• Suavevillain@lemmy.world
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    12 minutes ago

    I don’t pay for AI. There is no real value in it at massive scale for it to be paid for me. Plus it is harmful. I can local host AI for small tasks like cleaning up some data.

    • Gatsby@lemmy.zip
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      3 minutes ago

      Yep! I feel way, way safer when I use something running on my laptop as opposed to feeding things into the bottomless hole that is Microsoft or Anthropic.

      All I want is something to double-check the verbiage of an email to make sure I’m not coming off like an asshole.

  • epicshepich@programming.dev
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    51 minutes ago

    I initially subscribed to ChatGPT because I got a job as the only devops guy at an organization, when I had very limited devops experience, and ChatGPT essentially served as my mentor. I justified keeping it for a long time because it helped my productivity; bugs that I had no idea where to start with could be worked through given a few hours (or days) of back-and-forth.

    As I climbed the learning curve, ChatGPT became proportionally less helpful, but I kept it because it’s kind of useful for rubber ducky debugging. I did find Copilot to be pretty handy for writing docstrings (especially for keeping consistent formatting conventions), but the actual code completions were more annoying than anything.

    When all was said and done, I cancelled my ChatGPT and Copilot subscriptions because I’m taking on a mortgage tomorrow and I literally just can’t afford them. I have Ollama running on my homelab server, but I only have enough vRAM for a 7B-param model, and it kind of sucks ass, but whatever. At the end of the day, I like using my brain.

    UPDATE (because I just thought of it after posting): I do think that “AI-as-a-mentor” is a good use-case of AI. It really helped me cut my teeth on the basics of Linux. I often find that it’s easier to learn when you have a working example of code or config that you can dissect than to bash your head against the wall just trying to figure out how to get something to run at all in the first place.

    For my birthday challenge this year, I’m learning how to read and write Devanagari as a surprise to my Indian grandparents. I asked my local qwen model to generate some worksheets for me to practice with, and it totally flopped. It gave away all the answers. I do think ChatGPT would have done better, but maybe I could have gotten sufficient results with a better GPU.

  • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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    3 hours ago

    Grok/Mechahitler owner likely has donated more to GOP/Trump rule. Anthropic CEO wrote an essay that outlined dangers of AI recently, but also underlined how the pure good US must develop Skynet to oppress all of the bad evil opposition to the US empire.

    The entire industry is lining up to get US government military/surveillance applications to use the absurd level of datacenters/energy that are being committed to, because “Skynet now or China wins” is even more aggressive consensus than “too big to fail”.

    • Jeremyward@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      Yes agree, i have quit MSFT fully (switched to Ubuntu), Amazon prime is gone and no longer buying from them. Cancelled my Claude subscription, my gmail now auto forwards to my local server, switched my web hosting from AWS to Hetzner, Cancelled my netflix, back to library and jellyfin local server. Same with Spotify. No more Safeway or QFC - Costco is good enough and has the lowest prices locally, or occasionally Trader Joes. Its saving me a whole shit ton of money.

      • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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        36 minutes ago

        Unless you’re (not you PhoenixDog specifically, the general You referring to the reader) blocking your browser fingerprinting, using Ad blocker, DNS filtering from trusted sources, not using social media app, not installing apps that require Google Play Services and not using your credit card for digital payments then simply changing the IP address that the server sees doesn’t do very much.

        VPNs can be part of a solution but if you are not doing all of the other things then they do not hide who you are because of the plethora of other avenues that you can be tied to an existing advertising identity.

      • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        Yeah, VPN’s are unfortunately essential. If I hadn’t made it a project to request deletion of my info off the top 30 background check sites, I’d be using something like DeleteMe too.

    • Seefra 1@lemmy.zip
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      6 hours ago

      Not sure if it works like that.

      Just from using their platform you’re giving them value, at least in the form of data.

      • OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works
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        6 hours ago

        Not to mention, LLMs are very resource intensive to run. They slurp up obscene amounts of electricity and water. That’s kind of a problem for a planet that’s already getting boiled.

  • Azrael@reddthat.com
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    5 hours ago

    I’ve been a long time user and subscriber of ChatGPT plus. It has helped me tremendously and I probably wouldn’t be where I am without it.

