Comment The previous big disaster was 27 m years ago (Score 4, Funny) 86
The last one was on November 5, 2024.
Submission + - WSJ: Corporate America Has Suddenly Decided to Stop Blowing Money on AI
theodp writes: "Companies across the country are coming around to a radical idea with the potential to upend the industry powering the global economy," reports the WSJ. "They don’t have to blow their budgets on AI. Fed up with ballooning costs, companies big and small are starting to use lower-priced models, including some built in China. In many cases, they are adding the new, cheaper models alongside OpenAI and Anthropic’s products, shopping a la carte for their artificial intelligence."
"Being economical—or tokenomical—is a dramatic reversal in mindset. Just a few months ago, it was a badge of honor to be using AI so much that you spent a lot on tokens. Companies rewarded employees for tokenmaxxing, flashing leaderboards that showed who had spent the most. Now they are thrift-maxxing."
"Strategies to lower AI costs include limiting access to top models for new hires and using the most advanced AI systems to plan how tasks will be completed before turning to cheaper models for the execution, Cursor’s [Mike] Saeks says. Cursor recently ran an experiment to evaluate the cost of building a web browser from scratch. Doing the entire task on OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 cost a little more than $10,000. Using Cursor’s Composer coding model in combination with Anthropic’s Opus 4.8, cost $1,339."
Correction: The costs cited by the WSJ were evidently to recreate SQLite functionality, not to build a web browser from scratch, an earlier experiment that Cursor explained involved running coding agents autonomously for weeks and burning trillions of tokens to build software that Cursor's CEO boasted "*kind of* works", prompting The Register to credit Cursor for "proving AI can write shoddy code at scale".
"Being economical—or tokenomical—is a dramatic reversal in mindset. Just a few months ago, it was a badge of honor to be using AI so much that you spent a lot on tokens. Companies rewarded employees for tokenmaxxing, flashing leaderboards that showed who had spent the most. Now they are thrift-maxxing."
"Strategies to lower AI costs include limiting access to top models for new hires and using the most advanced AI systems to plan how tasks will be completed before turning to cheaper models for the execution, Cursor’s [Mike] Saeks says. Cursor recently ran an experiment to evaluate the cost of building a web browser from scratch. Doing the entire task on OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 cost a little more than $10,000. Using Cursor’s Composer coding model in combination with Anthropic’s Opus 4.8, cost $1,339."
Correction: The costs cited by the WSJ were evidently to recreate SQLite functionality, not to build a web browser from scratch, an earlier experiment that Cursor explained involved running coding agents autonomously for weeks and burning trillions of tokens to build software that Cursor's CEO boasted "*kind of* works", prompting The Register to credit Cursor for "proving AI can write shoddy code at scale".
Comment Wine 1114 (Score 1) 6
Good vintage. A bit old maybe.
Submission + - Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him (nytimes.com)
fahrbot-bot writes: The New York Times is reporting that Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
In little-noticed court documents, federal officials acknowledged this month that they had terminated the funding “based solely” on political criteria, targeting projects in states that were represented by Democrats and had voted for Kamala Harris, the party’s presidential nominee, in the 2024 election.
After reviewing its spending, the Energy Department last fall created a list that recommended canceling more than 600 grants awarded by the Biden administration for a wide range of novel energy projects. That list included funding for projects in states represented by both Republicans and Democrats.
“With one exception,” a lawyer for the Energy Department conceded in a court filing this month, “the 284 terminated grants had a recipient location and/or at least one place of performance in a state that awarded its electoral votes to Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and has two Democratic-caucusing senators.”
The lawyer acknowledged that none of the grants were included in the October terminations “based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction or performance-based factor.”
In contrast, the administration left untouched hundreds of additional energy grants in states that were represented by Republicans and had backed Mr. Trump in the last election, even though the Energy Department had recommended canceling them, the government confirmed in the July court filing.
The filings also appeared to undermine the congressional testimony of Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who spoke about the cancellations in a June House hearing: “No decisions were made on politics.”
In little-noticed court documents, federal officials acknowledged this month that they had terminated the funding “based solely” on political criteria, targeting projects in states that were represented by Democrats and had voted for Kamala Harris, the party’s presidential nominee, in the 2024 election.
