this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2026
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Fuck AI
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A place for all those who loathe AI to discuss things, post articles, and ridicule the AI hype. Proud supporter of working people. And proud booer of SXSW 2024.
AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.
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Cory Doctorow made a very specific point about this on This Week in Tech 1074, in the context of comparing the growth of the Internet with the current AI market:
I think it sums up how unsustainable this is very nicely.
Why are they losing money for every user? Because it's free? If so, isn't that how the web operated for its free websites and at slme point pushed for ads to cover their expenses?
The problem is how much computation is required to handle every user request.
When the Internet was starting out, most websites weren't much more than text, maybe some low-resolution pictures. Even in the '90s, serving that content to users was computationally cheap. A company's web server could just be a desktop in the basement.
AI models are expensive to train and expensive to operate. Just maintaining the environmental needs for the massive data centers is a significant cost. Charging users for access is not nearly enough to cover the expenses, by orders of magnitude, and they're already in massive debt.
Forgot about the compute side of things, you're right