https://twitter.com/TechBurritoUno/status/1768363023192768799

  • junebug2 [comrade/them, she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    I feel like it’s not that she doesn’t know the answers, it’s that the answers are not politically convenient. My understanding of the situation is that in the course of training the various GPTs, OpenAI and Microsoft have realistically scanned every piece of text and imagery that’s available on the internet. It didn’t matter how good or bad or who made it, the models needed every available data point. That was all well and good until covid led to a tightening of interest rates, which meant the VC overlords of Silicon Valley finally had to pay a bill. All the vapor ware companies that have never turned a profit are scrambling now, and we see the mass layoffs of the last three years. Microsoft, however, got to be King Shit of VC Mountain because one of their startups invented “AI”. Say what you will about it (and I will), the public interest in and corporate adoption of AI has meant that there is a positive revenue for a tech company. Now regardless of rationality, all tech executives must find a way to cash in on the Golden Calf. Some companies are designing new applications or creating new services. The majority are realizing that they some how, sort of kind of, are the original data the models were made from, and they’re trying to extract rents from it. For now, that’s really only for content in the future. If the CTO here publicly claims that their product relies on YouTube or anything, Alphabet or whatever parent would be stupid not to come and sue for whatever they might get.