    I canceled mt subscription recently. I won’t continue to give money to ClosedAI. There are alternatives.

    Sam Altman can burn in hell.

    • innermachine@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      Mind if I ask how it’s helped you along? My lil bro used it to do basically all of his college work LMFAO. He also uses ai screening tools to make sure he changes shit enough that the professor doesn’t catch it, well one day he screened a assignment from the professor and it was flagged as AI produced LMFAO

      • Katana314@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        For honesty, recent example from me:

        I bought about a dozen epub comics. They were formatted with a hardcoded 600x450 width or so, maybe expecting a particular device. Having recently worked with epubs to format my own (word) book, I knew the format, and basically wanted to use Python standard library tools to unzip them, rip out some useless sizing/styling code (from hundreds of XHTML files), and zip them back up.

        I hadn’t used Python professionally in a few years, so this was an annoying back and forth to work out the process and remind myself of syntax, especially considering this was something I was just doing for a few of my own books. Instead, taking every important piece of this puzzle/process I’d researched, I instead described the problem to ChatGPT, specifically pointing it to the Python standard libraries I wanted to use. It gave me a one-page program that was mostly complete and I only needed to change in a few areas.

        I don’t think I’d ever pay money to AIs for a variety of reasons. I take that assistance as it comes, and could live without it.

      • aceshigh@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        I have memory issues (it’s a brain issue) and struggle to do some basic things, but higher order thinking is natural for me. So ChatGPT does the things I struggle with, I review it and then use that information for my bigger goals. I got a lot done last year because of chatgpt, and rn I’m on the last leg of the project. I spent a few years trying to complete the project alone and didn’t get far because of the memory issues.

        How ai is used is dependent on the user itself. Some people just don’t want to put effort like your brother, some people have disabilities or other issues that prevent them from doing bigger things they’re otherwise capable of doing.

      • Azrael@reddthat.com
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        4 hours ago

        I personally use AI to help me with my work. I used to work in an IT repair facility where I would use an LLM to help me troubleshoot problems. For example if a computer won’t turn on and the motherboard is flashing and beeping, asking an LLM is 10x faster than having to use the internet to hunt for a user manual of one specific model of computer from 40 years ago, made by a brand which no longer exists.

        Now I work in Computer Games Development after getting my degree. AI is extremely useful for helping me come up with ideas, making prototypes, and even generating small amounts of code in C++ and C#, which is what I mainly use. Games Dev isn’t difficult. I can do it myself. But it can be very tedious. That’s why AI is so helpful.

        As for what your little brother does, i’ve experienced that. People generating code and having no idea what it does. It might help you pass your subjects in school, but it’s only gonna screw you over in the long run.

        I don’t mind people using AI to help them with their work as long as they don’t depend on it.

        • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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          3 hours ago

          I don’t understand the down votes on this comment. What you have said seems reasonable

          • Azrael@reddthat.com
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            3 hours ago

            Probably because it challenges the narrative of people who automatically hate all AI no matter what. I have even had colleagues argue with me that certain types of AI “aren’t actually AI” because they have too much pride and ego to admit they use the very thing they claim to hate.

  • canofcam@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    not just chatgpt.

    Stop using Amazon, Meta products, Netflix, Spotify, etc.

    All of these massive corporations are actively making life worse for people, and it will only get worse and worse as people continue to stay subscribed.

    The only option is to log off and find an alternative.

    • XLE@piefed.social
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      2 hours ago

      Apparently, they just took somebody else’s idea and made it all about ChatGPT:

      QuitGPT is in the mold of Galloway’s own recently launched campaign, Resist and Unsubscribe.

      Resist and Unsubscribe encourages you to get away from Google and Amazon, as well as OpenAI. QuitGPT endorses both (Google directly, Amazon indirectly).

      Resist and Unsubscribe is a holistic project; QuitGPT cuts out everything except for one product.

      Resist and Unsubscribe doesn’t inadvertently promote a single product; QuitGPT practically functions as a sneaky advertising campaign (kind of like how Larry David said he wouldn’t invest in FTX).

