Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Research is expensive. Someone pays the bills. Sorry about the lesson in economics.

The future of companies is often in the research they perform in the back rooms. Not glamorous, but often necessary. And those smart folks in the back rooms cost lots of money. The company has to be making enough profits to pay those bills. Sorry about the lesson in economics.

DeepMind is a place full of brilliant folks. It also costs a lot of money with little immediate return. Sorry about the lesson in economics.

Google recently fired an AI researchers and wants more positive papers. These things are awful. Sorry about the lesson in economics.

AI researchers are good folks trying hard to do good things. They aren’t exempt from the First Rule:

There is no free lunch.

Sorry about the lesson in economics.