Master AI (Artificial Intelligence) Discussion/News Thread

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

If only “fossil fuel” energy costs were understood by consumers and voters………

Enlighten us

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

Apparently they'll feed the hungry, cure the sick, comfort the lovelorn, enlighten the ignorant, satisfy the curious ... but perhaps you can defend the indefensible, just in case they missed that.

That’s what lawyers do. I think.

 

[Somafunk]

Enlighten us

If anyone still needs enlightened as to the true cost of fossil fuels in 2026 then perhaps its genuinely a lost cause and we should all go out in one last blaze of glory/winner takes all attitude

 

[Axo1989]

Continuing the chainsaw without a brake theme ChatGPT Health—which exists apparently since January because why not—looks like a high-risk undertaking when tested and “did not recommend a hospital visit when medically necessary in more than half of cases”.

Presumably engagement is prioritized over getting people off the chatbot line and getting them to hospital. Or maybe it’s just probabilistic shite all the way down. Don’t forget your prompt engineering homework!

 

[Axo1989]

That’s what lawyers do. I think.

I'm sure they do. As far as externalities go, I'm not sure you think.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

If anyone still needs enlightened as to the true cost of fossil fuels in 2026 then perhaps its a genuinely a lost cause and we should all go out in one last blaze of glory/winner takes all attitude

Typical response. Energy policy guided by ideology.

 

[Somafunk]

Typical response. Energy policy guided by ideology.

Love your work, keep at it

 

[sam_adams]

The true 'personal' cost of fossil fuel technology arrives in the mail—or in your online account—every month. Those little bits of paper or electronic notices they send you that inform you that the local utility company is seeking a rate increase—that you ignore and discard—that your state public utilities commission (in the US) will approve in a unanimous vote, is what it costs us, personally. The 'societal' cost—that which effects everyone the world over—is the anthropogenic climate change that will result in increased hunger, fresh water scarcity, increased disease, poverty, and mass migration that is the largest endemic threat to human existence since we, as a species, were down to a few thousand breeding pairs a few hundred thousand years ago. But, hey, lets all give our money to sociopathic psycopaths that think their GPT machines will solve all manner of human problems while they get as rich as possible, as fast as possible. What could go wrong?

 

[Axo1989]

Typical response. Energy policy guided by ideology.

Externalities really are basic economics. Strangely enough, the only reason people in general—alongside those with vested interests—choose to ignore them is … ideology.

Sensible strategic planning/policy for data centre rollout would require carbon neutral power, etc. But this mad rushed bubble is insensible to risk on so many fronts.

 

[Axo1989]

Now I cannot in good conscience ignore the news that Anthropic announced it won’t accede to Hegseth’s demand that certain safety elements be discarded to expedite defense contract eligibility.

At the core of the Department of Defense and Anthropic’s standoff is a disagreement over how the AI company will permit its product, Claude, to be used. The Pentagon has demanded that Anthropic turn off safety guardrails and allow any lawful use of Claude, while Anthropic has pushed back against allowing Claude to be used for mass domestic surveillance or in autonomous weapons systems that can kill people without human input.

I thought caving in was a forgone conclusion, apparently not. Good on them for that.

 

[amirm]

I thought caving in was a forgone conclusion, apparently not. Good on them for that.

I thought for sure $200m was enough for them to forget any barriers they had erected on using of their AI.

I can't believe in the request was literally to allow usage of AI in automated artillery and surveillance of Americans!

Now they want to retaliate against the CEO???

 

[respice finem]

Pecunia non olet

 

[antcollinet]

Jack Dorsey says 'Block' will lay off 40 percent of its workforce due to the adoption of A.I.

Block is the majority owner of Tidal Music.

There is no mention of Tidal Music in the link below. It is my understanding Tidal Music is a very small source of total revenue for Block. They also own Square and Cash App.

(gift) link from Wall Street Journal:

https://www.wsj.com/business/jack-dorseys-block-to-lay-off-4-000-employees-in-ai-remake-28f0d869?st=Chf6WT&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

I think it is a looming reality for everyone whose work does not involve making things, building things, or fixing things with their hands:

We can either learn how to work with and harness AI, or we can be amongst those whose jobs are replaced by AI. And even doing the former is no guarantee against the latter.

 

[somebodyelse]

I thought for sure $200m was enough for them to forget any barriers they had erected on using of their AI.

I can't believe in the request was literally to allow usage of AI in automated artillery and surveillance of Americans!

Now they want to retaliate against the CEO???

Probably better to refer to their statement directly:
https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-department-of-war

 

[Somafunk]

I thought for sure $200m was enough for them to forget any barriers they had erected on using of their AI.

I can't believe in the request was literally to allow usage of AI in automated artillery and surveillance of Americans!

Vanessa highlights this issue at 8mins (short 15min video),

 

[sam_adams]

I thought for sure $200m was enough for them to forget any barriers they had erected on using of their AI.

With the absolutely stupid amounts of money that are being thrown at GPT, the offer will soon become too large that their greed will overcome their morality and they will give in. They may not specifically code the GPT they sell to the Pentagon to allow autonomy or surveillance, but in the long run, it won't matter what safeguards they put into the 'product' they sell, the military will figure out a way to code it themselves to get it to do what they want. We all now how that will turn out.

 

[Chr1]

Enter Skynet.

Hurrah!
(not)

 

[somebodyelse]

This gives a bit of perspective on how the rush for data centre capacity has become disconnected from reality:

About 140 datacenters are in the queue to be connected to Britain's power grid, and their combined energy requirements are estimated to be more than the current peak electricity use for the entire country.

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/27/datacenter_uk_grid_demand/

Note that our electricity prices are some of the highest in the world. So far the offerings are likely to be running at a significant loss - if it were profitable we wouldn't be seeing customers being blocked for using the credits they paid for via 'unauthorised' frameworks. Even with this below-cost pricing we're seeing little to no benefit in most deployments. Do they have a solid plan on ho to make it profitable, or are they all hoping to be the last standing when the bubble implodes?

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

Externalities really are basic economics. Strangely enough, the only reason people in general—alongside those with vested interests—choose to ignore them is … ideology.

Sensible strategic planning/policy for data centre rollout would require carbon neutral power, etc. But this mad rushed bubble is insensible to risk on so many fronts.

I have no idea what you mean by ignoring externalities is an ideology. I suppose ignoring your bucket list definition of externalities?

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

Love your work, keep at it

Thank you so much