[TeMPOraL]

LLMs aren't just a mere database containing indexed copies of other peoples' IP. AI companies are charging you for access to a sophisticated automated reasoning system, that necessarily had to memorize half of the Internet in the process of becoming capable of (some approximation of) reasoning.

(BTW. that you can even make a system this way is a huge breakthrough that's not being talked about enough.)

But even if they were a mere database indexing copies of other peoples' IP, then - copyright issues notwithstanding - the de-bullshittifying of information retrieval process alone would be service worth paying a lot of money for.

[RandomLensman]

I think we are talking past each other. Let me try to narrow down where I think we disagree.

1) LLM providers harvest a common to create their product (don't think we disagree here much).

2) What happens next is where we diverge, I suspect: I think they will use their products to extract rents from that common while you think they will provide a fairly priced service.

Ultimately time will tell how the business model shakes out. Both could even be happening in sequence.

[TeMPOraL]

> 2) What happens next is where we diverge, I suspect: I think they will use their products to extract rents from that common while you think they will provide a fairly priced service.

Phrased like this, I can't really disagree with you. I don't expect a business to play fair in general, when it has a profitable option to do otherwise.

I guess my objection is more that right now, I don't see LLMs creating any kind of disincentive to publish quality content. In my eyes, LLMs are not a substitute for quality content in the first place - I see them more like using quality content to create a tool that competes with ad-hoc and shitty content.

That's not to say LLMs won't be able to eventually provide high-quality information on their own - but at that point, we'll have more important problems to deal with, such as chunk of humanity being rendered obsolete.

[__loam]

LLMs are not reasoning systems. That's one of the major problems with them.