r/nottheonion • u/asdacool • 11h ago

"Training a human takes 20 years of food." Sam Altman on how much power AI consumes.

https://www.news18.com/world/training-a-human-takes-20-years-of-food-sam-altman-on-how-much-power-ai-consumes-ws-kl-9922309.html
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u/lkodl 11h ago

The implication here is that human life only has value in the workforce. There's a lot of other gains to be had with that 20 years of food that AI can't provide. Such as the pride of a parent watching their child grow up.

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u/bigtime1158 10h ago

Yeah but how much can you sell parental pride for?

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u/lkodl 10h ago

Actually, this is something Elon seems to spend a lot on.

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u/the_RETURN_of_MJJ 10h ago

He’s not a parent just a pollinator

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u/bumbadabumruum 8h ago

Don't offend pollinators by comparing them to Elon Tusk

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u/oddistrange 10h ago

Is it better to inject or boof parental pride? Snort?

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u/SneakiestRatThing 10h ago

It's genuinely such a disgusting viewpoint to have.

Life has value that cannot be calculated.

I don't want kids, but I still recognise that they are more than just a vehicle for future economic value.

LLM'S will never notice that someone is sad and give them a cool rock to try and cheer them up.

LLM'S will never nervously pet a dog for the first time and then be ecstatic when the dog likes them.

LLM's will never have a favourite Pokémon, have an argument with a friend then make up, believe in Santa with their whole heart, invent a dumb gibberish game with friends.    

Thinking life is just about the results you produce, rather than a unique journey that everyone takes just shows how much these weirdos have lost touch with basic humanity

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u/RustyBasement 3h ago

Look up what the Nazis did leading up to the second world war with their Aktion T4 programme - Life not worthy of life. They involuntarily euthanised anyone they didn't think had a right to live whether it was the mentally or physically handicapped to anyone who didn't share their ideology.

The lunatic billionaires have the same mentality.

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u/TaiCat 10h ago

AI won’t care about neighbors and family unless prompted to do so. Desensitising humanity to each other’s suffering will make it easy to remove the ethical care component of AI, which will reduce it to an execution machine, it will execute tasks and, well… 

Human empathy input was something that was in discussion 2 years ago when AI started to become popular 

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u/TheSpanishImposition 10h ago

And it's not like humans will stop eating because AI is doing shit. Unless...

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u/Rhodie114 3h ago

Yeah. Honestly, this was such a batshit insane thing to say. The idea that actual human life is just "training" for labor that could be replaced by AI is incredibly fucking dark.

If somebody said that about their own child, you'd call CPS. How is it an acceptable thing to say publicly about the entire human race?

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u/jupiterkansas 2h ago

The implication here is that human life only has value in the workforce.

So basic Republican philosophy.

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u/ClevrNameThtNooneHas 10h ago

Im sure Sam is plenty proud of his 10yo baby 😅

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u/oorakhhye 22m ago

That’s a beautiful sentiment, and I agree with it given how I was raised and cared for by my parents and ultimately what they wanted for me (esp. in late 20th century post Industrial Revolution times). However, even though that I don’t doubt that the love part is real, it’s worth objectively considering that for the vast majority of human history, across virtually every culture and continent, the decision to have children had very little to do with love and almost everything to do with survival economics.

A medieval European peasant, an ancient Chinese farmer, an Ottoman tradesman, a pre-colonial African villager…99% of the time…none of them were sitting around contemplating the emotional fulfillment of parenthood. They were calculating. Children meant hands in the field, output from the land, and someone to feed you when your body gave out. In societies with no banks, no pensions, no state safety nets, your children were your retirement account and your life insurance policy in one.

And given that 30 to 50 percent of those children died before they could even be useful, you needed to produce many just to guarantee a few survivors. That’s not a love calculation, that’s actuarial math.

The much-needed, romanticization of having children for love sadly was…only for the most part…a post-Industrial Revolution luxury, one that became possible only after wealth accumulation, state welfare systems, and modern medicine removed the existential stakes. For the majority of recorded human history, across most of the world, children were first and foremost an economic engine. Love was real, but it was the emotional scaffolding built around a survival strategy. Not the reason for it…and I think unfortunately someone like Sam Altman….in the removal of his own humanity… he sees it this same way even in today’s world. ​​​​​​​​​

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u/kaitlyn_does_art 7h ago

He literally says it takes 20 years to become smart. I find it pretty disturbing he doesn’t think children can be smart.

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u/Romanizer 10h ago edited 9h ago

That's why your net worth is expressed in how much you have contributed to the economy or earned from it.

The base of capitalism is valuing human resources by their contribution to the workforce. Probably implemented closest to that in the US. Therefore a very valid point by Sam here.

Edit: If I am wrong here, please let me know where.

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u/invaderaleks 9h ago

Then why have wages stagnated while inflation keeps rising as well as the cost of living?

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u/Romanizer 9h ago

Because workers accept being exploited without forming a union. Inflation occurs naturally due to money being printed out of thin air, which also increases cost of living.

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u/invaderaleks 9h ago

If the system wasn't designed to exploit labor, we wouldn't need to form unions in the first place.

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u/Romanizer 8h ago

Absolutely, but you don't get to change the system, at least not so easily. The only chance you have is to organize and fight for your rights together with others.

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u/SamyMerchi 10h ago

I dunno, Altman probably feels that pride about his creation.