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The turbulent AI era is here

106 pointsby LVBtoday at 3:55 PM81 commentsview on HN

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mcnicholtoday at 7:30 PM

I feel this is merely stating the obvious.

It goes back to the industrial revolution and every revolution before and after. There was a point where they thought a majority of people would be working as switchboard operators and then telephone switching came along. Horses to cars, etc.

Jobs transition, new space is created, people are caught in tbe crossfire of supply and demand curves. Incan agree the bullwhip of this one is going to be aggressive.

I think it is a mistake to bet on AI as a driver of meaningful growth in a commercial capacity in the current state. When the data fed into an AI model is based on real data you can get predictability. When the AI inputs start coming from the AI outputs the wobble is introduced which results inevitably into delirium.

I think the world at large is "learning on the job" what data scientists and others in ai have known for a long, several decades long, time have already known.

egonschieletoday at 6:57 PM

Does anyone else feel incredibly nostalgic for the time when Bill Gates and Warren Buffet were the richest people on earth? I remember feeling pretty good about the fact that they were trying to do so much good, and about the giving pledge. Things feel so different now.

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lukeschlathertoday at 5:58 PM

If AI is really that powerful, shouldn't someone like Gates be able to end hunger and homelessness with a one-time capital expenditure? Somehow "give people jobs" is the primary problem he wants to solve, not ending poverty. It borderline seems like he's most worried about maintaining the working poor as a valuable societal institution.

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gherkinnntoday at 5:12 PM

All of this is truly bizarre, I hope that we can make sense of this craze in the future.

Maybe it will be seen similarly to the dancing crazes of the Middle Ages.

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aaa_aaatoday at 7:11 PM

I immediately closed the page after I saw who wrote the article. Sory Bill, I pass.

dwoldrichtoday at 5:21 PM

Never let a good crisis go to waste, billg.

matltctoday at 4:49 PM

Love how Gates and Nadella had nothing to say until this year, after they clearly lost any hope of building a moat around it

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madhiastoday at 4:58 PM

> I believe we should tax AI tokens and robots.

You had me here.

threethirtytwotoday at 7:16 PM

>The transition to the AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history. Right now, we are not preparing adequately for that transition. If the world takes the right steps, AI will be a force for good and leave everyone better off.

It will be a force for good. But like all evolutionary steps the path to good will be paved with darkness.

The very existence of humanity and life itself rests on the foundation of natural selection. Humanity will be better, it will get better but before we get there... there will be a culling.

It's an unfortunate truth. We all might be culled.

kronatoday at 6:14 PM

billg: "kaczynski was right afterall"

ChrisArchitecttoday at 5:19 PM

Dunno what's going on with these urls;

[dupe] Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49448137

digitalsurgeonztoday at 6:50 PM

yep, lets listen to a pedophile, he will surely have words of wisdom for us. - Euroturds

datakantoday at 5:50 PM

I've tried to type this up a couple times, each time backing out because at the end of the day, I really don't give a rats fart about anything Gates has to say. I just wish he would disappear.

smrtinserttoday at 6:32 PM

640k ought be enough for this AI. I'm not sure takes like these are helpful. It's widely acknowledged that this is a technological shift, like electricity, like industrialization, etc. It could be (good or bad) but most likely (good AND bad). Does anyone really believe, sincerely, that AI will be the great equalizer? It's a hilarious proposition. They are working their hardest to make sure that its not imo.

cheptsovtoday at 5:34 PM

Is it me or does it read like pure satire?

An AI ministry, “human-reserved” jobs, and taxes on AI tokens.

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AlexandrBtoday at 5:46 PM

I'm sorry. I absolutely do not trust Bill Gates. His history of ruthless, cutthroat tactics in the 90s is not easily forgotten and when he proposes things like international organizations to audit everyone's AI[1] I can't help but question his motives.

I also don't understand what gives him the moral standing to propose a solution at all. He's not the fucking pope but a ruthless tech businessman with vested financial interest in the technology involved. He should stick to his lane.

[1] > But even a country that gets its own house in order will still be exposed to risks that cross borders. This is why an international organization will need to be built in parallel.

> It will be unlike any other institution we have ever created, though it can follow the model of some existing systems. There’s an inspections regime for nuclear weapons, regulations for international aviation, and agreements that protect the ozone layer. A new global organization for AI will need elements of all three and more.

mbgerringtoday at 5:30 PM

If you’re one of the people wondering why there’s an enormous backlash to AI, here’s your answer: “this thing we’re building is going to he fucking terrible and ruin your life. Please give us all your money to build it.”

deadbabetoday at 5:49 PM

Taxing AI tokens will only lead to the acceleration of local LLMs, to produce tax-free tokens.

We must tax lines of code. Like property tax, but for code. Every year, companies (and individuals) must declare all repos. Have them appraised.

miltonlosttoday at 6:26 PM

All his good things (possibly help medicine! agriculture! government!) involve a belief in ever-increasing superintelligence and so much "hope" and optimimusm and may not ever exist.

All his negative things (increase of fraud, skill atrophy, cyberattacks, removing employment, consolidation of capital and wealth) exist currently now with AI as it is.

How long will negatives outweigh the positives? And will those positives ever actually come to fruition? How anyone (who is not a sociopath and expects to be one of those pyramid tops) can see a bright future is beyond my pessimism and sense of reality as it is now.

delducatoday at 6:06 PM

Yes, let's put copilot in every app on Windows, Azure & Office :-)

slowintoday at 6:49 PM

We should not be listening to a man who drugged his wife with Epstein supplied antibiotics after getting an STD (among many, many other bad things he's done).

https://www.btimesonline.com/articles/176578/20260201/epstei...

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pullshark91today at 6:06 PM

This is the person behind such products as Windows and Copilot. I honestly don't trust a single word he says.

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wiz21ctoday at 6:45 PM

"In my second one, which I started full time in 2008, I am giving back the wealth I made at Microsoft with the goal of making the world a healthier, better educated, and more equitable place."

Like inventing waterless toilets when people just need access to clean water ?

The sad story is that we don't need innovation, we need better politics.

Oh and he could open source windows, that would make us more equitable for sure.