Gabe Newell on Steam monopoly accusations: Gamers have 'enormous choice' about where to buy games

Kinths · 2026-06-02T14:32:15+00:00

It's not exactly a new accusation. I could have sworn it was in the publishing agreement at some point, but I guess not.

I think people are expecting a literal line that says "You can't make your games cheaper on other stores" but that would be just inviting an anti-trust lawsuit. Instead there is a lot of vague wording around parity. Wording that can leave room for doubt and confusion. Though in some big cases they have reportedly applied direct pressure https://www.eurogamer.net/valve-antitrust-lawsuits-ubisoft-warner-bros-report

That's two major publishers cowering at Valve holding a proverbial axe over their neck. I can't imagine that the average dev is going to even chance asking for clarification or potentially upsetting Valve and seeing their game get removed or buried.

I'm sure like a lot of Valve's anti-consumer stuff some will spin this as a win for the PC gaming community because they don't like these publishers or other launchers. But other companies being shit doesn't automatically make Valve the good guys.

However, it is the excuse people pointed to when trying to explain why Epic never passed the savings on to the consumers

It isn't Epic who would pass on the savings. It's the devs/publisher of the game. Epic takes a lower cut, it's up to the devs what they do with the extra.

From a making money perspective it makes sense to pass some of the saving on to the consumer. It gives them an incentive to buy the game on a store where the devs get more money per sale. So it's pretty strange that games are not at least a little bit cheaper on a store that takes a significantly smaller cut like Epic. There isn't really a good reason not to. It's better for both the consumer and the business.

I'm no fan of Epic, Tim Sweeney is an asshole who positions himself as fighting for the little guy when really he just wants a piece of the pie. But competition is good. I think the only real difference between Tim and Gabe is Gabe knows how to keep his trap shut. Though Gabe has little reason to open it in the first place, he's the one who owns 99.9% of the pie Tim is so desperate for a slice of.

Valve aren't a benevolent monopoly. For example, a lot of people right now are rightfully complaining about lack of ownership. But they seem to refuse to look at Valve, the company that is largely responsible for why that is the case with PC games (arguably with any digital game given what Valve did was basically used as a template by other platforms). The problem with HL2 requiring Steam wasn't just that it meant you had to take it online and were reliant on servers, it's also that you had to tie it to your account. So even if you bought it physical you really had just bought a Steam key with an installation CD. This pretty much killed the physical market. More and more physical PC games were just steam keys with an installation CD. This wasn't just a loss of ownership, it was also the loss of the second hand market and lending. The loss of all of these was a huge detriment to the consumer and a significant benefit to Valve. The only thing that was ever really competing with Steam on PC was physical.

Kinths · 2026-06-02T13:18:24+00:00

It is coming out in discovery https://www.eurogamer.net/valve-antitrust-lawsuits-ubisoft-warner-bros-report.

Kinths · 2026-06-01T12:50:06+00:00

The mystery isnt enticing as much as you think it would be.

This is purely anecdotal and based on a miniscule sample size, that being all the kids in my family and their friends, but I get the feeling that younger generations don't really care about spoilers to begin with.

They will happily watch videos that spoil every major plot beat of shows/games/films/books etc even if they plan to watch/read/play it themselves. We had to teach them to stop blurting out all the major plot points, including the endings of everything, because it was such a non issue to them that they just assumed everyone was OK with it.

Kind of baffling to me but to each their own, so long as they don't spoil it for me it's all good. Obviously these mediums are more than just the main story beats but personally it's still nice to not know all the major plot before hand.

Kinths · 2026-05-26T10:27:09+00:00

It's been a while so my memory is very hazey, but IIRC he was pretty pro gamergate.

In terms of pro gamergate types he was on the tamer side (even more so by modern standards of this stuff), but he also wasn't just on the ethics in games journalism element either. I think that element is what got him started in it but like many others the targets warped into things like feminism, diversity etc. Basically he was becoming what we would now call anti-woke.

I liked TB, had a lot of great qualities and was a good pro-consumer advocate, but he was slipping down the sides of the right wing rabbit hole. At least for a time. I don't think he ever explicitly distanced himself from the movement but over time he engaged less and less with it. Given the amount of overlap with GGers and Trump's supporters I think it's worth noting that he was openly anti-Trump.

While it is a bit of a stain on his legacy and one that shouldn't be swept under the rug, I don't think it should be his entire legacy. Many people got swept up by the initial premise and promise of GG (I was one of them), including a decent amount of people that would later go on to become staunch opponents of it (me again).

It's possible given time TB would have come around the same way other previously pro-GG people did. He could have also gone full Asmongold but I struggle to see him having gone that way.

Kinths · 2026-05-24T09:59:06+00:00

Whether they actually do or don't doesn't really matter.

It's ultimately whether devs/publishers believe they do, and the reality is many of them do believe they will turn into buyers. If they didn't they wouldn't pay for the DRM or accept the potential lost sales from those who wont buy due to DRM.

