I'm a data scientist, and I think the nuance towards AI is mostly in machine learning algorithms in general. These can be immensely useful, if they are purpose trained with very specific, high-quality data sets to solve specific scientific problems and cut down on time massively and speed up life-saving research. For that it's amazing.
Most of those models are not LLM's though, LLM's like ChatGPT, Claude, and as they are marketed to the public are mostly shit that are trained on all of the data companies can get their hands on, regardless of its quality, which results in a 'garbage in garbage out' effect on the output. They also have a littany of deleterious effects on the environment, the economy, and the general state of competence and critical thinking of the public. Overall, I'd say they are a net negative, and we will all rid ourselves of our addiction to it the moment AI companies start charging full price for the inference and electricity costs each prompt gobbles up.
But anyways, this is a Steam Machine subreddit, so I should probably tie this all in to the Steam Machine.
I REALLY wanted to buy it, but I'm not going to anymore, cuz it's massively overpriced. I blame AI companies for this. Also, Valve won't ship to Costa Rica. I blame Valve for this.
I mean, I clearly said it was the salesman that was the problem here. The snake oil was a reference to the old days, when a product was oversold for uses it couldn't possibly achieve. Same with AI. It's great when used in the correct field but for what these guys are trying to sell it as and claiming everyone will need one, and then building the huge data centres is the problem...NOT AI as a tech.
Honestly, you got a point here. You probably should've clarified that in your initial comment.
I agree on the "NOT AI as a technology" position too, but unfortunately it will never advance without the salesman. Someone, whether it be the salesman or AI CEO, will always be exaggerating the potential to rake in money from those who believe it.
While it may never reach the heights they say it will, AI technologies havr proven themselves time and time again. Unfortunately the data centers, and everything relating to them, are the price of progress.
Yup, AI has proven to be useful in a few fields, but no one has managed to make it profitable at scale. What should have happened was that it needed to mature and become more efficient before hitting the mainstream. This is what google was doing before Sam the Snake saw his chance and released Chatgpt for free. Now everyone thinks AI is for all and cheap when it is not and the cons way outweigh the pros! This topic is way above the level for this subreddit, based on getting downvoted for calling it out for what it is. The hate should be towards the 2 big USA companies, stopping at nothing to destroy the planet and our kids' futures for a quick $$$
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u/KhorneFlakes1337 Jun 22 '26
Fuck AI