© 2026 Gareth Smith, licensed GPL-3.0-or-later, clarified with an AI Model Component Note.

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The Next FOSS Frontier?

Gareth Smith ('they' or 'he')
Slides: https://www.kindness.city/blog/2026-06-04-ai-talk.tgz

************* * The Rules * *************

  1. *** No Doxxing etc. (see our Code of Conduct) ***
  2. *** Tell your own story ***
  3. *** Listen to other stories ***

************* * Main Menu * *************

  1. 1: Does AI even actually work?
  2. 2: AI Centralizes Power
  3. 3: AI Burns Electricity
  4. 4: AI Stole My Stuff
  5. 5: AI Art
  6. 6: What do we do about it?

b: https://www.kindness.city/blog/2026-05-04-ok-lets-talk.html

r: The Rules v: View Source e: Edit Source w: Whiteboard q: Quit

********************** * Does AI Even Work? * **********************

************ * AI Works * ************

AI works at least as well as:

Some AI Techniques:

Pairing, Research, QC, One-Shotting, Orchestrators, Bug-Finding, Chaos- -Testing, Dark Factories...

Some References:

  1. 1: https://factory.strongdm.ai
  2. 2: https://fabro.sh
  3. 3: https://third-bit.com/notwrong/
  4. 4: Quote from simplermachines.com
Last weekend I visited San Francisco, for the first time since I move to Minneapolis in October, and *man* the vibes there are *off*.
...
The vibes of the software industry as subject to the AI boom seem *wretched*. The people rolling out AI seem at best anxiously manic, and the people being subjected to the rollouts are exhausted and cynical. -- Nat Bennett, simplermachines.com

************************ * AI Centralises Power * ************************

Tell me some models?

Which of these are good to code with?

How do you install an open-model programming tool?

************************ * AI Burns Electricity * ************************

* Data centres are absolutely:

Gareth's Hot Take (rant)

********************* * AI Stole My Stuff * *********************

Yeah, AI *absolutely* stole your stuff.

(if curious, ask about the DDoS problem)

************** * AI and Art * **************

It's gonna' be weird.

*************************** * What do we do about it? * ***************************

  1. Make Good Stuff
  2. Support other people who Make Good Stuff
  3. Provide tech support for your elderly neighbours.

Some cool stuff: