Will Grok make Google irrelevant?

[Fernando]

Companies are trying to make money in using AI.
My daughter was recruited by this unicorn company wanting her skills in using AI.
It's a great opportunity and income but she still likes to work remotely if she can.

 

[cpursley]

No sci-fi fans here?

I nearly replied

 

[cpursley]

Perplexity.AI is the best out out there for research tasks. And you can swap the models.

 

[WestMichiganCG]

Continued:


Comparative Analysis and Implications
The interplay between these trends suggests a resilient economy at a macro level, but with significant sector-specific and policy-driven risks. The tech sector's layoffs, while notable, are an outlier in an otherwise strong job market, with unemployment rates hovering between 3.4% and 3.9% from December 2021 to April 2024 before ticking up (NerdWallet). Federal layoffs, however, introduce a new variable, potentially exacerbating economic uncertainty, especially given consumer confidence dipping below recession thresholds in February 2025 (Conference Board).

Indicator​	2024 Q4 Value​	Trend​	Implication​
GDP Growth	2.3%	Steady, positive	Supports economic expansion
Inflation Rate (CPI)	2.9%–3.0%	Above target, moderating	Potential for tighter monetary policy
Unemployment Rate	4.0% (Jan 2025)	Low, slight increase	Stable labor market, risks emerging
Tech Layoffs (2024)	95,000–150,000	Increasing significantly	Sector-specific pressure, innovation impact
Federal Layoffs	Ongoing, potential 1.5M	Escalating	Could disrupt services, spending

This table highlights key metrics, showing the economy's strength but also the risks posed by sector-specific and federal layoffs. The federal layoffs, in particular, are a critical factor, with potential long-term effects on economic activity and government operations, given the workforce's size and role.

Conclusion and Outlook
In conclusion, the US economy is performing reasonably well, with low unemployment and positive GDP growth, but faces challenges from tech sector layoffs and significant federal workforce reductions. These trends, combined with above-target inflation and declining consumer confidence, suggest a need for close monitoring. The trajectory will depend on how policy shifts, such as tariffs and immigration changes, interplay with global conditions and domestic economic dynamics. While not on the brink of collapse, the widening cracks, particularly in federal and tech sectors, could lead to increased economic uncertainty in 2025.

Have you ever read up on the "encrapification of the internet"? I think there will always be a need to check sources in quality research. AI is definitely a force multiplier though.

 

[RCA]

Have you ever read up on the "encrapification of the internet"? I think there will always be a need to check sources in quality research. AI is definitely a force multiplier though.

What do you think is wrong here? From our perspective in California, the tech layoffs certainly make sense. The general mood here in California is very poor - at this point in time. We know young people, once regarded as having good careers ahead of them - out of work for 9 months or longer.

I went to the Annual Appraiser Spring Conference in Modesto (CA) yesterday and compared to last year, there were far fewer attendees (100 or so) and the mood was very subdued.

I thought it was particularly odd to have Jeff Bradford (Clickform's) come in and talk about AI and the coming of robots, then have Konikoff get up after Jeff, at the end of the conference, and try and convince the appraisers in the Grand Ballroom that there was no need to worry - that AI could not do it all. Also leading up to these last two presentations, numerous statements by presenters as to how ChatGPT allowed them to let go of 3 staffers or whatever, exclaiming "... with ChatGPT you can get so much more done." And if you ask me, the appraisers mostly sit with dour expressions on their faces through both presentations. Subdued, dour, Stoic -- or a combination of all three.

It is not just the country. The whole world is going down the tube. Don't you think? Well at least except for Texas ... oh yea and on the contrary there is Virginia ... oh yea ... it's a mess.

I don't know about Trump. I supported him. But I am starting to have my doubts. Although, his administration appears to be doing many good things. We just will not know for a while where it is going to wind up. There could be rational for his moves with Russia, - but it looks like he is creating a big mess that is leaving many puzzled. Lifting barriers on Russia, asking Russia to mediate with Iran over nuclear weapons? Is he going insane?

 

[cpursley]

Jeff Bradford (Clickform's)

What was your take on where they're going with that product?

 

[RCA]

What was your take on where they're going with that product?

Wait until he starts asking for beta testers - and then contact him. I think from hearing him yesterday in Modesto, he may be looking down the road to the time when robots are used for inspections, where the robot would walk through the various rooms taking 360-degree photos, which would be combined into one 3D tour - that would be high enough resolution to judge the condition and quality of various kinds of surfaces. Then someone could view the point cloud remotely to inspect the house themselves and even take 2D photos of various features.

