Mostly seems like yet another case of snorting one's own tailpipe to the very end. It's a shame, the comics were great. But so many who experience success like that begin to consider themselves chosen ones and it only goes downhill from there unless you're a clown genius (tm).
Funded by an automation tax as proposed by Martin Ford. Not holding my breath on either count. We mustn't upset the 1,000 or so billionaires in this country in any way for they are wise and they are kind and only bad things will happen if we do.
But chin up, peasant, each and every one of us can dream of one day being a billionaire as well if only we act as wise and as kind as they do.
> But chin up, peasant, each and every one of us can dream of one day being a billionaire as well if only we act as wise and as kind as they do.
(I know this was written satirically) but this is a nice example of doublespeak and I immediately got reminded of it.
I wouldn't say that we have reached 1984 level, there is still some decentralization where you can get hosting and then self host from small vps providers as well etc.
Not that most people do such things tho. Internet is still heavily centralized but overall, there are still outlets of escape legally and you are able to sometimes even talk to vps provider owners themselves directly in some cases if they are small enough.
But still, each year although we get away from 1984 the year, we get near to 1984 the book.
As much as I am pro AI and I really am very pro AI, there is definitely an emperor's new AGI vibe amongst the tech bro and billionaire classes. I can only attribute it to a compulsive need to oversell everything and then deliver 25 to 50%, a state everyone is so used to now that if you try to be honest and make claims that state what you can really deliver, they will assume you can only deliver 25 to 50% of what you are claiming and therefore the guy promising twice as much gets the funding.
This makes me happy that I'm nearing retirement but that switch flipping is being delayed by my hourly rate going up for possessing forgotten knowledge. Sigh...
At 5 cents or less per kWH these days, 10 kW is 50 cents per hour, well below minimum wage. LLMs aren't AGI and I'm not convinced we're anywhere close to AGI, but they are useful. That the people deploying them have the same product instincts as Microsoft executives seems to be the core issue.
His "youtube course" already exists, and it's absolutely transformational.
He's working on a more formal educational framework/service of some kind, which will presumably not be free, but what he's already posted is some of the most effective CS pedagogy I've ever encountered (and personally benefited from.)
If you understand their limitations, they are quite helpful and fun already. If you expect what the tech bros who can't code anything(tm) say they are, not so much. But I do expect them to improve because the market opportunity for getting anywhere close to the grandiose hype is huge. What isn't fun is the clueless C-suite force feeding them down the chain in hopes of a Hail Mary Pass to profits.
Edit: I know, I know, blink 3 times to signal SOS. I clearly only wrote the above under duress and threats from my managers. There's simply nothing fun about interacting with an entity that would be the stuff of science fiction just 5 years ago, no sir!
Defining art in this way is like defining intelligence as the possession of a degree from Stanford. It's just branding.
Art shouldn't make you feel comfortable and safe. It should provoke you and in this sense AI art is doing the job better than traditional art at the moment here.
Other than the technological aspect, there's nothing new under the sun here. And at its very worst, AI art is just Andy Warhol at hyperscale.
I think it's actually quite apt to look at all of "AI art" as a single piece, or suite, with a unified argument or theme. Maybe in that sense it is some kind of art, even if it wasn't intended that way by its creators.
Similarly, I'm not sure that argument is making the point those who deploy it intend to make.
I think the entire fear of AI schtick to farm engagement is little more than performance art for our FAANNG overlords personally. It behaves precisely like the right wing manosphere but with different daily talking points repeated ad nauseum. Bernie Sanders has smelled the opportunity here and really stepped up his game.
But TBF, performance art theatre is art as well.
The end game IMO will be incorporation of AI art toolsets into commercial art workflows and a higher value placed on 100% human art (however that ends up being defined) and then we'll find something new and equally idiotic to trigger us or else we might run out of excuses and/or scapegoats for our malaise.
> incorporation of AI art toolsets into commercial art workflows and a higher value placed on 100% human art
I don't even really believe serious artists need to totally exclude themselves from using genAI as a tool, and I've heard the same from real working artists (generally those who have established careers doing it). Unfortunately, that point inhabits the boring ideological center and is drowned out by the screaming from both extremes.
