<![CDATA[Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses?]]>Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses?

The rug pull in the AI/LLM world when the companies adjust pricing to actually make a profit is going to be spectacular. Especially when you consider the numbers of people / orgs that are addicted to or dependent on such technology.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/461d8bd9-a6fb-4b9d-bdfc-def66297e94b/remember-the-early-days-of-uber-and-lyft-when-rides-were-dirt-cheap-because-the-companies-were-operating-at-a-loss-in-order-to-capture-the-minds-wallets-of-the-massesRSS for NodeTue, 26 May 2026 17:31:06 GMTSun, 10 May 2026 13:47:38 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Mon, 11 May 2026 10:21:15 GMT]]>@splinux @mycotropic @wdormann interesting, thank you!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/aaronkurz/statuses/116555440142653880https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/aaronkurz/statuses/116555440142653880Mon, 11 May 2026 10:21:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Mon, 11 May 2026 09:39:16 GMT]]>@mycotropic @aaronkurz @wdormann Chinese research already went two order of magnitude in improvement in energy efficiency. The point is you spike inference like the brain. And the find out you get 99% Energy consumption reduction. But there's a law of economics that states the more efficient you figure out how to use a resource the faster you deplete it. But every pleb flies now and every pleb will code, Ryanair coding, that is.

I haven't read it but i add it as ref
https://arxiv.org/html/2509.05276v4

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.uno/users/splinux/statuses/116555275090993592https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.uno/users/splinux/statuses/116555275090993592Mon, 11 May 2026 09:39:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Mon, 11 May 2026 07:15:09 GMT]]>@resonancewright @wdormann thank you for this metaphor! 🤩

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/RagnaJa/statuses/116554708410041063https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/RagnaJa/statuses/116554708410041063Mon, 11 May 2026 07:15:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Mon, 11 May 2026 06:10:11 GMT]]>@wtfrank probably not doable considering they're burning not hundreds of millions but hundreds of *billions* now.

We're already seeing record unexpected spending levels, see the recent piece about Uber popping their entire R&D budget on tokens.
@wdormann

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/fedops/statuses/116554452939194224https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/fedops/statuses/116554452939194224Mon, 11 May 2026 06:10:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Mon, 11 May 2026 02:25:00 GMT]]>@bmoreinis @sleet01 @wdormann @aspeed

Okay, fine, he's MY bard anyway!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/mycotropic/statuses/116553567446968418https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/mycotropic/statuses/116553567446968418Mon, 11 May 2026 02:25:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Mon, 11 May 2026 01:37:54 GMT]]>@wdormann

Ditto streaming services.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/RVLara23/statuses/116553382244183354https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/RVLara23/statuses/116553382244183354Mon, 11 May 2026 01:37:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Mon, 11 May 2026 00:54:50 GMT]]>@mycotropic @sleet01 @wdormann @aspeed

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://journa.host/ap/users/116301867186210637/statuses/116553212933645636https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://journa.host/ap/users/116301867186210637/statuses/116553212933645636Mon, 11 May 2026 00:54:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Mon, 11 May 2026 00:24:34 GMT]]>@kichae
Last I heard some companies had to start rehiring humans because AI couldn't do the work it was supposed to.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kolektiva.social/users/Quasit/statuses/116553093919283882https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kolektiva.social/users/Quasit/statuses/116553093919283882Mon, 11 May 2026 00:24:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Mon, 11 May 2026 00:15:50 GMT]]>Quasit Most employers don’t want anything of value. They want to feel powerful, have a sense of control, and of being right all of the time.

LLMs provide all of that.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://wanderingadventure.party/post/646https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://wanderingadventure.party/post/646Mon, 11 May 2026 00:15:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Mon, 11 May 2026 00:09:11 GMT]]>@aaronkurz @wdormann A current trend among people really into AI is that they try to compensate for the inaccuracy by running the same text through multiple AI products, then asking one of them to combine and summarize the results. It seems plausible to me that resource waste will expand to compensate for technological advances, just like it has with RAM and disk space.
e.g. https://github.com/karpathy/llm-council

