[OJFord]

He's not saying it like it's a benefit, part of the total comp, article is ridiculous. Here's the source (time stamped): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jw_o0xr8MWU&t=2h3m26s

He's saying it more like a learning & development or conference budget, that it's a tool people need and are going to ask about or want to hear they have a good level of access to when they're looking for a job.

(I've been looking and already asking about it, I think we're already there. Not because I need it personally, but partly just to understand what the AI use is like within the companies I've been talking to.)

[hellisothers]

I think you’re both right but missing a bigger issue which is the implication that these provided tokens are what the developers will use to develop with, at work “to be more productive”. That’s extra savage, today your work provides you access to AI, in the future you pay for that access out of your own “pocket”. It’s like being a lumberjack and having to bring your own chainsaw and gas.

[OJFord]

It's still a big leap from what he actually said to assume that one would be restricted to an individual budget.

It's already variably the case or not (whether 'unlimited' or limited across the whole team) at different companies today.

All he's saying is that he expects to be paying not a couple of hundred a month per employee, or mere thousands, but about half of an employee's salary per employee on LLM usage. The article acts like he said it was going to come out of the employees' pocket directly with a corresponding pay-cut!

[markus_zhang]

It's more like, being a lumberjack, they provide chainsaw but you provide gas. If you don't have tokens, use your muscle! If you have tokens, they promote you to the team lead, and you can sell tokens in the black market.

[markus_zhang]

In the future, when AI is mandatory (as it is already in some workplaces, such as mine), token is in effect part of your compensation. You will need it for automation in your home, in your life, everywhere. AI will be the new smart thing -- and smart things today will be the new dummy thing.

Your appliances or computers in 2040 won't even run without tokens -- you can choose to find some scrape appliances or computers 50 years ago, repair and use it, but you have to build everything around it by yourself, because in the future, everything revolves around AI.

And of course, this is part of UBI that everyone wants, with a small twist -- I'm sorry to inform you, that based on your credit report, your UBI package for this year will be limited at 10,000 tokens per month. Behave, and you will get more tokens for next year.

Have fun in the next world. If you want a preview, and if you are working in a workplace that adopt AI extensively (i.e. your productivity is determined by how many tokens you consume, and your performance is estimated by such), simply remove AI from all of your workflow, and see what happens. I'm sure some people are still fine, though.

[drivingmenuts]

If it becomes mandatory in the workplace, it needs to be a work budget item, like other equipment, not as part of the compensation package. As for the rest of your prediction, I would have to be a complete idiot to pay for tokens to run a stove or a refrigerator.

[markus_zhang]

I’m sorry, but they are already doing something similar for the TV. I mean the smart part. Sure, there are still dumb TVs but the writing has been on the wall for a long time. And it is from there that I see the future.