But only for corporations. Computer assisted manufacturing is being outlawed for hobbyists.

All AI is machine learning. Taking many inputs, running them through a series of tests, and using the result to make a decision. Most everything digital you interact with does this in some form or another.

‘AI,’ the marketing fad at the moment, means LLM machine lerning models, which are the ones that can respond in a human-like fashion, but these have limits around the math of linguistics, and there’s other parts built around verifying accuracy of the model output. This type is built on a newish method of training called the transformer model.

None of these are inherently good or evil. Just another part of a toolset someone could use to solve a problem with a computer. There are social issues around how they are used, and who is making/using them. Tech companies are aggressively pushing their new toy out to market, and there aren’t any consumer protection agencies prepared for this. At enterprise scale, many data centers need to be built, and strain will be added to the electrical generation companies / power generation facilities to feed these data centers.

My personal gripe with the whole situation is how local governements are handling this. Taxes are being waived for new constructions, electric supply companies are raising residential rates, all the would-be checks and balances are being paid off so this can all be rammed through. Even my local union has sunk us into it, we’re onboarding apprentices faster than we can train them, we’ll have several hundred more members just to maintain these things. Everyone’s being promised “money.”

All of this is done without any guarantee, no one can say how money will flow from untaxed data centers into the city funds, and all of this demand could evaporate overnight. Companies are being sold a black box that they plug into the wall, and it generates revenue. Everyone’s running skeleton crews, because “AI will eliminate the human workforce,” but all the business reports show that AI isn’t doing much, just that fewer workers are being pushed harder.

I’m mostly pissed at my union, who will not share any info with us, but have admitted to just seeing short-term dollar signs while knowing that if this works out in favor of the tech companies, this is going fuck up the local economy, and put major pressure against the organized workforce across all trades and sectors.

Lots of ways. If the video was watched via phone app, phone number can be collected directly. If logged into a google account on the device that viewed the video, google had the number already. Could also be from matching internet traffic over a shared IP, device with a known phone number pinged google through house’s WIFI, another device on the same WIFI watched the YouTube video.

I don’t think these data centers really are for LLMs. Right now, I can go to a dozen websites and use some LLM, without sitting on a wait list, for exactly $0.00 out of my pocket. So there’s obviously enough processing power to meet demand as-is, but… What? Demand will skyrocket when they crank up the fees? OpenAI operated around ~$18 billion in deficit last year, is everyone really gonna pay $200 - $600 per month for this? Plus, LLMs are reaching a plateau, more data doesn’t equal a more coherent model, they’re running into a dead end.

My local data center is steamrolling over public opinion. We’re not allowed to ask who will own it, how much power it will consume, nothing. “Officially,” the installation has stalled, but they’re still bulldozing the trees to make the lot where its supposed to go.

My personal conspiracy theory is that this is coming from Palantir, laundering resources through the tech companies, using DoD money. The data centers aren’t for LLMs, but to build out a massive dragnet to track civilian travel, who goes where and when, to be used by DHS. That explains why they need to be distributed geographically per capita, the extreme secrecy around them, and the way utility companies and local politicians keep bending over despite public outcry.

Just need a very small paid vacation, say around 5 to 10 years. Then I’ll be back to 100%.