OpenAI won a lot of good favor for the generous Codex subscription and the efficiency of their models, but now that many people have switched over from Claude, they think they can leverage their position to peddle a stream of unnecessary products, and crack down on the generous limits[1] that brought everyone to Codex in the first place.
Anthropic did the same thing. Earlier this year, Claude subs and Claude Code took off because of the subscription's incredible capability and value, then once they gained enough users, they started focusing on unnecessary products no one asked for (see Claude in Slack), and eventually lost their lead. After losing a bunch of customers to Codex subs they realized their mistake, and now they're shipping again.
AI companies are bad at making software; they are good at making AI models. And that's about it.
Nerds suck. They are smelly, have bad posture, manners, never leave their rooms and are generally unappealing.
They also have a nasty habit of being aware of nefarious practices, will resist all attempts to and harvest their data, or lock them into your service, and will drop you if your competitor makes a 3% better product, and will reject every upsell for actually profitable services.
I miss o3 in that regard. if GPT-4o led people into virtual romance and over-validation, o3 gave me the same sort of "madness" but with work.
when I tried GPT-5, I was sad mostly because GPT-5 had some added wordiness. fluff, if you will. o3, though, is a black hole you can talk to, and it only gave information back if there was something to give back. that kind of vibe is my dream coworker
Are you suggesting AI companies should intentionally make the visual representations of their products look overtly terrifying?
And also, if they should look like what they are, what exactly does an AI agent that follows you around in all your devices _look like_? Surely they have to take some creative liberties, and it's hard to blame them for wanting something that looks appealing and friendly.
Would you be satisfied if they made it a floating skull with glowing red eyes that periodically screams vague threats at you?
I can't speak for parent poster, but it's not the cuteness. It's the "putting a cute face on something that's actually a bit sinister."
Hello Kitty isn't trying to harvest anybody's data or take anybody's job. Sanio makes cute things and they hope that you will exchange money for their goods. That's the whole relationship.
The best part about Muse is they think that the Enterprise is going to start buying things from Meta that looks like it belongs in a preschool. Muse and Ray-Ban surveillance glasses, Zuck must live in one hell of an echo chamber!
With any luck he'll change the company name again, this time to "Surveillance Glasses", months before shutting down the whole division due to everyone hating the idea.
From the careless people woman we learn that he is unaccustomed to losing at Settlers of Catan because they all let him win.
If you're not much of a board game person this is _wild_ because Catan gets annoying with 1 beginner since you can see how the end up gifting the win to someone else.
So he either knows people are letting him win (and got mad at the newbie who didn't?) or he's too stupid to see them make mistakes or he thinks they're idiots but he keeps playing with them?
I dunno there was a lot of stuff from her that was damning but somehow this is the most damning thing to me real insight into the man.
Reminds me of the UK prime minister's close protection officer and inner circle all gambling on the election date and getting caught.
What degree of corruption did you witness that this seemed OK?
It's not for us. It's for people who didn't see value in these products. And for the press. Doesn't make it good, but it can still be effective.
johnfahey · · focus · HN ↗
Anthropic did the same thing. Earlier this year, Claude subs and Claude Code took off because of the subscription's incredible capability and value, then once they gained enough users, they started focusing on unnecessary products no one asked for (see Claude in Slack), and eventually lost their lead. After losing a bunch of customers to Codex subs they realized their mistake, and now they're shipping again.
AI companies are bad at making software; they are good at making AI models. And that's about it.
[1] <a href="https://x.com/thsottiaux/status/2104823812042940713" rel="nofollow">https://x.com/thsottiaux/status/2104823812042940713
torginus · · focus · HN ↗
They also have a nasty habit of being aware of nefarious practices, will resist all attempts to and harvest their data, or lock them into your service, and will drop you if your competitor makes a 3% better product, and will reject every upsell for actually profitable services.
