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Comment by hellojesus

2 years ago

Open source models do exist and will continue to do so.

The biggest advantage ML gives is in lowering costs, which can then be used to lower prices and drive competitors out of business. The consumers get lower prices though, which is ultimately better and more efficient.

At least in EU there are some drafts to essentially kill off open source models. I have a collague who's involved in preparation of the Artificial Intelligence act, and it's insane. I had to ask for several times if I understood it correctly because it makes no sense.

The proposal is to make the developer of the technology responsible of how somebody else uses it even if they don't know how it's gonna be used. Akin to putting the blame for Truman blasting hundreds of thousands of people on Einstein because he discovered the mass energy equivalence.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-eus-attempt-to-regula...

  • That is insane, and if you apply the same reasoning to other things it outlaws science.

    Man if America can keep its own crazies in check and avoid becoming a fascist hellhole it’s entirely possible the US will dominate the 21st century like it did the 20th.

    It could have been China but then they decided to turn back to authoritarianism. Another decade of liberalizing China and they would have blown right past everyone else. Meanwhile the EU is going nuts in its own way, less overtly batty than MAGA but perhaps no less regressive. (I am also thinking of the total surveillance madness they are trying to ram through.)

> The consumers get lower prices though, which is ultimately better and more efficient.

What are some examples of free enterprise (private) monopolies benefitting consumers?

  • """ Through horizontal integration in the refining industry—that is, the purchasing and opening of more oil drills, transport networks, and oil refiners—and, eventually, vertical integration (acquisition of fuel pumping companies, individual gas stations, and petroleum distribution networks), Standard Oil controlled every part of the oil business. This allowed the company to use aggressive pricing to push out the competition. """ https://stacker.com/business-economy/15-companies-us-governm...

    Standard Oil, the classic example, was destroyed for operating too efficiently.