Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Justin du Coeur (jducoeur@social.coop)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Dec-2024 08:42:06 JST Justin du Coeur

   I've said for some time that I care less about technologies than I do *business plans*. Here's a good example of why: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/30/ai-tools-may-soon-manipulate-peoples-online-decision-making-say-researchers

   I don't mind LLMs in principle: they're just a tool. But when the users are being sold to advertisers (especially when the companies are VC-backed), the incentives go way beyond “perverse” -- they become downright inhumane, focused on manipulating, even controlling, the users rather than informing them.

   • Embed this notice
     Joe Ortiz (joeo10@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Dec-2024 08:42:04 JST Joe Ortiz

     in reply to

     @jducoeur I hope you read this informative piece as this should give you second thoughts.

     https://d-shoot.net/kagi.html

     They're basically in a identity crisis and they can't be a privacy company and a AI company at the same time.

     Eventually, they ultimately have to choose one or the other.

   • Embed this notice
     Justin du Coeur (jducoeur@social.coop)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Dec-2024 08:42:05 JST Justin du Coeur

     in reply to

     This is, BTW, why I'm such a passionate #Kagi enthusiast. Their technology is good, but their business plan -- subscriptions instead of advertisements, bootstrapped instead of VC-based -- matters way more. It means that they *have* to focus on what's good for their users, not what pleases the current whim of the stock market and the billionaires.

     I dearly wish more companies would catch that clue…

   • Embed this notice
     shiri (shiri@foggyminds.com)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Dec-2024 08:42:40 JST shiri

     in reply to

     • Kagi HQ
     @kagihq @jducoeur If you're not paying for it you're probably the product, not the customer. It's what I always tell people when trying to convince them to try out Kagi, it still boggles my mind that people are so resistant to change... when I'm making the pitch on a post where they're complaining about Google Search!
   • Embed this notice
     Joe Ortiz (joeo10@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Dec-2024 08:42:40 JST Joe Ortiz

     in reply to

     • shiri

     @shiri @jducoeur I hope you read this piece as they're basically in a identity crisis and they can't be a privacy company and a AI company and they ultimately have to choose one or the other.

     https://d-shoot.net/kagi.html

   • Embed this notice
     Kagi HQ (kagihq@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Dec-2024 08:42:41 JST Kagi HQ

     in reply to

     @jducoeur Spot on, Justin! Thank you for the shout out and your support. We think this is a better model for a web that puts users and privacy first, without compromising on quality and sustainability.