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by troyvit 37 days ago
That's just it. If they were prioritizing humans they'd have a product with a measely million users, charge more, and offer great support. Their game isn't a good product though, their game is scale because they think that's the only way to win, and winning is the only way to survive.
2 comments
brookst 37 days ago
Wait, how would limiting a great tool to 0.1% of the TAM demonstrate caring for humans?

Are you picturing them running a lottery for who’s allowed to use it, or an auction?

And with the loss of scale economies, it would have to be much more expensive.

So you end up charging, what, $10,000/month and only making it available to the very wealthy?

I don’t see how this game plan is better for humans. And I’m honestly not being snarky. Have you thought through how your proposed limits would work? Am I missing something?

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troyvit 37 days ago
I mean look at how Apple prices their computers and phones, or how WSJ charges for subscriptions, or how "Linux" keeps its market small by being awful at marketing. The point is there are plenty of ways to scale sustainably and support your customer base in a long-term way that keeps them, and it doesn't seem like Anthropic is doing that.
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brookst 36 days ago
I am really not convinced that Linux is intentionally bad at marketing so as to ensure that they aren’t overwhelmed with users, all in the name of providing great support.
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mock-possum 37 days ago
Love how you’re literally saying “instead of serving humanity they should serve the wealthiest 0.1%”

Very humanitarian

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troyvit 37 days ago
Honestly I never thought about it that way, but I do think that's an exaggeration. I don't see any believable sign that Anthropic's goal was ever to "serve humanity." That said, how do you serve humanity properly? Do you scale a mediocre product to a billion people and treat them like shit or do you build it deliberately and support what you make, even if that costs more?

You sound like "AI" is something people deserve for free when clearly, if you look at the garbage energy footprint alone, it's going to have to cost. Supporting it is going to have even more.

P.S. How can you "serve humanity" if you literally don't support the humans who use your stuff?

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