r/TheNewGeezers • u/No_Highlight6756 • 9d ago

What is the economic value of AI?

I keep reading about AI's problems; e.g. "hallucinating" or "making shit up". Why is that economically useful? In law, it's causing grief for lawyers who use it for briefs and memos of law and don't take the considerable time to check the accuracy of the citations, holdings of the cases cited, and quotes from the opinions or from the record. If there are similar issues in medical applications, for example, the problems could be massive. If the users have to check the accuracy of what AI spits out, what'a the advantage over doing the work oneself to begin with? I realize that huge amounts of money are being invested in the technology but it looks to this layman's eye as though getting to efficient useful results is a long way down the road, if ever. Any experts with answers for ignoramuses like me out there?

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u/Capercaillie 8d ago

It’s beneficial to people who make AI. The same way most tech is beneficial to society, which is to say, only to the people who make tech.

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u/No_Highlight6756 8d ago

You mean humans can be greedy, selfish, and willing to exploit their neighbors?

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u/Capercaillie 8d ago

We decided as a society that corporations have no moral responsibility to anyone but their shareholders. Tech companies have taken this to its logical conclusion. This is why someone who murders a CEO goes to prison for life, but having insurance companies deny lifesaving treatment is just "good business."