Today, such cameras that are high resolution and fast are pretty damn expensive:

https://shop.leica-geosystems.com/leica-blk/blk360/buy

Imagine an advanced robot that could do the inspection in any house, scale stairs, inspect in crawlspaces and attics. That would be nice. But it would have to run on batteries, be charged every several hours, and far more complex than a hybrid or EV auto - so expensive to maintain and repair for sure.

General purpose robots are a long ways off. The last 3 miles to finish is the hardest, and they will likely cost well over $50K. Such robots will get a lot of wear and tear, climbing stairs, opening doors and windows and crawling under the house and into attics. They may fall, they may get wet they may be attacked by dogs or thieves. -- But they will be capable of being completely objective, exact, accurate and so on, so they will be the final solution for inspections, I am sure. But, again, it is IMO a long, long ways off.

In the meantime, AMCs will absolutely need appraisers to be their robots, - until the time comes. The wages will likely be bottom low and the work boring. So, "they" are already fishing around for a new breed of low level appraiser or rather inspector. Back in the office you will probably have some kind of high level appraiser or valuation engineer

=====

Since I left Bradford Technologies in 2008, I have had almost no contact with Jeff Bradford, except for some scattered messages on LinkedIn. I have never been interested in appraisal GSE form software. Now that he is talking about model building -- he is entering my area of expertise, and he knows I won't do business with him, for sundry (conflict of interest) reasons. So, he may wind up being a competitor in some sense, although I kind of doubt it. Since I am doing open software, I am probably more of a threat to him than he is to me.

I am currently not that interested in selling and maintaining some software package, as I like having fun and doing a lot of running and enjoying life. So, I am only interested in making open software tools for advanced appraisers to use themselves. I will give it an GPL 3.0 License, which is open software - but prevents patents from being taken out of published software, by some other company. That seems the best solution. Maybe I will get some consulting fees someday. I am not at this time rich enough to get in the patent application business.

I will publish on GitHub and Zenodo, which looks like a good combination.

 

[J Grant]

What do you think is wrong here? From our perspective in California, the tech layoffs certainly make sense. The general mood here in California is very poor - at this point in time. We know young people, once regarded as having good careers ahead of them - out of work for 9 months or longer.

I went to the Annual Appraiser Spring Conference in Modesto (CA) yesterday and compared to last year, there were far fewer attendees (100 or so) and the mood was very subdued.

I thought it was particularly odd to have Jeff Bradford (Clickform's) come in and talk about AI and the coming of robots, then have Konikoff get up after Jeff, at the end of the conference, and try and convince the appraisers in the Grand Ballroom that there was no need to worry - that AI could not do it all. Also leading up to these last two presentations, numerous statements by presenters as to how ChatGPT allowed them to let go of 3 staffers or whatever, exclaiming "... with ChatGPT you can get so much more done." And if you ask me, the appraisers mostly sit with dour expressions on their faces through both presentations. Subdued, dour, Stoic -- or a combination of all three.

It is not just the country. The whole world is going down the tube. Don't you think? Well at least except for Texas ... oh yea and on the contrary there is Virginia ... oh yea ... it's a mess.

I don't know about Trump. I supported him. But I am starting to have my doubts. Although, his administration appears to be doing many good things. We just will not know for a while where it is going to wind up. There could be rational for his moves with Russia, - but it looks like he is creating a big mess that is leaving many puzzled. Lifting barriers on Russia, asking Russia to mediate with Iran over nuclear weapons? Is he going insane?

You are thankfully at least having thoughts about Trump - the only check on him is if Republicans and those who voted for him write to Republican senators and Congress with your concerns. All that is needed is several brave Republican congresspeople to vote against the craziest and most reckless of Trump's policies/ his betraying Ukraine and elevating Putinn)

Yes, he is (perhaps) doing some good things, but at a very high price, and the bad things might outweigh the good. No president should have the kind of wrecking ball power he amassed by threatening to primary any Republican who votes against something or disagrees (so much for free speech)

Yes, it is ominous that the sheeple jump on board to make "efficiency" the holy grail (which only benefits those at the top) at the cost of eliminating jobs and no plan to replace the lost jobs except offering platitudes like " adapt."

