Thread

Dots: Always-on agents

767 points · 647 comments · alvis

mvkel · 1790706806 · focus · HN ↗
My biggest frustration with the frontier AI companies isn't what they're announcing, but that the announced-thing that exists ~6 months later is severely nerfed to reduce compute spend. It doesn't resemble the demo in any way. For example, this was what the 4o voice capability sounded like in 2024(!) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYi3Wr7v_g" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYi3Wr7v_g. What exists today pales in comparison.
1. sleight42 · 1790719906 · focus · HN ↗
  It's always about increasing monthly active users, locking them in, and then enshittifying to squeeze out profit.
  Thanks. I'll stick with self-hosting.
  1. mvkel · 1790741158 · focus · HN ↗
    I'd rather use the best possible model available than permanently relegate my work to an inferior one because it's "open"
    navigate8310 · 1790761310 · focus · HN ↗
    It's not only about being open but predictability and unforeseen rug pulling.
    mvkel · 1790776670 · focus · HN ↗
    Would you rather work with a team that is hit or miss, but has moments of brilliance, or predictably, consistently bad?
    sleight42 · 1790981191 · focus · HN ↗
    Moments of brilliance yet unpredictable versus reasonably good (lets be fair: 27b models are pretty damn good now) and predictable.
    I'm an old school engineer. I like predictable boring technology that consistently gets the job done over hotness. A 27b model at high quant is "hot" enough.
    Speaking in terms of teams: I hate working with hotshots. They ruin teams. And they're usually inconsistent and bad for morale.
    calderwoodra · 1790820045 · focus · HN ↗
    Glad someone is saying the quiet part out loud today
  2. kelseydh · 1790788251 · focus · HN ↗
    How do you afford to do this if you want something resembling the best that's out there right now? The hardware needed to run beefy open source models is like $15,000 to $50,000+ for a robust local multi-GPU rig, and even its performance might lag behind.
    sleight42 · 1790981059 · focus · HN ↗
    I don't do that. I use my 2020 top end gaming PC with its 3090. I just ordered 128GB RAM for it. I'll use a single-chat/slot runtime like Strata or Freetoken. And then I'll be able to run either a blazing fast 8-bit Qwen 3.8 27b or a 4 or 5 bit Qwen 3.8 Flash Next. That's good enough for me for development.
    And then I'll have my current gaming rig with less RAM but better CPU and GPU run a reasonable smart tool agent for handling Home Assistant Voice Assist. Downside there: when I'm gaming, no voice assist. That may piss the wife off. We'll see.
    At least, this way, I don't have to worry about god damn usage limits. I can knock myself out.

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