The AI Gigafactories call is now open.

@HennaVirkkunen
Build an uncommercial search engine with AI Features that actually work without hallucinating. just building data centers feels a bit like "take our money so the Jobs stay in europe"

How about building for the people and not for the industry

omegapolice@hachyderm.io

@HennaVirkkunen I've read enough Sci-Fi to know that an "AI continent" is not survivable.

paraw@mathstodon.xyz

@benroyce @HennaVirkkunen Ben, the problem is that many politicians are actually ignorant about what AI *actually* is. I'm writing this without moral judgment. Even a large number of colleagues are unaware of the way AI works, and of what it can and can't do. Thus, it's quite understandable that politicians believe the hype that companies and media promote, and believe AI will boost computing capabilities, or enable new scientific paradigms, without realising that it cannot discover what is not already there. So, the real problem is how to educate our politicians. I try to do my part whenever I have the occasion or I'm given the possibilities, but I feel this is a titanic endeavour.

benroyce@mastodon.social

@paraw @HennaVirkkunen

i wish you luck on the education effort

i think #AI is another version of the #crypto bubble but instead of hooking starry-eyed gambling degenerates, AI has hooked a certain class of business and govt bureaucrat

when crypto craters it destroys some randos

but when AI craters it's going to kill companies and leave govts strained

it's #technofetishization

suits jumping on a gossipy trendy buzzword bandwagon. little concrete benefit and, as you say, little understanding

benroyce@mastodon.social

@vgoller @HennaVirkkunen

well said

it does come across as Europe doing a "I want to go to the party too!" kind of cringe desperation

when, as you say, a better strategy would be to watch closely, tread cautiously, and only make a commitment when the benefits are obvious. like high end scientific applications

not this nervous clawing for relevance. that's a recipe for more irrelevance

Europe could be prudent and be left standing in the lead when the AI hysteria goes belly up elsewhere

aho@mastodon.social

@HennaVirkkunen why pay so much for a random string generators? Why not spend the money on developing a true AI that actually can think?

painting_squirrel@muenchen.social

@benroyce @paraw @HennaVirkkunen
Somewhat reminds of the fact that throughout history kings and the like often employed alchemists in order to discover how to turn lead into gold.

Except that people at the time had more reason to believe that turning lead into gold should be possible than we have to believe that LLMs will achieve AGI... and the alchemy stuff ended up actually significantly expanding human knowledge.

So I guess people in the future will think us more foolish than alchemists.

mkoek@mastodon.nl

@paraw @benroyce @HennaVirkkunen There’s a sudden fear now in Europe of being dependent on the US and China, and that’s a good development. However we should not simply be copying what Silicon Valley is doing, that’s not independence.

me_valentijn@m.ai6yr.org

@HennaVirkkunen
Get AI the fuck out of everywhere. Houses can't get hooked up to the overloaded grid in regions of the Netherlands, and now a major river is too low to be navigable or used for irrigating crops.

These parasitic data centers are destroying Europe. Unelect and investigate the finances of every politician enabling them.

me_valentijn@m.ai6yr.org

@j12t @HennaVirkkunen
Except they aren't asking us what we want - they're telling us what's going to happen. Because they don't care what we have to say about it.

Sure we can respond, but the person posting will not read it or respond to us. This is not a conversation with them, it's the posting of an edict.

mbpaz@mas.to

@HennaVirkkunen This is beyond absurd and only serves interests against the EU.

Fund microelectronics startups and chip foundries so that Europe has the capacity to create and manufacture faster, competitive, more efficient ICs without depending on supply from foreign sources. Streamline funding for SMEs. Increase funding for public education - there's an untapped potential in the poorest population segments. Open much larger immigration quotas for university students from poor countries, with free tuition so that EU universities and research centers become the aspiration for millions outside our small borders.

But you instead announce millions of euros will be spent (not invested) in short lived components from foreign companies that will require enormous amounts of energy. That, during a historic heatwave.

One can only hope this is a PR stunt aimed at transatlantic relations, and the bubble bursts or the transatlantic situation changes before this self harm is actually inflicted.

daswarkeinhuhn@netzkae.se

@HennaVirkkunen@ec.social-network.europa.eu what ist wrong with you