 

[WestMichiganCG]

What do you think is wrong here? From our perspective in California, the tech layoffs certainly make sense. The general mood here in California is very poor - at this point in time. We know young people, once regarded as having good careers ahead of them - out of work for 9 months or longer.

I went to the Annual Appraiser Spring Conference in Modesto (CA) yesterday and compared to last year, there were far fewer attendees (100 or so) and the mood was very subdued.

I thought it was particularly odd to have Jeff Bradford (Clickform's) come in and talk about AI and the coming of robots, then have Konikoff get up after Jeff, at the end of the conference, and try and convince the appraisers in the Grand Ballroom that there was no need to worry - that AI could not do it all. Also leading up to these last two presentations, numerous statements by presenters as to how ChatGPT allowed them to let go of 3 staffers or whatever, exclaiming "... with ChatGPT you can get so much more done." And if you ask me, the appraisers mostly sit with dour expressions on their faces through both presentations. Subdued, dour, Stoic -- or a combination of all three.

It is not just the country. The whole world is going down the tube. Don't you think? Well at least except for Texas ... oh yea and on the contrary there is Virginia ... oh yea ... it's a mess.

I don't know about Trump. I supported him. But I am starting to have my doubts. Although, his administration appears to be doing many good things. We just will not know for a while where it is going to wind up. There could be rational for his moves with Russia, - but it looks like he is creating a big mess that is leaving many puzzled. Lifting barriers on Russia, asking Russia to mediate with Iran over nuclear weapons? Is he going insane?

I don't think anything was wrong with what you posted Bert. I just thought you would find the topic of "encrapification of the internet" interesting on its own merit. It wasn't in response to what you posted at all. I think the US will be fine overall, but I do think people tend to group themselves into an "us and them" caste and there is less of a feeling that "we're all in this together". As far as Russia is concerned, I think having Ukraine as an ally was a good thing. We don't fight wars like we used to hundreds of years ago. The old adage "to the victor goes the spoils" seemed to completely sidestep the truth. We fight in wars, blow everything up and then build it back. Meanwhile, parts of Detroit look like they've been bombed out and have never been built back. Agree with it or not, when Trump had Zolensky come to the White House I thought Trump might actually broker a deal for us to get some rare earth elements to offset the cost of our support. Ukraine could stay free; we could help them out and we would both benefit from the deal. People were saying he's playing four-dimensional chess; I just watched him screw up an opportunity. What happened to the "Art of the Deal"?

 

[RCA]

I don't think anything was wrong with what you posted Bert. I just thought you would find the topic of "encrapification of the internet" interesting on its own merit. It wasn't in response to what you posted at all. I think the US will be fine overall, but I do think people tend to group themselves into an "us and them" caste and there is less of a feeling that "we're all in this together". As far as Russia is concerned, I think having Ukraine as an ally was a good thing. We don't fight wars like we used to hundreds of years ago. The old adage "to the victor goes the spoils" seemed to completely sidestep the truth. We fight in wars, blow everything up and then build it back. Meanwhile, parts of Detroit look like they've been bombed out and have never been built back. Agree with it or not, when Trump had Zolensky come to the White House I thought Trump might actually broker a deal for us to get some rare earth elements to offset the cost of our support. Ukraine could stay free; we could help them out and we would both benefit from the deal. People were saying he's playing four-dimensional chess; I just watched him screw up an opportunity. What happened to the "Art of the Deal"?

True.

WRT rare earth metals, a lot of people in the field are coming forward and saying "rare" earth elements are not all that rare - and there are plenty of mines and extraction locations in the US. However, the problem is that once they start dumping pilings into acid baths - it takes another several months to actually get any rare earth. And then, in the meantime, China's rare earth industry is heavily subsidized by the Chinese government and is continually dumping rare earth minerals into the market at below cost. Of course, the problem is that China can cut off exports whenever it wants. –- So, apparently, we don't really need rare earth minerals from Russia or Ukraine - we are perfectly capable of extracting our own -- but it won't be profitable if China continues dumping -- which means we need tariffs on imports from China or direct government support for our own extraction processes. So, people are questing whether this whole thing is a hoax to give a financial excuse to support Ukraine. Hard to say what is really going on. Apparently, Trump is focused on ending the war – even if it means beating up on Zelensky. And then again, maybe they figure beating up on Zelensky is a necessary move for other political reasons, as well as just making him more obedient and manageable.