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://universeodon.com/users/mathew/statuses/116553033420262460https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://universeodon.com/users/mathew/statuses/116553033420262460Mon, 11 May 2026 00:09:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 23:15:09 GMT]]>@mdm @wdormann Yes. That will reduce the blood loss. You still have to train it, but you can train it once for all users, you can even distribute the training for the next model among your users too. The problem is efficiency, cloud providers *could* get efficiency through scale, use renewable energy, reuse cooling water. They typically dont, they do whatever is cheapest which is usually to freeload on the local town's resources.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cyberplace.social/users/chrisp/statuses/116552820933420668https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cyberplace.social/users/chrisp/statuses/116552820933420668Sun, 10 May 2026 23:15:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 21:56:52 GMT]]>@wdormann
I'm just using API pricing up front to make sure the economics still work out.
The $20/month plans will go away and the $200/month plans will be scaled back, probably.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/StompyRobot/statuses/116552513122877078https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/StompyRobot/statuses/116552513122877078Sun, 10 May 2026 21:56:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 21:32:45 GMT]]>@wdormann
I think the difference might be that Uber and Lyft provide actual services, even if they are leeches and screw their employees to death. Whereas AI doesn't provide anything of any real value anyway.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kolektiva.social/users/Quasit/statuses/116552418301562370https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kolektiva.social/users/Quasit/statuses/116552418301562370Sun, 10 May 2026 21:32:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 20:09:09 GMT]]>@wdormann Perhaps of interest https://www.wheresyoured.at/ais-economics-dont-make-sense/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/slackline/statuses/116552089553940532https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/slackline/statuses/116552089553940532Sun, 10 May 2026 20:09:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 19:40:32 GMT]]>@wdormann haha, the same for the crack heroin that is called “AWS” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/rvstaveren/statuses/116551977065068241https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/rvstaveren/statuses/116551977065068241Sun, 10 May 2026 19:40:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 18:30:20 GMT]]>@wdormann @otfrom looking at the Anthropic and Microsoft/GitHub announcements, it's coming soon.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://glasgow.social/users/craignicol/statuses/116551701012697826https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://glasgow.social/users/craignicol/statuses/116551701012697826Sun, 10 May 2026 18:30:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 18:30:20 GMT]]>@wdormann That's why I won't pay.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://amikejo.xyz/users/nlupo/statuses/01KR9JF41V8N4K8ZVWTW6FCB6Ghttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://amikejo.xyz/users/nlupo/statuses/01KR9JF41V8N4K8ZVWTW6FCB6GSun, 10 May 2026 18:30:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 18:00:44 GMT]]>@wdormann Yeah; I've been sandbagging on AI even though my org is all-in, partly because I really don't see the benefit, but _mostly_ because it was obvious what would happen as soon as AI was fully integrated into the workflow because _the exact same_ thing has happened with:
- Ride share services
- Streaming services
- Cloud services

When the heroin dealer comes around with "free samples", you don't proffer your veins, you stay away!
This is exactly the same business model.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/sleet01/statuses/116551584614592897https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/sleet01/statuses/116551584614592897Sun, 10 May 2026 18:00:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 17:43:49 GMT]]>@wdormann Do you think companies that start installing LLMs directly on users' machines may have an edge in this war? Considering they're offloading the price of energy onto the end user?

https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/chrome-silent-nano-install/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mcnamarii.town/users/mdm/statuses/116551518071760905https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mcnamarii.town/users/mdm/statuses/116551518071760905Sun, 10 May 2026 17:43:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 17:36:11 GMT]]>@aaronkurz @wdormann Already happening. That's why Apple is suddenly out of Mac Minis and Mac Studios. Forward-thinking PC developers will be ready to pivot to that market when the current server boom busts. (You can be sure Apple is ramping up supply chains for relevant hardware in a massive way right now.)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/slowenough/statuses/116551488071121812https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/slowenough/statuses/116551488071121812Sun, 10 May 2026 17:36:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 17:24:29 GMT]]>@wdormann they wait until all true developers have been eliminated, and then rise prices. Companies won't be able to hire back. Profit!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.opencloud.lu/users/gunstick/statuses/116551442057363614https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.opencloud.lu/users/gunstick/statuses/116551442057363614Sun, 10 May 2026 17:24:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 17:23:50 GMT]]>@wdormann the plan is: try to keep your job until that moment. Then find another position at a company that fired all devs and got the rug pulled from under it. Demand the appropriate salary. It will be absolutely glorious!!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.petko.me/users/petko/statuses/116551439520097300https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.petko.me/users/petko/statuses/116551439520097300Sun, 10 May 2026 17:23:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 17:17:05 GMT]]>@hittitezombie @crispius @wdormann @witchescauldron when I first started in this industry, decades ago now, I apologized for taking up so much of a senior engineer's time helping me solve a problem. His response has stuck with me ever since: "my most important deliverable to the company is more senior engineers".

The short sighted murdering of that pipeline in many modern orgs is *shocking* to me

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kind.social/users/blackcoat/statuses/116551412994551920https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kind.social/users/blackcoat/statuses/116551412994551920Sun, 10 May 2026 17:17:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Remember the early days of Uber and Lyft, when rides were dirt cheap because the companies were operating at a loss in order to capture the minds/wallets of the masses? on Sun, 10 May 2026 17:15:14 GMT]]>@wdormann while I am critical about LLMs (but also use them) and it is clear that companies are currently trying to capture/create the market through losses, there is another scenario where LLM training/inference gets much cheaper through technological advances. But I am not sure of how probable this is.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/aaronkurz/statuses/116551405721696866https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/aaronkurz/statuses/116551405721696866Sun, 10 May 2026 17:15:14 GMT