Ive describes Altman as someone with a lot of 'humility'. Then the two of them go on to bloviate at length about how incredible they are. While the rest of us struggle with impostor syndrome, the actual impostors have shameless arrogance.
Does it strike anyone as tragic that a system that uses so much energy and water is now going to be used simply to slick up things that people are already doing online? We already have search, social networks and online shopping. Is this AI's future rather than curing diseases and solving climate change? Will AI just be the next victim of enshitification in the search for endless growth? Will the cost to investors, the environment and culture be worth it?
Another great piece Brian and I got myself a print copy of Karen’s book too (awaiting delivery). I did feel some type of way about this part of your article “No writer should ever use AI, that’s my hardline stance, for any part of the writing process.” - because I use AI to help me edit my writing after I’ve written the first couple of drafts. I’m not a writer and I don’t have any editor contacts (nor is writing my full time job) I just want to say my piece as clearly as possible, so maybe, I’m not the target audience for that statement?
I think editing is totally defensible and say so in the CJR piece in fact — especially in non pro contexts. though I might recommend looking into writer forums or groups here on substack even to find fellow writers and eds to swap services as that might ultimately be more rewarding!
"It’s not a race to have the best technology, though all the companies surely want to do that, but more a race to become “The AI Company.” To become the first thing consumers think of when they hear “AI.”
Thank you for pointing this out! Every app and website feels like they've been filled with "try our new AI feature" which seems to serve no real function other than to say that they have AI on the mind for visibility. Sam Altman's pseudo-religious pursuit of absorbing and controlling all of what we think and want with AI has such dangerous undertones.
Sam is an LLM.... Regurgitating all the biz strategy he's consumed. He's a very talented MBA consultant guy. And he'll get richer. But openai won't be the big winner. There probably won't be one, it'll be less lopsided than search and social, but the existing big guys will dominate. In a couple byears Gemini will be the most used ai product. It's impact will be less than we think. Coders will flock to niche offerings. Everything we do online will have mild ai augmentation... Not that different from our algorithm ladden existence already
Ive describes Altman as someone with a lot of 'humility'. Then the two of them go on to bloviate at length about how incredible they are. While the rest of us struggle with impostor syndrome, the actual impostors have shameless arrogance.
Does it strike anyone as tragic that a system that uses so much energy and water is now going to be used simply to slick up things that people are already doing online? We already have search, social networks and online shopping. Is this AI's future rather than curing diseases and solving climate change? Will AI just be the next victim of enshitification in the search for endless growth? Will the cost to investors, the environment and culture be worth it?
I think AI itself is enshittification.
Another great piece Brian and I got myself a print copy of Karen’s book too (awaiting delivery). I did feel some type of way about this part of your article “No writer should ever use AI, that’s my hardline stance, for any part of the writing process.” - because I use AI to help me edit my writing after I’ve written the first couple of drafts. I’m not a writer and I don’t have any editor contacts (nor is writing my full time job) I just want to say my piece as clearly as possible, so maybe, I’m not the target audience for that statement?
I think editing is totally defensible and say so in the CJR piece in fact — especially in non pro contexts. though I might recommend looking into writer forums or groups here on substack even to find fellow writers and eds to swap services as that might ultimately be more rewarding!
that's actually a pretty good tip haha, never thought of that. awesome, thank you!
"It’s not a race to have the best technology, though all the companies surely want to do that, but more a race to become “The AI Company.” To become the first thing consumers think of when they hear “AI.”
Thank you for pointing this out! Every app and website feels like they've been filled with "try our new AI feature" which seems to serve no real function other than to say that they have AI on the mind for visibility. Sam Altman's pseudo-religious pursuit of absorbing and controlling all of what we think and want with AI has such dangerous undertones.
Sam is an LLM.... Regurgitating all the biz strategy he's consumed. He's a very talented MBA consultant guy. And he'll get richer. But openai won't be the big winner. There probably won't be one, it'll be less lopsided than search and social, but the existing big guys will dominate. In a couple byears Gemini will be the most used ai product. It's impact will be less than we think. Coders will flock to niche offerings. Everything we do online will have mild ai augmentation... Not that different from our algorithm ladden existence already
Altman is such a goon
Good one! I outline the value extraction and value destruction architecture of the race-to-the-bottom over here: https://johancb.substack.com/p/the-two-big-lies-behind-the-heist