News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:The (real) dead economy theory by MaysonL on Wednesday June 17, 2026 @08:04PM (#48578750)
AI is currently a massive money sink. Yes or No?
Re:The (real) dead economy theory by ZionBoggan on Wednesday June 17, 2026 @08:13PM (#48578821)
Obviously no...? The implications far outweigh the "money sink" notion...
Re:The (real) dead economy theory by ggm on Wednesday June 17, 2026 @08:25PM (#48578907)
Obviously yes. On evidence alone the path to profit doesn't exist for most of the massive capital sinks. A small number of players At best MAY return on investment, but in the cycle time capital needs a return, most are functionally incapable

AGI isn't happening. So, it's incremental improvements on LLM and Generative methods. Any advance which requires more tech inputs demands more capital. Any advance which requires less tech makes all the existing capex look stupid.

Re:The (real) dead economy theory by HerbManic on Wednesday June 17, 2026 @09:24PM (#48579371)
I have noticed that those that are the most optimistic about AI almost always talk in a future-tence.

It WILL do this, it COULD achieve that etc.

Re:The (real) dead economy theory by inigyou on Thursday June 18, 2026 @12:03AM (#48580679)
I think Ed Zitron challenged us all to talk to an AI booster without letting them use future tense.
Re:The (real) dead economy theory by Schiendelman on Thursday June 18, 2026 @04:56AM (#48582714)
Not for me, it means I don't have to hire an engineer right now.
Re:The (real) dead economy theory by kcartlidge on Sunday June 21, 2026 @11:31AM (#48619787)
There's a distinction.

- For the AI provider it is a massive money sink due to cost/revenue maths

- For the AI consumer it's not a massive money sink if you arrange things so your ongoing costs are lower than your savings

It isn't a simple yes or no overall, only per side of the fence.