Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman retorted that firing junior workers because AI can do their jobs is “the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” This is the head of AWS of all people saying what most corporate executives should be saying (unfortunately, most executives are brain dead and mainly respond with animated vigor to whatever it is that can reduce the expense ledger on the balance sheet – like laying off the front line workers).
AI/ML are tools that should be utilized where it makes most sense in assisting people with their tasks versus this toxic notion of replacing human workers the way so many companies are trying to do (because it reduces those personnel related expenses/helps senior management/executives justify their bonuses). As for the public, many are using ChatGPT at unhealthy levels to replace their actual critical thinking skills (society is going to be dumbed down dramatically a decade from now if this trend does not stop). But then again, we’re already living in a global idiocracy.
This report from MIT is also unsurprising where “95 percent of enterprise organizations report zero measurable gains from the adoption of generative AI tools.” But you see, the tech bros (who were hyping this up) AND Wall Street (who have been pumping this while the smart money is dumping it on those who prefer “buying high and are left holding the bag” when the bubble pops), don’t want the general public to know this.
And here is one to file in the “lack of self-awareness” file. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman basically agreeing that investors are “overexcited” (aka bubble territory) about AI and saying out loud that someone will lose a lot of money”. This is while he is seeking a $500 billion valuation in a secondary offering. Translation: Altman believes the market of investors will have enough that are dumb enough to buy at the top and be left hanging there. Yes, that is what these folks (they live and operate in a different reality) think of the rest of the population; more than enough suckers to buy into the shit they are shoveling out.
How many big tech firms have been burning through capital to build out these data centers (that are sucking up energy/requiring massive amounts of cooling/water that not even solar can complete power; thus requiring them to tap into the power grid). Then look at the delusional pricing structure many of these companies are trying to charge users with to create their slop. The level of cognitive dissonance that one can read in the financial press regarding AI is staggering (worse than the height of the dot com bubble when analysts were trying to justify stuff like Pets.com); generally speaking, the media barely covers these types of impacts and the effects it has on those communities where these data centers are located.
How many old big tech companies ended up being “rebranded” as AI companies over the past few years trying to ride this over hyped pig up to the top of the mountain? I give IBM a pass because they’ve been researching this stuff since the 1950’s (though under its older name like neural networking); ironically, they haven’t actually benefited from this bubble as much as the likes of Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia to name a few.
I will give Garman credit for calling out the BS unlike Microsoft that has been laying off people amidst record revenues/profits and proclaiming some of that is because of savings from AI, or companies like Duolingo whose CEO made it clear their intention to replace as many personnel with AI if it can perform those tasks.
In the mean time, folks like myself are doing this:
Whenever this AI bubble blows up, many of us are going to be here saying “told you so”.
