December 3rd, 2024

Godot Isn't Making It

Generative AI, particularly transformer models like GPT-4, faces stagnation and diminishing returns, with significant financial losses, reliability issues, and a lack of meaningful advancements, prompting skepticism about its future.

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Godot Isn't Making It

The article discusses the stagnation and challenges facing generative AI, particularly transformer-based models like GPT-4 and the anticipated GPT-5. The author argues that the technology has peaked, with diminishing returns on investment in training data and computational power. Despite significant financial backing from major tech companies, including OpenAI and Microsoft, there is a lack of meaningful advancements or products that justify the billions spent. The author highlights the hallucination problem, where AI models produce inaccurate information, as a critical barrier to their reliability in business applications. Furthermore, the article critiques the media's uncritical acceptance of the narrative that generative AI will inevitably improve and transform industries. The author emphasizes that the current trajectory suggests a dead-end for generative AI, with companies facing unsustainable losses and a lack of innovative applications. The overall sentiment is one of skepticism regarding the future of generative AI, suggesting that the industry may need to reevaluate its approach and expectations.

- Generative AI technology is experiencing stagnation and diminishing returns.

- Major tech companies are incurring significant losses while investing heavily in AI.

- The hallucination problem undermines the reliability of generative AI for business tasks.

- There is a lack of meaningful advancements or products in the generative AI space.

- The media has been criticized for uncritically promoting the potential of generative AI.

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By @hitpointdrew - 5 months
I don’t understand the title, it’s seems to be completely unrelated to the article. Godot is a game engine, the article is about AI companies.
By @epistasis - 5 months
I'm not sure how much of this I believe, but it's at least a useful counterweight to the irrational enthusiasm around GenAI.

In particular the "scaling laws" stuff is not paying attention to the fundamentals of where the scaling is coming from, and what the bottlenecks will be.

The consistent gains in batteries and solar and wind are a much more bankable prediction, IMHO.

By @jarsin - 5 months
I theorize that there will be droves of people who use GenAI as a reason not to pursue a career in tech.

If it all crashes and burns worse than 2000 then it's possible those that have tech skills will still be in demand.

By @xg15 - 5 months
> I have been warning you for the best part of a year that generative AI has no killer apps and had no way of justifying its valuations

I like that a counterpoint to that assertion is trending on HN currently right next to this article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42312121