Thread

Vote on which of Hacker News' challenges for AI have been met

202 points · 271 comments · stabbles

joegibbs · 1790897129 · focus · HN ↗
There's one of mine in there where I predicted in 2023 that it would be 20 years until AI would be reliably able to entirely build and deploy arbitrary applications from a prompt. I was off by about 18 years on that one!
1. ASalazarMX · 1790898900 · focus · HN ↗
  One challenge of mine is a self-hosted AI doing my full tax return, without errors that would get me in trouble. Bonus points if it exploits legal loopholes.
  I want AI to replace me in my chores, not in my enjoyable activities.
  1. tehjoker · 1790900377 · focus · HN ↗
    That particular one is solved in other countries. The tax authority just sends you a bill and you text yes or no. Only people with very complex situations need to file.
    They don't do this in this country because (a) it's a political project to make people to sympathize with the rich by feeling their pain (b) it's a great scheme for legalized corruption by creating incentives to build companies around a fake problem.
    avadodin · 1790900836 · focus · HN ↗
    Literally everything could be derived automatically by the government in current year so filing taxes feels like entrapment, but I like that idea.
    They not only do that —saving you so many worries— but then you get to be medieval about it and say: no, I challenge the tax authority to a duel.
    twoodfin · 1790906281 · focus · HN ↗
    Literally everything could be derived automatically by the government in current year…
    The Earned Income Tax Credit is one of the most important transfers embedded in the tax code. It provides about $70B to low-income workers every year.
    Take a look at the eligibility criteria:
    <a href="https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/who-qualifies-for-the-earned-income-tax-credit-eitc" rel="nofollow">https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-in...
    You can claim the EITC if you are married, not filing a joint return, had a qualifying child who lived with you for more than half of the tax year and either of the following apply.
    - You lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of tax year, or
    - You were legally separated according to your state law under a written separation agreement, or a decree of separate maintenance and you didn't live in the same household as your spouse at the end of the tax year.
    …
    You can claim the head of household filing status if you're not married, had a qualifying child living with you more than half the year, and you paid more than half the costs of keeping up your home.
    No, the government can’t derive this all “automatically”.
    TheDong · 1790912410 · focus · HN ↗
    In more civilized countries, you file your current address and all change of address forms with the government, you register any separation agreements with the government, etc.
    The government absolutely should know enough to apply this reasonably accurately, and things that they can't correctly derive (like 'paid more than half the costs of keeping up the home') should simply not be part of tax law, or should be a checkbox when registering your address of "I am head of household" so the government knows.
    The US government can't derive all this, but they should update it so they can.
    Heck, with the NSA's hooks into banks and cell phone companies, there's a non-zero chance they actually could derive this all now if they wanted.
    wildzzz · 1790968076 · focus · HN ↗
    If I start doing odd jobs on the side for cash, there's zero papertrail of my income other than maybe text messages between me and customers. How would the government know how much money I make? Should I force my customers to file a 1099-NEC? Should I be required to get an EIN because I want to mow my neighbors lawn for cash?
    If you're working a W2 job or contracting for a big company, the government is probably aware of your income and that's where we should be focused on automating tax returns but if your income comes from regular people, they likely have no idea.
    Unless you turn the entire national security apparatus around to surveil citizens' income, I don't think it's ever possible for the government to know everything.
    How it should work is that the government should show you everything they already know and prompt you to fill out anything they don't and then you submit it. The majority of people would immediately benefit from this. They don't do this for a few reasons: number one being the tax prep lobby that wants to make doing your taxes a burden such that even regular people feel the need to spend money or have their personal financial information gathered by private companies. The second reason is that if the government is already aware of how much you've made, chances are you've already paid your taxes and would either be looking at a refund or other tax credits, the government is effectively spending money to make it easier for you to take money away from it.
    TheDong · 1790991617 · focus · HN ↗
    I agree with this fully, this is how a lot of civilized countries work.
    For 90% of the population, taxes are automatic, and the few people who do side-jobs or have lemonade stands or deal drugs have to file their own taxes separately.
    I'm not opposed to that, I just want the 90% case of "single or normal family + W2 employer(s)" to be covered automatically.

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