this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2024
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[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 30 points 2 months ago (3 children)

It's research. Most of it never pans out, so a lot of it is "wasteful". But if we didn't experiment, we wouldn't find the things that do work.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 25 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Most of the entire AI economy isn't even research. It's just grift. Slapping a label on ChatGPT and saying you're an AI company. It's hustlers trying to make a quick buck from easy venture capital money.

[–] EnderMB@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You can probably say the same about all fields, even those that have formal protections and regulations. That doesn't mean that there aren't people that have PhD's in the field and are trying to improve it for the better.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sure but typically that's a small part of the field. With AI it's a majority, that's the difference.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

No, it is the majority in every field.

Specialists are always in the minority, that is like part of their definition.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

The majority of every field is fraudsters? Seriously?

[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is it really a grift when you are selling possible value to an investor who would make money from possible value?

As in, there is no lie, investors know it’s a gamble and are just looking for the gamble that everyone else bets on, not that it l would provide real value.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

I would classify speculation as a form of grift. Someone gets left holding the bag.

[–] 4vgj0e@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I agree, but these researchers/scientists should be more mindful about the resources they use up in order to generate the computational power necessary to carry out their experiments. AI is good when it gets utilized to achieve a specific task, but funneling a lot of money and research towards general purpose AI just seems wasteful.

[–] AssaultPepper@monero.town 8 points 2 months ago

I mean general purpose AI doesn't cap out at human intelligence, of which you could utilize to come up with ideas for better resource management.

Could also be a huge waste but the potential is there... potentially.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

I don't think I've heard a lot of actual research in the AI area not connected to machine learning (which may be just one component, not really necessary at that).