They aren't, but some are already using pseudonyms to experiment with it to avoid the haters condemning them for doing so. And their work is predictably far superior from the get-go to asking Sora to ghiblify your dog.
> Art shouldn't make you feel comfortable and safe. It should provoke you and in this sense AI art is doing the job better than traditional art at the moment here.
jumpscares and weapons being used at others aren't art
I Ghiblified a photo of my dog when chatgpt 4 came out. I was utterly horrified by the results.
It's exciting being able to say that I am an artist, I always wondered what my life would have been had I gone into the arts, and now I can experience it! Thank you techmology.
If you really want to experience the struggles and persecution of an artist, you should empty your bank account and find a life partner to support you while you struggle with your angst and inner trauma that are the source of your creativity. But, to be fair, complaining about AI art is a great start down that path!
How else would you address the incessant ramblings of people who figuratively curse the sunset daily? After AI art has been integrated into the already existing suite of digital art applications (which themselves were once not considered art), whatever shall you complain about next?
Now if you wanted to define art to require 100% bodily fluids and solids 100% handcrafted to be the only real art, now that I'd understand.
Vibe coding is absolutely progress quest as a service at this point. It will get better, but it's delusional to think it can replace engineers any time in the next few years. However, tech culture demands its overlords oversell it lest the VC stop believing in it.
Oh FFS 0.1% of this acquisition is $20M. 0.5% is $100M. Junior to senior equity lies in this range. They'll be more than fine. They'll be 1%ers to 0.1%ers after taxes, yeesh. It's never ever enough. is it?
Series E was just 3 months ago. $2M for 3 months work seems fantastic to me. Series B equity was anytime through early 2021. This is a fantastic outcome for everyone in Groq.
What I'm reading here is 100% envy and resentment of their success. But that only works if you're already rich or president, preferably both for best results.
Why are you assuming the employees’ equity participates in this licensing deal at all? They just have ownership in the leftover dying company as far as I can tell. How will they make that worth something, and get liquidity?
And you don't think they'd be squealing like stuck pigs in the blogosphere if that were the case? There isn't even anything like that on Blind currently, but there sure are a lot of people with no skin in this deal whining about it to high heaven. This is not a winning attitude. $20B for Groq just normalized $1B for AI startups in general. Maybe less concern trolling here and more building something is in order?
My assumption is employees are mostly out on holidays since the deal was known widely only on Christmas, and so they’re busy with their personal lives, quietly discussing this issue with trusted coworkers, and if there are serious problems, they are coordinating a lawsuit instead of saying something they shouldn’t in public.
You should be asking why no one has dispelled the criticisms of how employee equity is treated in this deal - neither Nvidia nor Groq’s founders nor regular employees. Lots of people have raised this concern. Should be simple to answer, right?
As for people with no skin in this deal “whining” - why wouldn’t people raise concerns? It’s a disturbing trend. These are highly unusual deals made to circumvent the law and break norms, on antitrust and employee compensation. They’re suspicious and prior examples have stolen from employees. So distrust and scrutiny by default is completely justified.
So your belief is that the FTC should not only have control over corporate acquisitions but also over where people work and what they can be paid, got it. We are all at will employees in tech and you and only you are responsible for where you choose to work. Most startups fail. This one didn't. Good on them.
"all groq employees got cashed out, no one is getting screwed here. windsurf is different."
But wait, wait, don't tell me... How do we KNOW this REALLY is a groq EMPLOYEE? It COULD be a PAID shill blah blah blah WINDSURF! WINDSURF! You can't hide the TRUTH forever!
Well it’s an anonymous account - could just be the founder or someone who got special treatment. The rest of the comments are skeptical and for good reason, which is that there is no official disclosure of how employees got their due based on the ownership implied by their options. “Got cashed out” may just mean they got $100 each. Why are you hostile to seeking the truth here or creating pressure on founders and investors to come clean?
True, but good luck getting people to vote for their own interests. It's not hard to fix this. It really isn't. But it's nearly impossible to get through to people. As someone else said, at some point you have to make a choice about where you want to live and do what it takes to get to that place before you drown in the sea of marching morons.
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