this post was submitted on 21 May 2026
480 points (99.6% liked)

Lemmy Shitpost

39950 readers
5140 users here now

Welcome to Lemmy Shitpost. Here you can shitpost to your hearts content.

Anything and everything goes. Memes, Jokes, Vents and Banter. Though we still have to comply with lemmy.world instance rules. So behave!


Rules:

1. Be Respectful


Refrain from using harmful language pertaining to a protected characteristic: e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability or religion.

Refrain from being argumentative when responding or commenting to posts/replies. Personal attacks are not welcome here.

...


2. No Illegal Content


Content that violates the law. Any post/comment found to be in breach of common law will be removed and given to the authorities if required.

That means:

-No promoting violence/threats against any individuals

-No CSA content or Revenge Porn

-No sharing private/personal information (Doxxing)

...


3. No Spam


Posting the same post, no matter the intent is against the rules.

-If you have posted content, please refrain from re-posting said content within this community.

-Do not spam posts with intent to harass, annoy, bully, advertise, scam or harm this community.

-No posting Scams/Advertisements/Phishing Links/IP Grabbers

-No Bots, Bots will be banned from the community.

...


4. No Porn/ExplicitContent


-Do not post explicit content. Lemmy.World is not the instance for NSFW content.

-Do not post Gore or Shock Content.

...


5. No Enciting Harassment,Brigading, Doxxing or Witch Hunts


-Do not Brigade other Communities

-No calls to action against other communities/users within Lemmy or outside of Lemmy.

-No Witch Hunts against users/communities.

-No content that harasses members within or outside of the community.

...


6. NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.


-Content that is NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.

-Content that might be distressing should be kept behind NSFW tags.

...

If you see content that is a breach of the rules, please flag and report the comment and a moderator will take action where they can.


Also check out:

Partnered Communities:

1.Memes

2.Lemmy Review

3.Mildly Infuriating

4.Lemmy Be Wholesome

5.No Stupid Questions

6.You Should Know

7.Comedy Heaven

8.Credible Defense

9.Ten Forward

10.LinuxMemes (Linux themed memes)


Reach out to

All communities included on the sidebar are to be made in compliance with the instance rules. Striker

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
480
Vibe management (slrpnk.net)
submitted 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) by Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net to c/lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world
 

https://www.axios.com/2026/04/26/ai-cost-human-workers Uber's chief technology officer already blew through his full 2026 AI budget due to token costs, according to The Information.

Lol. Lmao even

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 15 points 2 hours ago

I like how they say “now” like the billionaires won’t keep jacking the fees up.

[–] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 11 points 2 hours ago

Maybe... just maybe... the ones at the top with all the money should not be the ones with the least knowledge and the worst skillsets.

[–] hark@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago

These companies have been tokenmaxxing i.e. judging employee performance based on how many tokens they use, so employees are incentivized to use up as many tokens as possible, even if it doesn't actually improve productivity (and can actually result in the opposite).

[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 15 points 4 hours ago

It’s almost like it was an obvious and stupid pile of lies and shit the entire time. If only literally everyone with a brain had been pointing that out literally the entire time, then we could have done better, right?

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 35 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (2 children)

This feels predictable. AI is one of, if not the most invested in yet unprofitable industries in the history of humanity.

The last few years have been the beta and the tech demo. But that is not paying for itself yet. US companies are competing with (and falling behind) Chinese state-sponsored companies. OpenAI in particular, a company whose revenue doesn't even cover half of their operating costs, has extended themselves into owing more than a TRILLION dollars to the entirety of big tech who are building chips and data centers on these IOUs, and will need to be paid sooner or later. The bills will come due.

Other corporations are already paying massive bills for licensing, tokens, training, and infrastructure changes to accommodate this shift to AI while laying off massove chunks of skilled workers on the idea that AI is cheap and will get cheaper over time. But that is simply not the case. This is the "first taste is free" part of this deal. Once they have companies deeply invested in AI and have destroyed the fabric of the labor economy in favor of it, that price is going to skyrocket because OF COURSE IT WILL.

