Here's the second part of this week's Better Offline. I walk you through how big tech's $200bn bet on generative AI has gone haywire - and what might happen when the bubble truly pops. linktr.ee/betteroffline podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b... - ThreadSky

edzitron.com • 79 days ago

Here's the second part of this week's Better Offline. I walk you through how big tech's $200bn bet on generative AI has gone haywire - and what might happen when the bubble truly pops.

http://linktr.ee/betteroffline
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-offline/id1730587238?i=1000679435415

Comments

lunarcauldron.bsky.social•76 days ago

I'm an artist. Last year, AI made me almost give up. It's been abysmal watching countless friends lose their jobs at game studios and film contracts to greedy decisions by manager types while a good portion of the public gleefully consumes AI as a shiny toy. I think you're right. I hope you are.

707kat.bsky.social•79 days ago

Hey Ed! I just listened to it. Thanks for an informative and funny listen and the pep-talk at the end.

I heard that you were stuck in the Gmail loop and were interested in Proton. I was in the same situation, luckily Proton has a service that can forward your emails from Gmail. :)

707kat.bsky.social•79 days ago

I used that until I felt comfortable with switching and slowly started deleting old accounts, changing email on others etc. untangling myself from the Google experience.

grumpyrootbeer.bsky.social•79 days ago

It's extremely funny that the very first ad I got on this episode was for Oracle AI infrastructure and literally opened with "You might be hearing that AI is overhyped, but ..." The cracks are showing.

phillyexpat666.bsky.social•79 days ago

I know you didn’t plan this, but hilarious to get a Watson AI ad to lead the podcast

spencerjakab.bsky.social•79 days ago

Ooh - looking forward to listening to this.

peternikolaidis.com•76 days ago

It’s really ironic that almost all of the ads on your podcast are for AI services.

mohetron.bsky.social•79 days ago

Great episode Ed. I also got a good unintentional laugh when I got served multiple ads for different AI products.

nickbom.bsky.social•79 days ago

Just had my own fun with how awful AI is. Was chatting with friends about how the NYPD is gonna use AI to help catch the UHC shooter. So as a joke I typed “average white man mugshot photo” into a free image generator and got back… 9 pictures of black dudes. AI saw “mugshot” and got real racist.

ohmyyy.bsky.social•79 days ago

truthfully, i didnt know u have a podcast lol
i will listen to it as i wait on the phone with.....my health insurer

malignant-ficus.bsky.social•77 days ago

If you ever have health insurance questions, give me a shout. That’s my speciality.

ohmyyy.bsky.social•76 days ago

lol

chuckennui.bsky.social•79 days ago

Just got an AI ad on that one. Love it.

chuckennui.bsky.social•79 days ago

Also, Proton is great. You just gotta rip that bandaid off.

you-found-nicole.bsky.social•78 days ago

Another fantastic episode, and thank you for your recommendation of Bluesky!

maxp94.bsky.social•79 days ago

I’m not sure how that particular bubble is gonna pop with Musk and Sacks hanging around Mar A Lago now.

pertjernberg.bsky.social•79 days ago

Brilliant episode - I rely too often on Better Offline as a proof that my complete conviction that the smell of tulips is in the air regarding AI.

americanow.bsky.social•79 days ago

After I was basically forced to learn AI operations to get a job, I can't say I want the AI investment boom to bust, but it would be nice to get back to working on something that people actually need or at least want

grumpyrootbeer.bsky.social•79 days ago

I got word yesterday that my team is going to start using Copilot next year. Not looking forward to it

americanow.bsky.social•79 days ago

I’ve been using Copilot. It's not all that bad with small amounts of well-defined code, but it is worse than useless with even medium-sized projects since it has zero understanding of software engineering

grumpyrootbeer.bsky.social•79 days ago

I'm a technical writer not a software engineer. I expect there will be some useful applications (wouldn't be hard to improve on our document portal's search for example), but I fully expect a lot of "well just have Copilot write/edit the procedures!" from people who don't know how to do either.

americanow.bsky.social•79 days ago

It’s also not bad at documentation in that it can put together an outline and framework to work with. I guess my attitude is since the AI companies are selling their services at a considerable loss, I might as well use them, but companies shouldn't get used to AI being so cheap

anniealtman108.bsky.social•79 days ago

catmomdo.bsky.social•76 days ago

📌

drjonathancrane.bsky.social•76 days ago

100% accurate. They got nothing else.

And BlueSky. Signal. And Proton Mail are all apps I’ve begun switching to in last 6 weeks or so. (Dumping Gmail/Drive gonna take time)

begrudginglyyeast.bsky.social•76 days ago

The ad I got started "Even if you think it's a bit overhyped, AI is EVERYWHERE these days..."

bettyruthryan.bsky.social•79 days ago

I work in tech and have long thought the generative AI hoopla is mostly smoke and mirrors.

Haven't been able to verbalize my thoughts nearly as pointedly as you. Thank you for these articles -- I keep sharing them!

malignant-ficus.bsky.social•77 days ago

You got some thoughts too? Would love to hear!

larofeticus.bsky.social•79 days ago

Love to count the number of AI feature advertisements during the podcast about how AI is a white elephant bubble dooming an entire industry to near-future disaster.