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Re:Databricks Strikes $1.3B Deal for Generative AI Startup M... by stakhanov on Monday June 26, 2023 @10:06AM (#36479811)
> [...] LLM integration [...] is something every company is being asked to have a plan on, but one few are technically staffed to execute on their own.

But this is still the "language of hype". LLM integration to do what? I'm not saying they're not doing anything useful, just that this is not a way to describe either a productivity-enhancing technology (feature) or an actual value proposition (benefit) in a meaningful way.

Re:Databricks Strikes $1.3B Deal for Generative AI Startup M... by ethbr0 on Monday June 26, 2023 @10:19AM (#36479960)
Investors don't understand AI past "It will change things." Which means there needs to be a plan to deal with change.

What the end deliverable of the plan is doesn't matter: effectively it's the company demonstrating it can "do AI," so that if it becomes existentially necessary, the company's ability to execute is already known.

Absent demonstration, hell, the company might not even be retaining useful historical data. (E.g. theft data at a major US retailer)

Re:Databricks Strikes $1.3B Deal for Generative AI Startup M... by stakhanov on Monday June 26, 2023 @10:31AM (#36480086)
Well, there was a time when making XML-related software would have been a driver of valuations of companies in a similar way, and engineers were asked by boards to "start doing XML".

I'm not even saying it's unmitigatedly a negative thing. When the question "What are we going to actually do with XML?" came up, many had good ideas, and useful tech investments started getting past boards that wouldn't otherwise have. -- So there was a lot of "collateral goodness".

But people also started ripping out databases and purpose-built DSLs from existing applications just so they could replace them with something XML-based.

As a way of making tech investments, it's weak. If it's 1999 and I'm asked to invest in a tech company that makes a damned good XML parser and nothing else, I'm well advised to not invest. And if I'm a CTO in a non-tech business asked to start replacing database servers with XML files, I'm well advised to not do it.

Re:Databricks Strikes $1.3B Deal for Generative AI Startup M... by antonvs on Monday June 26, 2023 @10:19AM (#36479955)
> this is not how you describe a meaningful value proposition.

It depends who you're selling to. If customers are asking for a way to deal with LLMs, then providing that is a perfectly fine value proposition. The "do what" is going to depend on the customer.