Maybe at some point this will all level out. AI bubble will pop. Prices will sky rocket. Companies will try to backpedal, which will be slow and difficult, they'll end up paying AI companies huge sums while they work to decouple themselves after just forming the bond, they'll also end up paying stupid money to professionals who are suddenly in high demand, and many companies won't survive the chaos. But the ones that do will settle into a new equilibrium.

AI will eventually get cheaper (but probably never this cheap again, at least not in the near future), and it will probably be a permanent fixture in our lives and work to some degree. But it's usefulness and cost effectiveness will be limited in scope, with specialized purposes. It will not ultimately be the great labor replacement companies think/thought it would be, even as stupid and short sighted as that desire is in the first place (if 30% of the global work force is unemployed, how do you think that will effect your revenue, morons!?). But that also is assuming that the coming chaos doesn't turn out so bad that AI is permanently legislated into oblivion after the chaos it's about to cause.

[–] Folstar@lemmus.org 8 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Good stuff. One small note: I'm not sure how useful the distinction of "Chinese state-sponsored companies" is in recent history when comparing to the US, let alone now. The US has retooled much of federal research engine toward promoting US AI. Even fired the NSB (among many other long standing, expert driven advisory boards) to replace it with a bunch of tech baron stooges. States are offering unprecedented payouts to data centers. The AI hyperscalers already have a bailout all but guaranteed when the bubble pops. It's all state-sponsored, just with extra steps.

The Chinese AI companies being state sponsored just means that they can go longer and throw more money at development without turning profit than other investor driven companies.

The US is certainly throwing a bloated amount of money at AI too. And a much as it infuriates me, they'll almost certainly absorb the bubble pop with tax another bailout for criminal corporate behavior. But it's not quite been a direct pipeline of openly flowing cash, just yet. They're still paying for discrete contracts which have to be approved in the budget. They've been massive contracts, but they're still making these companies compete e each other for them too. Like with the recent flip from DOJ contracts with Anthropic to OpenAI, for example.

In China, they're buying in supporting the entire industry. They're building infrastructure for AI data centers, giving them grants and subsidies, have direct ownership in the companies, and had made specific carve outs in their laws to give AI development deregulated room to do what it needs. I'm not in favor of either approach. Just pointing out that China's approach does seem to have been an advantage in the AI race, or at least was enough of one that they made up a ton of ground, and maybe passed their US counterparts.

[–] Ramenator@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

AI is one of, if not the most invested in yet unprofitable industries in the history of humanity.

I think there are some Dutch tulip farmers who would like a word with you

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 7 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Not quite the same. The tulip industry was making money hand over foot. It was the speculators that ended up being shafted. Tulip mania was more comparable to the beanie babie craze, or even NFTs. AI companies, on the whole, are making no profit at all except.

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

It makes more sense if you position Ai companies as the speculators and chip makers as the actual tulip producers.

It would if all the the chip makers weren't making chips on credit from a broke ass industry

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

Rule: if something looks too good to be true, then without any further evidence, it's likely too good to be true.

[–] MTK@lemmy.world 12 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Add to that the fact that hiring and training a new employee usually costs between 5-10 times more than retaining an employee (from hire to fully trained)

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

Not just hiring and training! You also have to start paying state unemployment tax on that new hire. In Florida the first $7,000 is taxed on each new employee. Then there's loss of efficiency, and related items. On top of that, if your turnover is high, your payroll company will up your rates because they're working harder and you're a PITA employer. I've sat meetings where we decided exactly that.

[–] end_stage_ligma@lemmy.world 7 points 6 hours ago

Yet they never seem to act like that. They punish you for loyalty.

[–] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 10 points 6 hours ago

The fact that it is just a cost comparison, however much humans might still be winning it roght now, is the fundamental problem.

