this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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Disclaimer: I don't particularly like Eric Shmidt. He is shady as fuck.

https://wikileaks.org/google-is-not-what-it-seems/

But he is also smart as fuck and a huge donor to science, including european science.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schmidt

This isn't a rich dumbass like Trump. It's always interesting to listen to him.

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[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 53 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Ah, Eric Schmidt, billionaire and former CEO and chairman of Google, he is one of the wealthiest people in the world.

He lead the US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.

He has drunk the entire bottle of the AI juice.


If I had 53 billion USD available, I would develop my idea of a system for cleaning the great garbage patch rather than whining about AI.

[–] NewDark@lemmings.world 40 points 1 day ago

This is why you aren't a billionaire. You aren't a sociopathic husk of a human.

[–] Hule@lemmy.world -4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Wrong. Your ego would grow to fill your wealth. And at that size of a wealth, it defines you.

So your wealth is your highest priority. Can't go about wasting it on others, no no. That's someone else's job. You're just sad you can't live forever to enjoy gathering more.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 day ago

Honestly, I don't believe I would, many years ago I made a decision to always try and make sure people remembered me as kind and a good person, even store clerks and similar service jobs I interact with.

I think that if I had access to that kind of wealth, I would start looking for my legacy and build something positive for people to remember me by.

Now, I realize that as an IT guy, it is exceedingly improbable that I will ever get into that kind of wealth, but one can dream.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I don't think that's how it works. The people who do not have the greed at some point are content.

It's a mental abnormality that causes some people to act like cancer and consume resources obsessively.

[–] Hule@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Yes, there are a lot of people who feel like they have enough.

I just don't think those people ever reach the billionaire level.

[–] FireWire400@lemmy.world 27 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

These people are so desperately transparent; "Oh no, better buy my product before stuff happens. Pls just buy my shit."

I think it would be best for Europe to just wait for the bubble to pop and save themselves from spending millions on useless shit that doesn't even work that well

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Basic sales tactic: create a false sense of urgency.

[–] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 2 points 1 day ago

Ah, it's the billionaire equivalent from those "only one left in stock" and "this offers expires in 00:05:00" things.

To be fair to the lad, he didn't peddle his wares. He just says if there isn't a European strategy to develop their own models it is very likely that Europe would run on Chinese made ones that are more open source, whereas American ones become increasingly closed source and expensive to license. Now, that's his prediction and I don't really believe him. But this article at least doesn't make it seem he wrapped his doom and gloom prediction in a Gemini sales pitch.

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago

“Having an AI strategy” = Throwing shit tons of money in a fire with no possible benefit, but bragging about it

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 day ago

Or it'll end up wasting far less money on AI that's not needed.

[–] it_depends_man@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This isn’t a rich dumbass like Trump. It’s always interesting to listen to him.

Noooobody cares where the model comes from once it's already trained and being run in a sandbox.

All he's trying to do here, is play for time to get people to stay invested in the US but move out of US businesses himself and into longer term assets like gold. He's playing the "panic" and "china bad" cards to do it. Don't believe him and divest. Do it before the US crashes.

[–] the_wise_wolf@feddit.org 5 points 1 day ago

Noooobody cares where the model comes from once it's already trained and being run in a sandbox.

Not quite. There is immense power in deciding what data to train on. You can create vastly different models, and we are not always aligned with Chinese goals. Plus, it would be yet another dependency on China.

All he's trying to do here, is play for time to get people to stay invested in the US but move out of US businesses himself and into longer term assets like gold. He's playing the "panic" and "china bad" cards to do it. Don't believe him and divest. Do it before the US crashes.

Okay...

[–] aarRJaay@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago

You mean Chinese models trained on the same stuff the US ones are trained on but the US government can't subpoena what you ask them to work in? Let's face it, it's all about a) US companies getting all the money, and b) the US government wants to know what you're doing.

[–] TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 day ago

Let me translate this to euro: Europeans aren't as invested in the AI bubble as the US, meaning they will feel the economic crisis when the bubble pops much less.

[–] themurphy@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago

It's fucking software. Europe can use it if they want, they can make one from an open source model, and it will also be true in the future.

Europe would just be ready to pick up the scraps that is the US stock market if the AI bubble bursts.

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Wrong. This is as a matter of fact a rich dumbass.

[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Open-weight AND Open-Source??

And why the Chinese ones? Are the Americans losing the AI race?

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I'm sure plenty of engineers at US companies would be happy to move to Europe right about now.

If you want to be a billionaire's mouthpiece, I suggest you do it somewhere else. We've had enough of that nonsense.

So what he's a huge donor? Do you think one would need to be a good person for that? No, they'd simply need a shitton of money.

[–] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 5 points 1 day ago