      It seems pretty clear which project is better, even if I don’t agree with everything the guy behind it said:

      Galloway argued that the best way to stop ICE was to persuade people to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions.

      I don’t think voting with your dollars will make a huge difference when every ChatGPT subscription costs OpenAI money, but go off I guess

      • msage@programming.dev
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        6 hours ago

        Microsoft, Tesla, Twitter, Nvidia, Nestle…

        … in fact, forget buying altogether.

      • canofcam@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        Yep, should go without saying! I didn’t list every company but there are plenty more who belong there.

    • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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      3 hours ago

      I do know a few people who do. They get access to the better model, and the history is retained so it let’s them build on previous stuff. Still stupid to me, because it still give you wrong info.

  • zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 hours ago

    Boycotting ChatGPT. Have to send a message on my iPhone to my friend about it. And then I need to check my emails on my Windows computer. But I am glad I am boycotting ChatGPT.

  • unspeakable horror@thelemmy.club
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    12 hours ago

    Off with their heads! GO self-hosted, go local… toss the rest in the trash can before this crap gets a foothold and fully enshitifies

    • sudoer777@lemmy.ml
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      3 hours ago

      GO self-hosted, go local

      Last I checked it costed ~$6000 to run a high end LLM at terrible speeds and that was before the RAM price hike. And at the rate things are changing it might be obsolete in a few year. And I don’t have that much money either.

      I’m going to stick with the free OpenCode Zen models for now and maybe switch to OpenCode Black or Synthetic or whatever when they stop being available and use the open weight models there for now.

    • mushroommunk@lemmy.today
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      11 hours ago

      LLMs are already shit. Going local is still burning the world just to run a glorified text production machine

      • suspicious_hyperlink@lemmy.today
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        10 hours ago

        Having just finished getting an entire front end for my website, I disagree. A few years ago I would offshore this job to some third-world country devs. Now, AI can do the same thing, for cents, without having to wait for a few days for the initial results and another day or two for each revision needed

        • mushroommunk@lemmy.today
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          9 hours ago

          The fact you see nothing wrong with anything you said really speaks volumes to the inhumanity inherent with using “AI”.

          • suspicious_hyperlink@lemmy.today
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            8 hours ago

            Please enlighten me. I am working on systems solving real-world issues, and now I can ship my solutions faster, with lower costs. Sounds like a win-win for everyone involved except for the offshore employees that have to look for new gigs now

            Edit: I would actually rather read a reply than just see you downvoting. The point is, what you call a “glorified text generating machine”, has actual use cases

            • mushroommunk@lemmy.today
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              4 hours ago

              Looks like others have come along and made my point for me while I slept. Except for calling out the dehumanizing language against the developers. They missed that one.

              • suspicious_hyperlink@lemmy.today
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                3 hours ago

                They weren’t my full time employees but one time gigs. I’ve worked with tons of freelancers over the years, I don’t have any special relationship with them. It’s was just a matter of whoever would offer the lowest price for the gig each time

            • wholookshere@piefed.blahaj.zone
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              6 hours ago

              you missed the plot a little.

              it’s not that it doesn’t have use cases. It burning the world down with it.

              how much more water went down the drain cooling the requests you made? how about the electricity not going to local consumers but AI data centers.

              all the computer components shortages…

              that’s still before the fact you admitted you would have hired a human, and given them food on the table instead of a corporate giant to buy another mega yacht.

              • suspicious_hyperlink@lemmy.today
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                3 hours ago

                Regarding the electricity not going to local customers: it’s not my fault that your country does not have appropriate regulations. None of the data centers are located where I live anyways.

                Regarding hiring a human: I 100% would hire a human if there was no AI, you’re right, I’m not trying to hide it. Sucks for them I guess but I don’t see a reason why should I keep using their services if I can get a cheaper and arguably better alternative now - I’m trying to make money, not run a charity supporting development of 3rd world countries with authoritarian regimes.

                However, I am pretty sure that the companies which I’m paying are currently operating on a loss with my $3/month and free coding plans. They want to grow the customer base and I’ll just switch once they will start wanting to make a profit, like the Chinese ZAI just did this week, hiking up their prices by over 3x. They are operating on a loss with my <3$/month contribution and not buying another mega yacht yet getting further away from one.

