Comment by simonw

2 days ago

Fear of AI companies "slurping up data" being used as a rationale for not sharing anything is one of the most underrated harms of the whole current AI mess.

It’s not a fear. It’s reality. It’s literally happening on HN right now.

Take this game, for example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47729573

  • I read simonw's comment not as dismissing the reality, but rather highlighting the harm of discouraging sharing.

    The slurping can be both real and the induced reluctance to share a harm.

  • That's not an AI company "slurping up data", that's someone using AI tools to accelerate their own personal clone of a project.

  • Why is that a bad thing? Person 1 built a thing, and then someone came along and made it better? It's a game, so better is subjective, but should ideas only ever come from Person 1, while everyone else just gazes upon them with slack jawed awe, unable to contribute?

I completely agree. Honestly I wish we could go back to before AI. I don't like where it's taking us at all. Changing how we write code is just the beginning. Next we'll be replacing humans altogether. I've already had an interview with a soulless "AI recruiter" bot. We can't go back now of course, but one can dream.