I can’t turn on the radio TV without them talking about AI every 5 minutes. It’s bitcoin bullshit allover again. Or Big Data, or ‘new media’ or etc etc.
Buzz buzz buzz.
Great comparison. Like Blockchain, LLMs are an amazing technology with several potential applications. Like Blockchain, and every other technology, there is a lot more that they can’t do than what they can. Like Blockchain, they’re being hyped as the This Changes Everything that will finally bring us into “the future” (whatever that is). And finally, like with Blockchain, the people doing the most hyping are the ones that understand the least about the technology.
While I agree in general, Generative AIs have already changed much more about my everyday experience than Blockchain has in all these years.
The difference is that Generative AIs can be applied much more broadly for end users. You can run a small LLM, image generator, voice synthesizer etc at home. I don’t think any run-of-the-mill person actively uses Blockchain or Big Data for anything, really
The media vastly overhype LLMs etc, just like the do any new technology. Venture capitalists jump on the hype train, blowing it out of proportion. However, below all of that is what I consider genuinely transformative technology, with a long-term impact orders of magnitude above Blockchain.
My bank uses Blockchain to validate transactions. Yours probably does too. It also has applications in supply chain management, public and private record keeping of various kinds (such as patient records, real estate ownership records and basically any historical record where each entry is immutable and continues to matter even after several newer entries have been made), digital voting systems and other DeFi applications other than cryptocurrencies, and more. I don’t know for sure, but I’m pretty confident that its impact on the world economy has been and will continue to be much larger than generative AI’s, at least of current-gen generative AI.
The real difference is in visibility. Blockchain is a background technology, running things silently, while LLMs are directly interacted with by the general public.
This is pretty categorically false. The main difference between the 2 is how many people need to be on-board for the train to leave the station. With things like Blockchain, and Crypto, it requires a majority of individuals to buy in to the system. If no one is using your currency, it’s literally worthless. With something like AI, it doesn’t require additional people to buy in for the product to be used. A good example is the help line that fired all their staff and started using an AI instead. This failed pretty spectacularly, but only because the implementation was rushed. There are LOTS of other companies that aren’t rushing their implementation.
You do realize that there is zero contradiction between your comment and mine, yes? You said mine was “categorically” false (it isn’t) and then stated ways in which the two are different which have nothing to do with the ways in which they’re similar that I had mentioned. They’re similar but not identical. Also, Blockchain is useful for more than cryptocurrencies.
Exactly. It works well to replace an intern but if you want anything that is fact checked, can draw hands correctly, etc. without plagiarizing you are out of luck.
Over the last few years an easy way to get financed for internal projects within a company, or from VC pigs is to include “crypto”, “nano”, “3d Printers”, “green/recycling”, “machine learning” or a host of other similar buzzwords that most corporate executives barely understand.
Tell me you’re in management and know nothing about IT without telling me you know nothing about IT.
This post or the joke? If the latter I agree. But want to make sure I am not missing a thing.
IMO it’s the inevitable outcome when something relatively niche is introduced to the general public all at once.
Suddenly folks who have never encountered generative AI are using it, and freaking out about it – while those of us who have been engaged all along are a bit more clear eyed.
