The whole LLM as a service business model has a fundamental flaw to it. The cost of operating the data centres is an order of magnitude higher than the profit.
But if models get efficient enough to bring the costs down, then they become efficient enough to run locally. So, either it’s too expensive to operate, or nobody will want to use it as a service because running your own gives you privacy and flexibility.
The fact that investors don't get this is frankly incredible.
@yogthos I think that's also why they're putting so much effort intk causing a chip shortage. IIRC a bunch of them want to get rid of personal computers and force people to use the cloud.
@mauve I can't really see this working out in practice, if anything we'll likely just end up in a similar situation to solar and EVs where China steps up. Of course, we already see Chinese tech increasingly banned in the west. It is possible that the west just becomes a hermit kingdom while the rest of the world moves on.
