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    The force-feeding of AI features on an unwilling public

    (www.honest-broker.com)
    451 points imartin2k | 13 comments | 06 Jul 25 06:19 UTC | HN request time: 1.99s | source | bottom
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    spacemadness ◴[06 Jul 25 16:40 UTC] No.44482156[source]▶
    Having seen the almost rabid and fearful reactions of product owners first hand around forcing AI into every product, it’s because all these companies are in panic mode. Many of these folks are not thinking clearly and have no idea what they’re doing. They don’t think they have time to think it through. Doing something is better than nothing. It’s all theatre for their investors coupled with a fear of being seen as falling behind. Nobody is going to have a measured and well thought through approach when they’re being pressured from above to get in line and add AI in any way. The top execs have no ideas, they just want AI. You’re not even allowed to say it’s a bad idea in a lot of bigger companies. Get in line or get a new job. At some point this period will pass and it will be pretty embarrassing for some folks.
    replies(4): >>44482467 #>>44482495 #>>44482638 #>>44482850 #
    1. recursive ◴[06 Jul 25 17:43 UTC] No.44482638[source]▶
    The product I'm working on is privately owned. Hence no investors. We're still in the process of cramming AI into everything.
    replies(1): >>44483464 #
    2. ryandrake ◴[06 Jul 25 19:47 UTC] No.44483464[source]▶
    Even if your company is privately owned, it has at least 1 investor (possibly just the founder), and this urge to cram AI is no doubt coming from him.
    replies(2): >>44483639 #>>44485151 #
    3. const_cast ◴[06 Jul 25 20:10 UTC] No.44483639[source]▶
    Why are investors so stupid? I mean this genuinely. Every time I hear about investors and what they want, it seems to me like they make dumb decisions that implode on themselves.

    I mean, you would think someone very rich who invests in companies would be somewhat smart. But, I'm convinced, a lot of them would do much better if they made no decisions at all and left everything up to entropy.

    replies(5): >>44483746 #>>44484831 #>>44485700 #>>44485875 #>>44488133 #
    4. ryandrake ◴[06 Jul 25 20:26 UTC] No.44483746{3}[source]▶
    My pet theory / speculation: Investors (as individuals and as a class) are just not very creative or insightful people. They chase trends and look to "other investors" for clues about what to invest in. If "everyone is doing AI" then there must be money being made there, so I must do AI too. The thought process stops there.
    5. jacquesm ◴[06 Jul 25 22:48 UTC] No.44484831{3}[source]▶
    I could write a book on this. But it wouldn't make me any friends.
    replies(1): >>44484965 #
    6. SpaceNoodled ◴[06 Jul 25 23:08 UTC] No.44484965{4}[source]▶
    You can either be right, or have friends.
    replies(2): >>44485162 #>>44487377 #
    7. tptacek ◴[06 Jul 25 23:35 UTC] No.44485151[source]▶
    Or, the owners and/or managers of the product just believe something you disagree with, and smooth execution of anything ambitious in computing is just difficult and takes lots of attempts.
    8. tptacek ◴[06 Jul 25 23:36 UTC] No.44485162{5}[source]▶
    You can have both things. Just don't be a dick about what you believe (at least, not to everybody).
    replies(1): >>44490375 #
    9. tom_m ◴[07 Jul 25 01:06 UTC] No.44485700{3}[source]▶
    They already made smart decisions. This money is for dumb decisions that may pay off big.

    Imagine having so much money that you've already invested in stocks, bonds, real estate, you own everything, you got bored going to Vegas, and have nothing else to do with your money. So you start to toss some of it into a fund with others. Not a hedge fund mind you. You've done that already too. No, you stick it into a fund to be managed by lunatics. Because have enough money and you want to see a moon shot play out for fun.

    That's the kinda stupid "F you" money we're talking about. It comes from people who don't care. They literally don't care. They just want to say they invested in XYZ, because no one cares about where their money came from or what their normal investments are.

    This is the kinda very rich we're talking about and they aren't all there in the head sometimes.

    I wish I had that much money lol.

    10. mrandish ◴[07 Jul 25 01:39 UTC] No.44485875{3}[source]▶
    > Why are investors so stupid?

    Some are but many aren't. The reason so many investors are pushing on AI (or other buzz-trend du jour) is that history shows 'disruptive new technologies' tend to correlate with some startups quickly growing and becoming 'unicorn' successful. The problem is that this historical correlation appears more obvious after the fact than when it's still emerging. And of course there are lots of caveats and other requirements which a given startup and implementation may or may not meet.

    Since professional VCs tend to take a portfolio approach to investing their funds on behalf of their limited partner stakeholders, they generally divide their funds into several broad 'investment themes' based on what they perceive as potentially disruptive new technologies or markets. Like roughly 30% here and 20% there with 15 or 20% left for things which don't fit a theme. This approach is supposed to ensure they don't miss out on having a few bets in each big category. In 2005 social media platforms were an important theme. In 2015 it was SaaS.

    11. jacquesm ◴[07 Jul 25 06:44 UTC] No.44487377{5}[source]▶
    NDA's are a thing... that's the main obstacle.
    12. easyThrowaway ◴[07 Jul 25 08:49 UTC] No.44488133{3}[source]▶
    They're not stupid, or at least there's method in their madness. They treat the market as a big Texas Hold'em game and everyone is trying to bluff everyone and no-one wants to "fold" yet on AI, no matter which cards have on their hand.
    13. SpaceNoodled ◴[07 Jul 25 13:50 UTC] No.44490375{6}[source]▶
    Hey, at least you have friends.