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Comment by loloquwowndueo

11 hours ago

> Look on the bright side, if they're turning to ads it likely means AGI is not on the horizon. Your job is safe!

I like this quote from TFA :)

I stumbled upon this one as well, but I do not understand it really: Why is my job safe if Ads prove there is no AGI?

Because even if there would be AGI, they could (and would?) serve ads anyway?

  • If your job is gone forever, with what money are you going to buy the thing in the advert? If nobody can buy the thing in the advert, the value of the ad slot itself is zero.

  • who would pivot to selling ads if AGI was in reach? These orgs are burning a level of funding that is looking to fulfil dreams, ads is a pragmatic choice that implies a the moonshot isn't in range yet.

    • Because AGI is still some years away even if you are optimistic; and OpenAI must avoid going to the ground in the meantime due to lack of revenue. Selling ads and believing that AGI is reachable in the near future is not incompatible.

      4 replies →

  • Yes, I don't understand it either. I think the opposite is true. If AGI happens and it becomes immensely successful, it would be the best medium to deliver ads and at the same time our jobs wouldn't be safe.

    Perhaps the people who like that quote can elaborate why that quote makes sense and why they like it?

    • AGI would be able to exponentially improve at much, much better money making schemes like high frequency trading. It would beat every online business. It would run 24/7/365.26 farming out tens of thousands of conversations at once, customized to the person it's talking to, for sales, supplier negotiations, marketing, press, etc.

      Its costs would be frighteningly low compared to human employees, so it's margins could remain fine at lower prices.

  • If AGI was around the corner, they wouldn’t have to resort to what some consider a scummy way to make money. They’d would become the most valuable company on the planet, winning the whole game. Ads show you they don’t know what else to do but they desperately need money.

  • Because it shows that it’s just yet another ad delivery vehicle.

    Once you go ads, that’s pretty much it, you start focusing on how to deliver ads rather than what you claim your core competency is.