• Rothe@piefed.social
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      3 days ago

      Who cares? They still use the energy of a large city, all for profiting a handful of billionaire/trillionaire oligarchs.

      • Xaphanos@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        You can believe that if you want. It is true for some (cough-Musk-cough), but not all.

        Our customers are often what are considered socially “good”, like medical research. Our company is employee-forward with extraordinary benefits of all kinds. The executives are very down-to-earth.

        • L7HM77@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          Our customers are often what are considered socially “good”, like medical research.

          I feel like this right here is where discussion is breaking down.

          The arguments around data centers are interesting. I think, collectively and socially, we’re hitting a language barrier around it. Like “AI” is a marketing term, language to a standard nontechnical person is fuzzy around AI, LLM, and ML.

          On the surface, I’m pro data center. Astronomy, bio-med, weather prediction, the internet itself, better ML models and more compute has been a net benefit to all of society. But the current rush to build out? The holding companies building these won’t even say explicitly what the data centers are being built for, the news insinuates they’re for LLMs, but the local governments are under NDAs, and the general population aren’t allowed to know anything and have to vote with their gut.

          The opposition groups to data centers are split apart and can’t coordinate well, because they’re focusing on smaller facets of a larger problem. I think the general population has an intrinsic gut feeling that something is wrong, almost like 50 years of unpaid taxes is coming back to fuck everything over, but they don’t have the technical knowledge to put it into a concise reason why they feel the way they feel, and it just comes out as “they’re gonna drain out the entire Mississippi River.”

          • Xaphanos@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Yes. “AI” has become a catch-all for this current generation of GPU- based computing. The public doesn’t know or care about ML vs LLM vs VLM vs GenAI etc.

            We can’t speak due to very harsh NDAs.

          • Xaphanos@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Unlimited PTO.

            Generous 401 program.

            Parental leave.

            Adoption coverage.

            2SLGBTQIA+ supportive.

            Fully neurodivergent friendly.

            Mental & Emotional well being programs.

            Aggressive promotion schedules.

            And more I forget.

            The industry is moving very fast, so we cannot afford any employee-owned committee dithering. To make up for that, there are generous stock grants.

            The execs take risks and own up to their mistakes. Everyone is aware that what we are working on won’t be invented until tomorrow. So mistakes are all learning opportunities for the entire organization.

            However, cultural mismatches to not stay with us long. If you bring nothing but a cya attitude, you don’t go far.

            Employee surveys are always fully honest and issues raised are always addressed.

            We. Are. Happy.

            That’s employee-forward.

            I’ve worked at a lot of companies from startups to Fortune 10. This place is unique.

            • Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              2 days ago

              not as unique as actually employee owned business’ with profit sharing and actual ownership in the company. Great you foster culture, but if a company is for the workers, it shouldnt be an issue to go employee owned. maybe next steps. who knows, if youre in the states, which saying you offer a 401k, Im guess you are, nceo.org is a great place to start.

      • Xaphanos@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        And yours is the “my asshole neighbor is black, so I hate all black people” defense.

        You have bought into the sensationalist outrage press about the worst offenders. Yes, they are bad. But as we don’t pass judgement based on news of a sensational crime in a quiet neighborhood, we need to rise above the media noise to see the entire picture.

          • Xaphanos@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            The bulk of the industry agrees that Musk is doing all the wrongest possible things.

            He is not the industry. He just gets the press attention.

            Are all electric cars bad? No, just his.

              • Xaphanos@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                I cannot say what OAI does as I have not witnessed it. I do know what happens on my sites. I have seen it myself instead of relying on the press. I don’t deny that others likely have bad practices. I simply know from personal experience that the “good guys” are being painted with a broad brush.

                  • Xaphanos@lemmy.world
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                    2 days ago

                    Yes it is. And we would happily adhere to a sustainable and community friendly raft of legislation to level the field and restore respect to the industry.

        • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          Yeah without telling us the companies’ name this has major ‘trust me bro’ energy.

          • Xaphanos@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            My industry is ruled by trade secrets during this phase. That’s part of the explanation for the complete lack of pushback on the “bad press” we get. Thanks for understanding.

            • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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              2 days ago

              Well, for what it’s worth, I hope your company actually does use AI sustainably. I’m reminded of some of the blockchain startups that were attempting to make genuine use of the technology outside of cryptocurrency. There are legitimate use cases for AI just like there are for blockchain tech.