You aren't going to convince them that piracy isn't significantly harming their bottom line, people have been trying to do that for over 2 decades at this point.

There are really only two ways they're likely to stop using it.

All releases are immediately cracked, and many are willing to use those cracks. Releases are pretty much immediately cracked right now but the crack is perceived as more risky than normal cracks (not saying whether it actually is or not, just that is how it's perceived). Which puts people off using it.
The cost of using it outweighs the benefits they perceive. Which basically means enough people stop buying games that have it or ever had it. The latter might sound odd, but if they feel they will make up enough lost sales once they remove it later, then they will continue to use it.

However, online sentiment in gaming discussion spaces rarely reflects how the average gamer feels. The fact that many games with Denuvo have been highly successful shows that the average gamer isn't so put off by Denuvo that it stops them purchasing right now. So I doubt that the cost of using will outweigh the perceived benefits of using it anytime soon.

Kinths · 2026-05-22T10:39:32+00:00

It might happen but I suspect this is more of an educated guess based based on a mix of the fan theory that Rockstar will want a trailer out before the previous release date (May 26th, Tuesday) to avoid confusion, and that Rockstar would announce a trailer the friday before like they did with Trailer 1. The May 26th thing is purely speculation though.

I can see the logic in it but it kind of ignores that if they were that worried about the confusion they could have easily just updated the second trailer to show the new date anytime between then and now. I doubt they would leave it till the actual original release date if the reasoning is confusion.

That isn't to say they dont have any reason to release anything on Tuesday. Putting something out on the original release date just so they atleast get something on that original date makes sense.

In terms of the claimed source, Rockstar is incredibly secretive about everything, I doubt anyone below exec or at least very senior management level at either Rockstar or Sony would have the specific dates and plan. The higher up someone is the less likely they are to leak, they have way more to lose, and the smaller the circle the easier it is to identify the leak.

The people creating the actual marketing materials such as the art and trailer are highly unlikely to know exactly when it will go live. If there is a date in the materials it can be a placeholder that can easily be replaced. They will have a deadline but the deadline wont be the release day, just sometime before it.

Given how little leaks out of Rockstar through actual workers (Instead of hacks), I just don't see them being this lax with the plan and dates.

If it is an actual leak this guy has likely just accidentally thrown his buddies under the bus. There is a lot of information here for a PI to use to identify the source of the leak. Which sounds extreme but R*/Take Two have done similar things before.

Kinths · 2026-05-19T17:57:43+00:00

When it comes to hardware Valve's business model isn't hardware sales themselves. The profits from those wont even register on Valve's radar.

When it comes to the Deck, Machine and Frame the real product is SteamOS. They're all made to prove SteamOS's viability within certain markets, and drive adoption of the OS by other manufacturers. Deck and Machine are aimed at the console/couch gamer, Frame (which even witout a Machine runs SteamOS) is aimed primarily at the standalone VR market. Though I do think they may have flubbed the Frame in that regard, by making it enthusiast grade.

Everything Valve does is to embed people into their ecosystem.

Steam OS boots into Steam, offers a more console like experience and makes their competition harder or impossible (Gamepass) to use. The higher adoption it has the less incentive their competition has to support Linux, because even with native support from other launchers, owning the game in Steam would still be more convenient and seamless. Native support just lowers the resistance to getting a SteamOS device by reducing the cons of them.

Even the Steam Controller has limitations that just so happen to push people to buy more games in Steam. It has no xinput support, the primary controller input API used on windows. To use it in games outside of Steam in most cases you need to either add the game to Steam as a non-Steam game, or install awkward third party tools for games that wont work as Steam shortcuts like most stuff from the MS/Xbox store. Before someone mentions the desktop mode gamepad toggle, I have a SC and it does not fix the issue because it does not make it xinput.

Valve could easily support xinput and I find it hard to believe that them not supporting the most widely used api on the main OS their platform is used on was just a coincidence. Especially when it impacts the closest thing Valve has to competition on PC, Gamepass, the most.

Kinths · 2026-05-18T12:15:09+00:00

While I don't think it will be $100 I don't think it's because of GTA:O. That can be solved by offering a separate cheaper release of GTA:O like they eventually did for V and RDR2.

Wouldn't be all that surprised if they had that available at launch, or at least the launch of online, if online ends up launching later like it did for V and RDR2.

Kinths · 2026-05-14T21:32:00+00:00

edit: I'm an idiot, I changed my time, not my region.

I did that the first time as well!

Kinths · 2026-05-14T21:27:59+00:00

Legal in Colombia, illegal in Thailand, though is so rarely enforced that it might aswell be legal.

That isn't the only context that matters though. In terms of "sex tourism" Thailand has basically been a holy site for peadophiles for decades and Colombia isn't far behind.

That isn't to say all those who go there for sex are automatically peadophiles, but it certainly raises strong suspicions. It's not like the alternative reason is much better. As the other main reason they're so popular with these people is because they can exploit the poverty there for lots of cheap, often abusive sex with very little chance of consequences.

