Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

[deleted] t1_jdvfvex wrote

This article is so repetitive.

84

MrSrsen t1_jdvukgn wrote

This is summary from ChatGPT:

>According to an opinion piece, tech giants have increasingly been prioritising their stock prices over their users' experience. In order to generate short-term profits, many have resorted to flooding users' feeds with sponsored content, obscuring genuine search results and over-monetising every customer interaction. While the author acknowledges the explosive growth that characterised Silicon Valley's early years, they argue that the slowdown experienced in recent years has triggered a crisis and prompted a search for a "second magical growth engine" at the expense of their original mission. The best example of this, the author writes, is Meta's pivot to the metaverse and decision to abandon its core product. The article concludes by warning that tech titans should learn from the experience of companies such as General Electric and focus on innovation and delivering what customers want, rather than chasing short-term fads.

119

spiralbatross t1_jdvvsfk wrote

CEOs: “what? Learn from the past?? Psssh.”

54

UnfinishedProjects t1_jdwfb6w wrote

There's no incentive. Play dumb, sellout all your customers for a ton of short term cash, oops! We didn't mean to!, roll everything back and wait for your customer base to build up again, repeat indefinitely. Until we get some laws that are more than a slap on the wrist for big tech companies.

31

Gold_Sky3617 t1_jdwrktr wrote

The problem is the original vision of many of these companies was always total nonsense. The only way for many of these companies to be profitable at the level investors demand is to do the things that make user experiences worse such as intrusive ads and dubious policies around user data. This pot has been boiling for a long time and it’s boiling over now because with rates going up the barrier to entry is higher now than ever. They don’t have the same risk of being replaced when the cost of startup capital is getting increasingly more expensive.

15

DrillaComeThrough t1_jdwcaup wrote

There just isn't enough that people want out of a social media platform

They really don't need to be that complex, that's the problem, capitalism won't let us just have a good tool, it needs more

10

NightChime t1_jdz1tiw wrote

Capitalism demands one of two things.

A service, or a good that needs to be replenished.

1

SAGreer t1_jdvx8l2 wrote

Can you explain the process you used to get that summary generated?

6

MrSrsen t1_jdvxhvv wrote

I provided the text with a request to get a summary. Try it yourself. It is very easy.

11

SAGreer t1_jdvye6y wrote

Wow - I had never done that before. It’s pretty wild.

Here’s the summary I got:

The article discusses how the tech industry's drive to optimize engagement and revenue is causing harm to users and the internet as a whole. It argues that tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon are among the worst offenders, using manipulative design tactics and invasive data collection to keep users hooked and maximize profits. The article suggests that the tech industry needs to prioritize ethical design principles and user privacy to prevent further damage to the internet and its users.

6

SAGreer t1_jdvykkm wrote

My query was:

Summarize the article at

https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-companies-ruining-apps-websites-internet-worse-google-facebook-amazon-2023-3

4

green_at_green t1_jdw8mr2 wrote

It can’t access the internet, it is generating that summary from the url alone

17

dreamer_ t1_jdwayf8 wrote

Lol, it seems like it - this is a pretty bad summary of the article.

10

FreeProg t1_jdwwovx wrote

GPT-4 can access the internet via API calls.

2

stevenbrown375 t1_jdxs9pb wrote

Yes, but the ChatGPT service that they’re using hasn’t rolled out this capability yet, beyond plugin support for those who have made it through the alpha waitlist.

4

gurenkagurenda t1_jdxxw61 wrote

Not for most, if any users. There's a "plugins" model you can get to through a waitlist, but while there's apparently a first party web plugin being developed internally, it isn't publicly available. Everything you can actually get to is just specific APIs.

2

-UltraAverageJoe- t1_jdzrgj3 wrote

When your user base has reached critical mass, the founders are rich beyond belief, and investors/Wall Street are breathing down your neck, it’s really easy to focus on short-term goals instead of your users.

And this is why we as a people should truly be focused on competition and anti big company. No one can compete with Google or Apple or Microsoft and those who may will just be acquired if they are a threat.

2

Top_Requirement_1341 t1_jdzsbag wrote

Startup / growth / explosive growth / exploit users for max short term profit before they realise and get pissed off (boiled frog experience) / bailout before the layoffs start.

What? You were too stupid to get out?

1

DavidBrooker t1_je0tt6h wrote

Standard blog-type article. Write the same paragraph a dozen times and call it a day.

Because of the very thing they're writing about, I imagine.

3

654342 t1_jdyrv66 wrote

Actually it is slower and stupider -- on purpose.

1