"it's time to accept that the money isn't there. It's time to stop and take stock of the fact that we're in the midst of the third delusional epoch of the tech industry. Yet, unlike cryptocurrency and the metaverse, everybody has joined the party and decided to burn money pursuing an unsustainable, unreliable, unprofitable, and environmentally-destructive boondoggle sold to customers and businesses as "artificial intelligence" that will "automate everything" without it ever having a path to do so."
https://www.wheresyoured.at/subprimeai/
8 replies (most recent on top)
To ignore AI is akin to how we ignored cloud.
I agree, AI is identical to "the cloud" in that the way that rich will get richer off of it is by owning the centralized, proprietary tools that'll make others fa-t away their budgets paying oversized rents upon and go into bankruptcy.
Unless you own the actual engine at the center of it, you're just a tuxedo-adorned customer drinking the flavor aid and happily pi----g away your money while yammering on about "innovation".
These things are basically B2B MLM schemes. The company at the center of them does not care whether or not you ever see a single dollar of profit from renting their tooling. They already have your money.
Can you quantize for me exactly how much value there is in putting a skinned version of someone else's chat bot on your platform for which you pay not only for every keystroke that goes into or out of the thing, but that you have to continually add band-aids (complete with development costs) around to get it to not "hallucinate"?
well, thank you "respectfully disagree" for your perspective. Did you have the blue pill or the red pill before posting?
I respectfully disagree. The cost savings, productivity gains, and innovation are irrefutable. To ignore AI is akin to how we ignored cloud. AI is coming whether you like it or not. Yes we are in the hype phase and the true commercialization of it is still in its infancy but it will not be for long. Have you noticed AI creeping up in everyday applications already? For example, have you noticed Amazon's "Rufus" shopping assistant? It is based on GenAI and works pretty well. CSM/CX are the "no brainer" apps that have already adopted GenAI but many are coming, healthcare, banking, etc. Frankly GenAI will affect analytics. Would companies rather spend money on data scientists or build the intelligence into an LLM so anyone can run queries using natural language? And would make analytics more accessible to companies that do not have an analytics practice.
AI is just the latest way for tech companies to promise things they cannot ever deliver by pointing to a thing that exists and trying to get you to imagine a good version of that thing.
Each time they try to pull this trick it's less effective because cynics and realists alike have noticed that tech companies promise big but deliver mostly surveillance-heavy ad-tech that is sometimes worse than what it replaced. So, every round the enthusiasm drops amongst thinking folks, and the people still believing the hype become increasingly the rock smocking executive set, id--ts that'd believe anything anyone ever tells them, and the faithful who hold their business daddies in high esteem because they're cultists.
This is the type of thinking that got Teradata where it is today. No one wants open hardware. No one cares if it's proprietary UNIX (MP-RAS). The cloud is a passing fad. And now, AI is a sham.
Yes, most customers are still in the experimental phase, but that's not about the technology so much as it is about company cultures or lack of talent. Look at what GM is doing. Or Siemens. Or even Shutterstock. Or ... there are a lot of them, early adopters, yes, but driving significant value from AI. So, if your company is still experimenting, maybe it's time to question your own skills (or your imagination).
How does Teradata play in this world of AI? They don't. There is no real advantage to the technology any longer. As Randy Newman said, I'm dead but I don't know it.
I recently interviewed with a company that specializes in helping enterprises adopt AI. The hiring manager admitted that while there was lots of interest, they were struggling to find customers with high value use cases. I'm also seeing a lot fewer job postings looking for AI talent than a few months ago. Seems like the AI hype cycle is winding down for now. Too bad for TD since that's all they got.
I mean, yes - but wouldn't it be better to consider the world as it is rather than what you'd like it to be?
TD has spent far too much time naval gazing in the sidelines, pointing out that far more successful companies (platform & clients) aren't doing it "right". There's a need to try to stay relevant in the AI world (not that I'm saying the current approach is the right one...).
Client Server, .Com, Y2K, Big Data, Cost Savings in Cloud. Snowflake's Consumption Model, DataSharing, Composible CDP Security. Hybrid, CCPA Fines and regulations, and AI. The only thing that is real are Layoffs in an over saturated market/Industry controlled by CEO's and ELT's who want the Stock to go up so they can cash out - Period. The IT Industry isn't about streamlining business, increasing Market share, reduction in time to market its about making money on the latest scam...and CEO's CFO's who control the purse string are to stupid to understand the difference. Just ask Crowdstrike. Why do you think all IT departments are run by foreigners or farmed out to other locations. And now that the CSP infrastructure is built out they are going to lay everyone off. Why Do you think Frank Slootman is Now Chairman and not CEO...watch and learn how a modern medicine show places the shills in the crowd - TDC Possible