[sebzim4500]

>I find this very troubling for two reasons. First, while Claude and OpenAI are new, Google has been around for a long time. It should have thought better about pricing so that the tool is within the reach of the developing world.

Why? I don't see a practical argument for why Google would want to offer this service at a massive loss.

[niek_pas]

The author is making a moral argument, not a practical (from Google’s perspective) one.

[xvector]

I feel like this is a huge problem with the progressive movement in the US. Morally sound arguments that rarely make practical or economic sense - and no, "tax the rich" doesn't get us there: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/ten-myths-about-the-u-s-tax...

[alightsoul]

It is now US policy to push US AI onto the rest of the world. They can either lower prices to make it affordable in those regions, or, get ignored and use Chinese models which are an order of magnitude cheaper, like Deepseek, or just immigrate.

[Smeevy]

That's not an unfair assessment, but I would pose additional questions:

Why does doing the morally sound thing always have to be easier, better, and cheaper than ruining the world and creating human misery? Why must the morally superior argument be financially unassailable?

I'm getting older and angrier and I've grown tired of meeting greedy, disingenuous adversaries halfway just to have my hand slapped away after they get what they want. Since we've established that conservatives will absolutely put up with pain to harm outgroup bogeymen, I don't listen to their appeals for things that I hope will reduce human misery in the world.

With that in mind: Tax the rich like it's the 1950s, healthcare for all, stop burning fossil fuels, etc. Do it all and see what works, darn it.

[gizmo686]

Once you accept that doing the morally sound thing costs money, the question becomes what is the most good you could do with that money.

We could pay to run LLMS at highly subsidized rates for the global poor. Or we could take the money we would have spent running those LLMs and just give it to the poor. I'm not saying direct cash infusions is the best way of spending that money. But doubling their income seems a lot more effective that a ChatGPT subscription.

[kashunstva]

> Once you accept that doing the morally sound thing costs money, the question becomes what is the most good you could do with that money.

Relative to the topic of this thread, providing access to LLMs at a loss would not be at the top of my list of ways to right moral wrongs either. But more broadly, taxing the rich costs nothing, unless one believes that Reagan economic theory is backed by actual empirical evidence. Some actions in civic life are done for symbolic reasons. People doff their hats and apply their right hand to their precordium for symbolic reasons. We can progressively tax all to symbolize something about economic fairness and opposition to the winner-take-all ethos.

[xvector]

> But more broadly, taxing the rich costs nothing

It does though.

1. As one of "the rich" that progressives target continuously, I still can't afford a house in CA. I'm moving to Washington and CA will lose many median Californians' worth of income.

2. Nearly every EU country that attempted wealth taxes (another form of "taxing the rich") recalled them due to capital flight that offset the tax income.

3. California has passed the peak of its Laffer curve, where higher taxes don't provide higher returns due to capital flight. https://www.ipi.org/ipi_issues/detail/californias-laffer-cur...

4. I personally don't feel the value in working harder or smarter to earn more, because the marginal returns are so low due to taxes. Discouraging innovation is not good for the country.

> We can progressively tax all to symbolize something about economic fairness

Despite the common memes the US has one of the most progressive tax systems in the world. https://manhattan.institute/article/correcting-the-top-10-ta...

Anyways, "taxing the rich" simply doesn't get us there:

1. You could liquidate every billionaire, including all their assets, and you wouldn't fund the government for 9 months.

2. The rest of us that progressives consider "rich" are W-2s that already pay a fuckton in taxes. If you look at the sources above, this is explained clearly.

3. Contrary to the meme, the biggest objective gap in tax income is not on the rich but on our middle class, which does not pay its fair share wrt our EU counterparts (explaining the gap necessary to fund the desired social services, which taxing the rich would not cover due to its comparatively small size). 40% of Americans pay no federal income tax! https://freakonomics.com/podcast/ten-myths-about-the-u-s-tax...

---

Finally, at the core of your assumption is the idea that more taxes help. As someone that has worked in both government-funded labs and government contracting, I can promise you they don't. The sheer wastage is mind boggling, honestly sickening. It makes the our tech mega corps look tiny. I used to have a progressive view on taxation until I saw the infinite money black hole that was government spending.

[Smeevy]

I would absolutely agree that ChatGPT access loses out to physiological and safety needs by more than a little bit.

Now that I think about it, I'm not quite sure where to put cost-effective LLM access in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

[NoahZuniga]

The phrasing is making it sound like a business argument though. "[Google] should have thought better ..." sounds like "well it would be better for Google the company to do ..."

[thefz]

Why? We are not talking about access to safe drinking water, AI is the latest tech vanity / bubble. Some people have more direct life concerns like unstable governments or access to education than making a ghiblified version of their photo.

[NoPicklez]

Not a great company to make a moral argument given that Google search has given the world free access to searching information for decades.

Not everything can be reasonably available to everyone if it is cost prohibitive.

[alightsoul]

Well, this will only increase immigration. Isn't this what the US doesn't want?

[FirmwareBurner]

Most people who are desperate to immigrate and risking their lives to cross the US border aren't doing it because they can't afford ChatGPT Pro but because of living in extreme poverty or danger.

[alightsoul]

not literally, but this will widen income disparity and make the US so much more attractive to immigrate to.

[FirmwareBurner]

Not when US work visas are so hard to get. And probably you'd wan to import smart people who can think beyond ChatGPT.

[alightsoul]

They don't get work visas, they start businesses even illegally. Or they could just use a Chinese model. Either way this is a losing proposiion for the US.

[int3]

well, maybe we can spend some of the money we save not subsidizing the third world on better border security

[Mars008]

US doesn't want gov debt even more. (not under dems ruling like last 4 year)

Money don't grow on the trees. Someone has to work or take debt. The question is should rich countries sponsor poor? Probably yes. How much? Trump decided enough is enough. EU want US to keep sponsoring the war. You know, they want it to continue but don't want to pay for it. So they try to hijack US government again by attacking Trump personally.

Immigration can be solved by border control. That's what dems fought so hard against trying to get more voters in. Another reason: they control food distribution.