After reviewing its spending, the Energy Department last fall created a list that recommended canceling more than 600 grants awarded by the Biden administration for a wide range of novel energy projects. That list included funding for projects in states represented by both Republicans and Democrats.
“With one exception,” a lawyer for the Energy Department conceded in a court filing this month, “the 284 terminated grants had a recipient location and/or at least one place of performance in a state that awarded its electoral votes to Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and has two Democratic-caucusing senators.”
The lawyer acknowledged that none of the grants were included in the October terminations “based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction or performance-based factor.”
In contrast, the administration left untouched hundreds of additional energy grants in states that were represented by Republicans and had backed Mr. Trump in the last election, even though the Energy Department had recommended canceling them, the government confirmed in the July court filing.
The filings also appeared to undermine the congressional testimony of Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who spoke about the cancellations in a June House hearing: “No decisions were made on politics.”
Comment Re:Great news! (Score 1) 83
just a reward/handout from The Don.
...Corleone.
Comment Re:Many passengers didn't inflate their life vests (Score 1) 63
Note for cavemen: 20 centimeters is about 0.656168 feet.
Comment Many passengers didn't inflate their life vests (Score 1) 63
Maybe the passengers tried to inflate the life vests the way the flight attendant demonstrated: by blowing into the life vest's inflation tube while holding it about 20 centimeters away.
Comment Re:French father here... (Score 1) 144
On one hand, I am 100% happy to see that law.
Get off my law!
Comment Make no mistake... (Score 4, Insightful) 92
While the Linux kernel is open source, making it easier for AI systems to detect bugs, proprietary closed-source software has even more reason to worry.
AI is advancing rapidly and will become increasingly capable of analyzing machine code directly to uncover vulnerabilities and defects.
And unlike open-source projects, there won't be a large community ready to help identify, fix, and review those issues.
The clock is ticking...
AI is advancing rapidly and will become increasingly capable of analyzing machine code directly to uncover vulnerabilities and defects.
And unlike open-source projects, there won't be a large community ready to help identify, fix, and review those issues.
The clock is ticking...
Comment Why only now? (Score 1) 104
Europe should, of course, thank Trump for making it realize that its dependence on the United States can be dangerous.
But why only now? France and Europe have had cloud infrastructure for years...
Entrusting sensitive data to the United States has always carried risks, given that Airbus is Boeing's largest competitor.
But why only now? France and Europe have had cloud infrastructure for years...
Entrusting sensitive data to the United States has always carried risks, given that Airbus is Boeing's largest competitor.
Comment Planet with atmosphere 0.000018 light years away (Score 2) 58
Enjoy Venus atmosphere.
Submission + - Windows 10: "the most secure Windows ever"
An anonymous reader writes: Windows 10 refuses to die, and the security bill is coming due
“A hard core of Windows 10 devices cannot or will not be migrated to Windows 11, leaving enterprises with a growing security problem as support options run out.”
July 2015: “Today, we’re sharing more on security in Windows 10. Windows 10 has more built-in security protections to help safeguard you against viruses, phishing, and malware, it’s the most secure Windows ever.”
“A hard core of Windows 10 devices cannot or will not be migrated to Windows 11, leaving enterprises with a growing security problem as support options run out.”
July 2015: “Today, we’re sharing more on security in Windows 10. Windows 10 has more built-in security protections to help safeguard you against viruses, phishing, and malware, it’s the most secure Windows ever.”
Comment Re:standard practice (Score 1) 76
I know that recommending OpenWrt to the general public is unlikely to gain much traction, which is why I'm posting it here instead.
Slashdot readers (and from other more technical sites) may take an interest in it and give it a try.
Slashdot readers (and from other more technical sites) may take an interest in it and give it a try.
Comment Re:standard practice (Score 1) 76
The 3 is Qualcomm, unfortunately. The 4 uses a MediaTek Filogic platform and should eventually be OpenWRT compatible (after release).
Comment Re:standard practice (Score 1) 76
This is Slashdot, if you don't know OpenWRT, you should.