[–] Fishnoodle@lemmy.world 48 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah no shit. You get people dependent on your product, then Jack up the price

[–] Hiro8811@lemmy.world 38 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

Corpo fell for the oldest corpo trick.

[–] Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world 25 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

"Why did you destroy your company to just inflate your next quarter bonus?"

"It is my nature"

[–] athatet@lemmy.zip 7 points 4 hours ago

“Lol.” Said the scorpion. “Lmao.”

[–] criss_cross@lemmy.world 15 points 6 hours ago

It’s funny too because at our company people keep repeatedly asking “what are you gonna do when they predictably jack up the rates?”

And every time “don’t worry about that right now. We’re keeping a close eye on it. “

Uh huh.

[–] dance_ninja@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago

And it's from their own playbook

[–] Flower@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 hours ago

That was always the reason AI was put into everything.

[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 68 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Those same managers eleven seconds later when they get an ad for a new startup making the same obviously empty promises as the last startup:

[–] tempest@lemmy.ca 12 points 6 hours ago

They love those the most because they integrate them and then use it to justify a promotion or move so they can get out of Dodge before the inevitable explosion happens on the next guys watch. The next guy blames the previous guy and then repeats the process.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 27 points 9 hours ago

They fired the wrong people. Go higher!

[–] FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 19 points 9 hours ago (4 children)

Does AI cost more than humans primarily because of greed (i.e the AI companies demand a high profit margin now) or because of energy costs (i.e AI is so wasteful with energy, so polluting, that it costs more than human workers)

[–] ol_capt_joe@piefed.ee 2 points 4 hours ago

They just say a number. If nobody pays, it's too high. If everyone pays, it's too low. Aim is for i) highest market share, ii) max ARR, and iii) highest margin.

They're selling the idea that a machine costs less than a human. They're Walmart, humans are mom-and-pop shops. Once the competitors are gone, they charge whatever they want (you pay or you close out). Fuck them.

[–] i078@europe.pub 38 points 9 hours ago (10 children)

Given the ai companies are running at al loss, it’s fair to assume which if these is likely

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] Flower@sh.itjust.works 6 points 6 hours ago

Costs. AI companies have been running at a big loss using investment money trying to scale quickly and conquer the market. That always comes at an end and something closer to the real costs has to be paid.

[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 9 hours ago

The AI companies bet on efficiencies occurring that have not materialized.

[–] dangling_cat@piefed.blahaj.zone 14 points 9 hours ago (5 children)

The fact that piece of algorithm is getting paid more than a human being, who eat, live, love, is outrageous. Humans are the worst.

[–] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 15 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Just to twist the knife, the algorithm was likely trained on the replaced workers behaviours

[–] SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world 11 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

And likely does the job worse.

[–] CIA_chatbot@lemmy.world 5 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

I know I do! Last week I tried to overthrow a country with no oil! Egg on my face I tell ya.

load more comments (4 replies)

Don't worry, when they hire back their humans they will be paying them 25%+ less after adjusting for inflation.

[–] voidsignal@lemmy.world 9 points 9 hours ago

AND it's shit

[–] DanceMomsSavedMe@lemmy.zip 6 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Hahahahaha their greed knows no bounds and they couldn't help but reach and reach and reach further in until they ruined the one actual selling point they had of AI "replace the slaves cheaper!!" They cried waving their arms around "This is the new thing!!" "You won't have to pay people anymore! Think of the profits!!"

And then they went and fucked it up because of how obscenely and unapologetically greedy they are in every single thing that they do. Hahahahahaha oh god, the irony is almost tangible enough you could put it on a plate and eat it.

Good for us, the actual workers of the world. But wow, they are so greedy they couldn't even replace us all with robots effectively because they just want more and more and more and more and more and...

Edit: actually its a more than that. See the below comment.

[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago

Most LLM setups were running at about a 95% loss. That's unprecedentedly humongous.

Subscriptions were going to need to go up 20-fold just to break even.

load more comments
view more: next ›