[sillysaurusx]

That's actually wonderful to hear! Is there some way to assist with that work? Doing something with a human impact is appealing.

(To be clear, my argument wasn't that ML isn't useful -- but rather that individual lone hackers are less likely to be using ML to achieve superman-type powers than I originally thought. Supermen do exist, but they are firmly in the ranks of DeepMind et al, and must pursue projects collectively rather than individually.)

[yorwba]

> individual lone hackers are less likely to be using ML to achieve superman-type powers than I originally thought

For a single individual to have "superhuman" impact with ML, they need not only generic ML knowledge, but also specialized knowledge of some domain they want to impact. Actually, because ML has become so generic (just grab a pre-trained model, maybe fine-tune it, and push your data through it) a very shallow understanding of the fundamentals is probably enough, and in-depth domain knowledge much more important.

That doesn't mean generic ML research isn't important, it's just that it has an average impact on everything, not a huge impact in one specific area.

(I suspect many hobbyist ML projects are about generating entertaining content because everyone has experience with entertainment, even ML researchers.)

[counters]

!00% nailed it. ML/AI are tools. As in any other exercise, tools can make it easier for beginners/amateurs to engage with a project, but they don't replace 10,000 hours of experience and deep domain experience and understanding. It's the master craftsmen and domain experts who will create the most value with these tools, but that may not be in obvious or clearly visible ways.

[np_tedious]

They also likely need a lot of training data and compute resources

[rscho]

Yes, if you carry some weight in the field then the most useful contribution would be to push for better automated gathering of quality clinical data. This is the most limiting factor currently.

Of course policy activism is far less sexy than building new shiny things, so there's little interest in that.