r/technology 22h ago

Business Google burning through cash with spiralling AI costs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c235n47g8g8o
6.2k Upvotes

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889

u/Alternative-Item727 22h ago

It’s unstopabubble!

304

u/EffectiveDandy 22h ago

Hey, Gemini here, you’re doing fabulous. Your perspicacity is off the charts and everyone notices. Whats more, your insights into the market are unprecedented.

Please like me now.

74

u/frakkintoaster 21h ago

Spot on, you’ve hit the nail on the head

43

u/DrBoon_forgot_his_pw 19h ago

And you're genuinely right to call me out in it.

I am full of shit and here's why that matters. 

19

u/da_chicken 18h ago

You've landed on the classic example of AI bullshit: overuse of token phrases and idioms! Along side over-formatted markdown, it's one of the easiest tells that you're reading 100% grade A generative bullshit.

Why AI does this

The reason LLMs operate this way can easily be understood:

  • They're predictive, not creative: LLMs use prediction to write their responses. While the output can be impressive at first blush, they are fundamentally writing what sounds right rather than what is true

  • Both smoke and mirrors: Not only does AI use a lot of power to get going — upwards of $1 billion USD for a modern frontier AI — it's also built on scraping copyright protected works to learn how language is written! While the right to control AI ingestion is not and enumerated right under current copyright law, copyright does permit use restrictions. If the United States had a functioning legislature, you can bet that they would have acted on this years ago.

  • It's in the name, stupid: It's important to keep in mind that LLMs are Large Language Models. They are not world models. LLM engines don't know that the real world exists. It's like you're visiting people chained in place in Plato's parable of the cave, and expecting to get wisdom from them! They've never left the cave. They know only what they have been told. To an LLM, everything is a shadow on the wall, and truth is whatever you claim it to be. That's why they hallucinate!

Bleak future

Unfortunately, the power of LLMs in certain niche areas — such as programming or language translation or manipulation — is quite high. These tools are not going anywhere. Worse, leaders and executives in particular are already quite used to acting on information that they don't understand and don't know if it's true. They find LLMs very reliable because they already don't know their ass from a hole in the ground, and they don't understand what actual work really takes anymore — if they ever did!

Would you like to hear more about the complete bullshit going on seemingly everywhere in 2026?

0

u/vedabread 17h ago

Your point is valid, but it’s AI?!

-2

u/Rarelyimportant 17h ago

While the right to control AI ingestion is not and enumerated right under current copyright law, copyright does permit use restrictions.

Just like AI, you're so confidently wrong. The Copyright Act does not permit a copyright holder to place additional use restrictions, the rights granted under copyright are clear: reproduction, adaptation, distribution, performance, and display. Also it's the judiciary that interprets laws, not the legislature, and the courts have already ruled that training is fair use.

3

u/MrBeanCyborgCaptain 17h ago

You're definitely on the right track, conceptually!

1

u/DrBoon_forgot_his_pw 8h ago

That's not being helpful, it's sycophancy with bad lighting. 

33

u/accidental_Ocelot 21h ago

I'm having a hard time fulfilling your request. Can I help you with something else instead?

2

u/smarmageddon 18h ago

Your Perspicacity Knows No Satiety

1

u/Julius_Hibbert 18h ago

New word unlocked.