[thewarrior]

I’m tired of farming - Someone in 5000 BC

I’m tired of electricity - Someone in 1905

I’m tired of consumer apps - Someone in 2020

The revolution will happen regardless. If you participate you can shape it in the direction you believe in.

AI is the most innovative thing to happen in software in a long time.

And personally AI is FUN. It sparks joy to code using AI. I don’t need anyone else’s opinion I’m having a blast. It’s a bit like rails for me in that sense.

This is HACKER news. We do things because it’s fun.

I can tackle problems outside of my comfort zone and make it happen.

If all you want to do is ship more 2020s era B2B SaaS till kingdom come no one is stopping you :P

[rsynnott]

I'm tired of 3d TV - Someone in 2013 (3D TV, after a big push by the industry in 2010, peaked in 2013, going into a rapid decline with the last hardware being produced in 2016).

Sometimes, the hyped thing doesn't catch on, even when the industry really, really wants it to.

[falcor84]

That's an interesting example. I would argue that 3D TV as a "solution" didn't work, but 3D as a "problem" is still going strong, and with new approaches coming out all the time (most recently Meta's announcement of the Orion AR glasses), we'll gradually see extensive adoption of 3D experiences, which I expect will eventually loop back to some version of 3D films.

EDIT: To clarify my analogy, GenAI is definitely a "problem" rather than a particular solution, and as such I expect it to have longevity.

[rsynnott]

> To clarify my analogy, GenAI is definitely a "problem" rather than a particular solution, and as such I expect it to have longevity.

Hrm, I'm not sure that's true. "An 'AI' that can answer questions" is a problem, but IMO it's not at all clear that LLMs, with their inherent tendency to make shit up, are an appropriate solution to that problem.

Like, there have been previous non-LLM chatbots (there was a small bubble based on them a while back, in which, for a few months, everyone was claiming to be adding chat to their things; it kind of came to a shuddering halt with Microsoft Tay). It seems slightly peculiar to assume that LLMs are the ultimate answer to the problem, especially as they are not actually very good at it (in some ways, they're worse than the old-gen).

[falcor84]

Let's not focus on "LLM" then, I agree that it's just a step towards future solutions.

[thewarrior]

AI isn’t 3D TV

[rsynnott]

Ah, but, at least for generative AI, that kind of remains to be seen, surely? For every hyped thing that actually is The Future (TM), there are about ten hyped things which turn out to be Not The Future due to practical issues, cost, pointlessness once the novelty wears off, overpromising, etc. At this point, LLMs feel like they're heading more in that direction.

[thewarrior]

I use generative AI every day.

[orthecreedence]

And 5 years ago, people used blockchain to operate a toaster. It remains to be seen the applications that are optimal for LLMs and the ones where it's being shoehorned into every conceivable place because "AI."

[StefanWestfal]

At no point does the author suggest that AI is not going to happen or that it is not useful. He expresses frustration with marketing, false promises, pitching of superficial solutions for deep problems, and the usage of AI to replace meaningful human interactions. In short, the text is not about the technology itself.

[thewarrior]

That’s always the case with any new technology. Tech isn’t going to make everyone happy or achieve world peace.

[lewhoo]

And yet this is precisely what people like Altman say about their product. That's pretty tiring.

[LunaSea]

> The revolution will happen regardless. If you participate you can shape it in the direction you believe in

This is incredibly naïve. You don't have a choice.

[vouaobrasil]

"I'm tired of the atomic bomb" - Someone in 1945.

Oh wait, news flash, not all technological developments are good ones, and we should actually evaluate each one individually.

AI is shit, and some people having fun with it does not balance against it's unusually efficacy in turning everything into shit. Choosing to do something because it's fun without regard to the greater consequences is the sort of irresponsibility that has gotten human society into such a mess in the first place.

[thewarrior]

Atomic energy has both good and bad uses. People being tired of atomic energy has held back GDP growth and is literally deindustrialising Germany.