                • wholookshere@piefed.blahaj.zone
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                  3 hours ago

                  “well it doesn’t effect me directly other than my bottom line, so sucks for everyone else”

                  if all you have to say is that, have the day you deserve.

            • kutt@lemmy.world
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              8 hours ago

              I don’t know if it’s your fault honestly. It’s the system that makes you want to offshore your work to developing countries and not hire local employees. I get it. It’s cheaper. But when even independent developers start doing this we have reached post-late stage capitalism at this point

          • suspicious_hyperlink@lemmy.today
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            3 hours ago

            It’s behind a login page so I’m afraid you wouldn’t see much. Also, it was never supposed to be glorious (it was not before the LLMs neither), it’s a matter of just having some form of UI as a necessity. I would be hiring actual designers if it was supposed to be a landing page or sth where the looks matter, not stick with the AI

          • VieuxQueb@lemmy.ca
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            6 hours ago

            Yeah and I wonder what are those real world products solving real world issues he talks about.

            • mushroommunk@lemmy.today
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              3 hours ago

              Yeah. It’s not hard to say a sentence about the problem space. Heck, in good faith I’ll say what I’ve been working on to start. I’m currently developing tools to help small communities teach their native language to younger generations as existing programs have stopped support for them.

    • ch00f@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      GO self-hosted,

      So yours and another comment I saw today got me to dust off an old docker container I was playing with a few months ago to run deepseek-r1:8b on my server’s Intel A750 GPU with 8gb of VRAM. Not exactly top-of-the-line, but not bad.

      I knew it would be slow and not as good as ChatGPT or whatever which I guess I can live with. I did ask it to write some example Rust code today which I hadn’t even thought to try and it worked.

      But I also asked it to describe the characters in a popular TV show, and it got a ton of details wrong.

      8b is the highest number of parameters I can run on my card. How do you propose someone in my situation run an LLM locally? Can you suggest some better models?

        • ch00f@lemmy.world
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          1 hour ago

          Well, not off to a great start.

          To be clear, I think getting an LLM to run locally at all is super cool, but saying “go self hosted” sort of gloms over the fact that getting a local LLM to do anything close to what ChatGPT can do is a very expensive hobby.

        • ch00f@lemmy.world
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          9 hours ago

          Any suggestions on how to get these to gguf format? I found a GitHub project that claims to convert, but wondering if there’s a more direct way.

      • Mika@piefed.ca
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        10 hours ago

        It goes down to number of vram / unified ram you have. There is no magic to make 8b perform like top tier subscription based LLMs (likely in 500b+ range, wouldn’t be surprised if trillions).

        If you can get to 32b / 80b models, that’s where magic starts to happen.

      • Sir. Haxalot@nord.pub
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        8 hours ago

        Honestly you pretty much don’t. Llama are insanely expensive to run as most of the model improvements will come from simply growing the model. It’s not realistic to run LLMs locally and compete with the hosted ones, it pretty much requires the economics of scale. Even if you invest in a 5090 you’re going to be behind the purpose made GPUs with 80GB VRAM.

        Maybe it could work for some use cases but I rather just don’t use AI.

    • CosmoNova@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Going local is taxing on your hardware that is extremely expensive to replace. Hell, it could soon become almost impossible to replace. I genuinely don‘t recommend it.

      Even if you HAVE to use LLMs for some reason, there are free alternatives right now that let Silicon Valley bleed money and they‘re quickly running out of it.

      Cancelling any paid subscription probably hurts them more than anything else.

      • Hubi@feddit.org
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        8 hours ago

        It’s not really taxing on your hardware unless you load and unload huge models all day or if your cooling is insufficient.

      • Mika@piefed.ca
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        9 hours ago

        If LLM is tied to making you productive, going local is about owning and controlling the means of production.

        You aren’t supposed to run it on machine you work on anyway, do a server and send requests.

    • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      I would, if I found even a remotely good usecase for LLMs. Would be useful for contextual search on a bunch of API documentation and books on algorithms, but I don’t want a sychophantic “copilot” or “assistant”, that does job so bad I would be fired for, all while being called ableist slurs and getting blacklisted from the industry.