Plus there is only so many of them.
panarky · · focus · HN ↗
And now OpenAI has done the same thing with their fuzzy, friendly, colorful dots.
I am physically sick.
waynecochran · · focus · HN ↗
phoghed · · focus · HN ↗
bpavuk · · focus · HN ↗
when I tried GPT-5, I was sad mostly because GPT-5 had some added wordiness. fluff, if you will. o3, though, is a black hole you can talk to, and it only gave information back if there was something to give back. that kind of vibe is my dream coworker
alexgoodhart · · focus · HN ↗
carterschonwald · · focus · HN ↗
windexh8er · · focus · HN ↗
[dead]
john_strinlai · · focus · HN ↗
even seeing the linux penguin makes me want to punch my monitor and commit sudoku
laserlight · · focus · HN ↗
Hilarious.
fangspire · · focus · HN ↗
derefr · · focus · HN ↗
The Linux kernel is ultimately a friendly open-source project. There's no harm in it being marketed using a cartoon penguin.
These AI services, meanwhile, are the dangled lights on the heads of data-hungry environment-threatening job-killing leviathantine anglerfish.
Making the dangled light present as non-threatening is not a good thing for society, no matter how much you may personally like pretty lights.
panarky · · focus · HN ↗
So much more terrifying for a cute, round, fuzzy, friendly, rosy-cheeked plushie trying to exterminate the crew.
jacquesm · · focus · HN ↗
esseph · · focus · HN ↗
jacquesm · · focus · HN ↗
esseph · · focus · HN ↗
2. The sentence is the exact type of structure gpt5 writes :/ It's unfortunate.
panarky · · focus · HN ↗
And the most boring comment is the one noting how boring it is to keep making these accusations.
derefr · · focus · HN ↗
esseph · · focus · HN ↗
mattoxic · · focus · HN ↗
zh3 · · focus · HN ↗
sublinear · · focus · HN ↗
Every time I think of any attempt to make something "cute" into something "dangerous", I can't take any of it seriously.
I'm reminded of mid-2000s clichés promoted by the edgelords of the time, and that was the peak edgelord era of all time.
aquariusDue · · focus · HN ↗
abustamam · · focus · HN ↗
I agree with your general point though.
Hugsbox · · focus · HN ↗
And also, if they should look like what they are, what exactly does an AI agent that follows you around in all your devices _look like_? Surely they have to take some creative liberties, and it's hard to blame them for wanting something that looks appealing and friendly.
Would you be satisfied if they made it a floating skull with glowing red eyes that periodically screams vague threats at you?
lelanthran · · focus · HN ↗
Puzzling, indeed!
Anon1096 · · focus · HN ↗
qgin · · focus · HN ↗
JohnBooty · · focus · HN ↗
Hello Kitty isn't trying to harvest anybody's data or take anybody's job. Sanio makes cute things and they hope that you will exchange money for their goods. That's the whole relationship.
(I'm not even remotely anti-AI)
wombatpm · · focus · HN ↗
windexh8er · · focus · HN ↗
akoboldfrying · · focus · HN ↗
techpression · · focus · HN ↗
Super_Jambo · · focus · HN ↗
If you're not much of a board game person this is _wild_ because Catan gets annoying with 1 beginner since you can see how the end up gifting the win to someone else.
So he either knows people are letting him win (and got mad at the newbie who didn't?) or he's too stupid to see them make mistakes or he thinks they're idiots but he keeps playing with them?
I dunno there was a lot of stuff from her that was damning but somehow this is the most damning thing to me real insight into the man.
Reminds me of the UK prime minister's close protection officer and inner circle all gambling on the election date and getting caught.
What degree of corruption did you witness that this seemed OK?
alsetmusic · · focus · HN ↗
mlsu · · focus · HN ↗
tommica · · focus · HN ↗
Angostura · · focus · HN ↗
Senior and middle managers? (not using those as pejoratives, by the way - I am one)