you won't lose your job, you'll just be more productive!'.

Good perspectives, thanks. One thing I fear is that if AI does take hold in a way the articles suggests, we are going to see a dumbing down of the general population like never before in a generation (as if it could get worse, lol). I always use the smart phone analogy - when we were younger, we likely had 10, 15, or 20 phone numbers that we could recite off the top of our head. We could actually get places far away without help. Today, most folks (myself included) know 2 or 3 phone numbers tops and use GPS to go around the block! Imagine if AI at some point is smarter than any human alive- our brains will atrophy, and quickly, as we will just use AI for everything. The implications beyond that point get dark really fast….

[Roswell]

I use/interact with an Ai agent for several hours every day. There has been a drastic improvement in the last several weeks. AI's ability to have verbal communications with human inflection is scary.

We are at an inflection point, leaders in the industry know this. Google Mrinank Sharma and his departure from Anthropic. He is one of several senior executives in the industry that have resigned and left the industry since the first of the year.

[Crowbob]

I am once again reminded that we humans are at the apex of the food chain not because of our morality or our ethics but rather because we are the smartest animals around.

What happens when something smarter than us comes around?

[Roswell]

^ a change in the pecking order

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by Roswell

I use/interact with an Ai agent for several hours every day. There has been a drastic improvement in the last several weeks. AI's ability to have verbal communications with human inflection is scary.

We are at an inflection point, leaders in the industry know this. Google Mrinank Sharma and his departure from Anthropic. He is one of several senior executives in the industry that have resigned and left the industry since the first of the year.

Yes, I think I saw over half of the founding team of xAI have resigned also? That scares me....what do they know (and fear)? (unless Elon is just difficult to work for, which I suppose is possible)

[Roswell]

Jimmy Ba was one of two 'Founders' at xAI to recently resign. This is his post on X announcing his departure:

xAI's mission is push humanity up the Kardashev tech tree. Grateful to have helped cofound at the start. And enormous thanks to
@elonmusk
for bringing us together on this incredible journey. So proud of what the xAI team has done and will continue to stay close as a friend of the team. Thank you all for the grind together. The people and camaraderie are the real treasures at this place.

We are heading to an age of 100x productivity with the right tools. Recursive self improvement loops likely go live in the next 12mo. It’s time to recalibrate my gradient on the big picture. 2026 is gonna be insane and likely the busiest (and most consequential) year for the future of our species.

Makes me wonder...

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by Roswell

Jimmy Ba was one of two 'Founders' at xAI to recently resign. This is his post on X announcing his departure:



Makes me wonder...

Indeed. That’s a heavy statement….

[berettafan]

Probably needs time to build his underground bunker and get it supplied.

I hate to think these things but I see no other way you can put a massive % of the population out of work in such a short period of time and somehow make it go smoothly. I can't find the exact clip but in the past week or so on All In i think it was David Frieburg who talked about the initial problem with this coming mess is going to be placating the losers in this deal for however long it takes for them to believe they are better off.

Let me say that again for the cheap seats- Friends and partners of Trump's AI czar believe the Gov't (and tech elites) will have a problem convincing a large portion of the population that their lives are better as they see a small portion of the population become billionaires and the rest worry about starvation. We are literally at a stage in our society where the haves are thinking about how to keep the have nots away from their doorstep. And they are talking about it OUT LOUD.

[GH85Carrera]

I just wonder when "our" AI is battling "their" AI for supremacy of the AIs, and launching the nukes at the electrical power plants and data centers of each other. Forget the humans, destroy the "bad" AI and of course, every one of them will think it is the good AI.

I sure don't worry about Terminator type of robots as they all. I just wonder if the battle of humans VS AI will be us just destroying the data centers and power stations. No electricity, no AI.

[Zeke]

I wonder what Randy Webb and island911 would be saying right about now.

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by Paul T

...our brains will atrophy, and quickly, as we will just use AI for everything. The implications beyond that point get dark really fast….

[Shaun @ Tru6]

When will AI decision-making be consistently more positive outcome predictable and profitable than human decision-making?

One of several key turning points in white collar unemployment.

The article is well-articulated but it's been known for over 6 months now. I think about what will the summer of 2027 look like?

[id10t]

I kinda code with AI... in that I abuse it like a first semester intern that types really fast.

"Make a Java object that maps this CSV file so I can import it using OpenCSV" (paste in the header row and a row of data). "Now make a DB2 create table statemetn that matches it, make the money fields bigdecimal"

[Paul T]

Pretty good counter argument here to the article I originally posted…all good food for thought

https://x.com/cboyack/status/2021647373571862952?s=61&t=jXnimLO91iCT0myPZuVEeQ

[Shaun @ Tru6]

^^^ skimmed only.

"Sure, the Luddites were wrong. Sure, ATMs didn't kill bank tellers. But AI is different. It's not just automating physical labor… it's automating thought. It's coming for cognitive work, creative work, the things that were supposed to be uniquely human. This time really is different!"

The reason "This time is different." is simple: trillions of dollars have been invested in AI development, some in circular investments.

The .05% Class has learned a thing or two with past bubbles. Their purely fiat investments will be protected, with good returns, one way or the other. That means many in the 80% class on down will lose one way or the other.

My $.02.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I just wonder when "our" AI is battling "their" AI for supremacy of the AIs, and launching the nukes at the electrical power plants and data centers of each other. Forget the humans, destroy the "bad" AI and of course, every one of them will think it is the good AI.

My son works in IT at the US Army Missile Command. Pro-level computer geek. We talk AI quite a bit and what you state above is going on as we speak. He statement was "From a military standpoint, we're locked into having to build the fifth horseman of the apocalypse before our adversaries build the sixth."...

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

^^^ skimmed only.

"Sure, the Luddites were wrong. Sure, ATMs didn't kill bank tellers. But AI is different. It's not just automating physical labor… it's automating thought. It's coming for cognitive work, creative work, the things that were supposed to be uniquely human. This time really is different!"

The reason "This time is different." is simple: trillions of dollars have been invested in AI development, some in circular investments.

The .05% Class has learned a thing or two with past bubbles. Their purely fiat investments will be protected, with good returns, one way or the other. That means many in the 80% class on down will lose one way or the other.

My $.02.

From an investment standpoint, I have a hard time fathoming how investors are going to see a decent level of return (or any return) on a significant chunk of that $$ - there is just SO MUCH capital that has been thrown at AI in general. But maybe you are right about the end game….hype the crap out of it to draw in the retail investor then leave them holding the bag when you exit. Kinda like crypto.