Yup, I’m posting another this week. Sorry.
This week I’m hoping we can wrangle a solution around AI and our selfhosted community. There are plenty of strong opinions (both pro and con), but one thing is for certain - there needs to be better disclosure in promo posts. Two options (that aren’t mutually exclusive):
- Any posts of an AI focused, AI Developed, etc software gets an [AI] tag. No, a [Not-AI] tag is not needed to accomplish this, thats kind of a “non-golfer” sort of tag.
- Comment requiring an AI disclosure response to every promo post, if its not detailed in the post itself. Specifics (generating docs for commands, translation, whole-boat vibe-coded this app, etc) would be requested.
I will say that having disclosure and/or tagging would mean that comments that just say “slop” or “fuck ai” or whatever would be off topic at that point, that information is already provided, so its just noise (and sometimes pretty uncivil - I’ve been light on that for now due to the need for a rule on this).
The tag [AI] would make it easy to filter out (or search for, if that’s your thing), but there is a wildly different degree of AI use out there, and from the posts with a positive score, its usually due to responsible AI use (translations, a snippet they had to do something obscure with, available to use with AI but doesn’t require it, whatever), which is why I think the disclosure has a place as a benefit to everyone.
Please provide any input or alternative options on this, and I can then put it to a vote like the last one. Comments seem to be the best approach without involving something off-site, but if you have a better idea/option, please share.


Indeed, AI is a tool, and the human should be an expert who verify its work. What I don’t like are posts about apps that are completely vibe-coded without any thought put into them, which pose dangerous security risks.
Thats the reasoning behind the disclosure bit, I agree its a tool, and great when used correctly.
But if you try and use a hammer like a drill, you’re gonna have a bad time.
It is not ‘just a tool.’ It is not “great.” Too many people focus on how it is used and not how it is created, how it affects us, and how it affects the world.
I’m just going to shortcut this and say two things:
I can guarantee the overwhelming majority (if not all) of your issues have nothing to actually do with LLMs and everything to do with corporations. Power use, data center buildouts, market impact, whatever - none it is an an llm problem. LLMs are just another piece of software, thats all.
Your personal opinion on this, as well as mine, does not change the overall conversation here. So how about we just stick to the topic at hand?
LLMs are inextricably tied to nvidia gpus. Local or cloud, the technology exists to help the shovel salespeople. The gold diggers, everyone this tag is supposed to segregate, have been misled by corporations. Without their lies, and a pliant media, this tag would be unnecessary, and llms would be rolled out in a more limited and responsible way. To promote different uses of gold during a gold rush is going to inflate the bubble and enrich the rich, unless it is properly contextualized. Technology does not exist in a void, pretending it does digs us a deeper hole.
I run my local models on a Mac mini m2, but I could also be using AMD (ROCm), Intel with OpenVINO, or just CPU. Simple edge applications I could even use something like an RK3588.
Being tied to NVidia is marketing from NVidia, not the reality of LLMs.
Congrats, you are in the 1%. And that is exactly the type of additional context I think is necessary when discussing it, thank you.
Sorry, I’m not following here. Are you suggesting I’m in the 1% of income earners? Because if so… LOL not even close, I’m barely in the top 40% by rough math.
Just to note, an apple silicon Mac is one of the most efficient (dollars, wattage, whatever take your pic) ways to run an LLM. Mine was a build target for iOS stuff for a client I’m now repurposing, that was a refurb that cost about $600.
I can’t even buy a GPU for that price these days.
You are in the 1% of llm users.
Do you think anybody is choosing m2s over nvidia? Everybody running on cpu dreams of being rich enough to do real gold digging on an ampere. Amd is the only direct competitor, an order of magnitude smaller, and supports fewer models. I don’t think any hobbyist has one of these alternatives at the top of their wishlist, they are substitutes.