2024 looks to be the year when AI takes a bite out of the middle class. Today, Google announced job cuts which are almost certainly the result of generative AI replacing humans.
Google used to have humans do sales guidance for its products, create art assets, and decide on text and layouts, but now AI can do it a thousand times a second.
It is telling that someone in a privileged position (in terms of information) would put such a large and expensive project on hold. Here is another sign that AI will do major damage for the average person and concentrate wealth and control into even fewer hands.
I’m wondering if any of these companies hosting AI products like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI are actually making any money, or are subsisting off investor capital.
That’s not to say that I don’t think there’s money to be made with AI, but I can see those using OpenAI’s API making more money than OpenAI. It costs a lot of money to run AI, from what I understand. The subscriptions are relatively cheap even if they seem expensive.
I would bet they are not making loads of money (some of them may even be kicking themselves pretty hard for not investing in spatial computing). OpenAI isn’t open, Google and Microsoft are beholden to their shareholders. And, we all know that if any of these LLM thingies come up with the next medical breakthrough that a) we probably shouldn’t trust it because it might be hallucinating and b) we’ll be made pay through the nose for it.