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.
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?
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.
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!