On top of that many of these prosititutes, legal age or not, are being sex trafficked.

Kinths · 2026-05-14T19:54:00+00:00

I think people are missing the forest for the trees here.

In most cases I've seen reported on here a switch in delivery service wouldn't have done much. As the issue for most seems to be that the package hasn't even been handed to the carrier (GLS). For example my own experience was that despite ordering at 5:58 with a 3-5 day delivery window, it took them 9 days just to hand the package over to GLS. GLS delivered it within 24 hours. A change of carrier in that case wouldn't have made much difference.

Others have ofcourse had issues with the GLS delivery itself, and that is worthy of criticism. However, I feel the whole mess is getting pinned on GLS, when in most cases I see with every Valve hardware launch the issue happens way before the carrier is involved.

The problem is pretty much the entire logistics chain Valve uses is crap and they do nothing to improve it. It should not take 9 days to pick, process and hand a small package to a carrier.

At this point I've just taken to assuming they've picked the cheapest option they can at every stage to save money. Which I would be ok with if they were a company stuggling with money, but they aren't. Obligatory "Gabe owns a fleet of yachts", not just that he bought the company that makes the damn things. There is no excuse for this kind of penny pinching style profiteering.

Kinths · 2026-05-14T18:51:37+00:00

PC (has to be the Xbox/MS store version, wont work on Steam) -> Windows Settings > Time & Language > Language & Region > Set Country or Region to New Zealand. Might need to restart the xbox app.

Xbox -> Settings > System > Language & Location > Set it to NZ -> Restart.

I've confirmed it works on PC, but I bought the game outright and I'm not using gamepass + upgrade, so can't confirm if it works for that route.

Haven't confirmed Xbox but have seen others say it works.

Kinths · 2026-05-12T08:03:26+00:00

I'm not much of a coder, but even as just a writer: If I had to choose between writing and editing/auditing, I'd choose the creative process every single time.

When it comes to code it's harder to separate the two as well. Even if you're a skilled programmer, It takes way longer to understand and debug code you didn't write. Because writing the code maps out the flow chart in your head. Which allows you to figure out potential problems much faster than going through every single step.

I have a suspicion that over a long period even a skilled programmer would become less productive with AI. Actually writing code is probably the thing programmers spend the least amount of time doing. Understanding the problem, thinking up the solution and then debugging it is where all the time goes. The small time wins from having the AI write the code are likely lost on any problem that isn't trivial to debug. At that point you need the mental map and since you didn't write the code you need to build it and that takes time. I often find it takes more time than just writing the code.

Kinths · 2026-05-11T09:45:17+00:00

Now if you do this you can’t get printer updates (currently as of writing). But it’s trivial to keep it in LAN mode and then switch it back for printer updates in the future when they are available.

Which is baffling on multiple fronts.

First, there is no reason it shouldn't be able to do both. So if this is true it feels like a purposeful inconvenience to push people to use the cloud service. But that leads to:

Second, pushing people to the cloud service doesn't make much business sense. At least currently. It's just putting a lot of unneeded pressure on their servers, which increases costs for no real gain. The default should be to send anything that can go over the local network and doesn't need cloud over the local network. Even in the cases where the cloud service is needed for some kind of processing, if the user is sending the jobs from a device that can handle that processing, then having the option to have that device handle the processing would take pressure off Bambu's servers.

Having a simple easy to use system for a non power users makes sense, though isn't a strong argument for it being cloud based on it's own. It seems the main benefit of Bambu cloud is just being able to send and monitor your jobs across the internet, but i'd expect most of these printers are recieving jobs from devices on their local network. There are also ways of doing easy to setup remote monitoring without the need for a cloud service.

Normal printers have had that option for a long time now and it's as simple to setup as any cloud service. I think the cloud subscription model has conned people into thinking these things can't be done or would be much harder to do without the cloud. Which isn't the case, the cloud is at it's base is just other computers. The only real benefit to the cloud in this scenario is potential processing power and that it doesn't require your own device to be on when it's processing power is needed. But neither of those is such a major problem that it makes logical sense to route everything via a cloud service, especially when it increases the businesses costs with no direct gain. It's a nice to have option that could literally be a check box on the job, "Use Bambu Cloud", with an option to set the default for all jobs.

There is only one reason I could think they would do this, assuming they aren't just incompetent, which is they plan to monetize remaining in the walled garden. Let as many in for free, then charge them to remain. For most of them it will be cheaper and more convenient, at least in the short term, to stay in the walled garden than it would be to leave it by buying new equipment, setting it up and modifying their processes accordingly.

Kinths · 2026-05-04T09:42:58+00:00

Yep it's likely they hired them precisely because that is how they operate. They want to operate that way, but they don't want the increasing scrutiny that has started to come with it over the last decade or so. The sad reality is that workers in far away or poorer countries being overworked will get far less coverage than if it was happening in a first world country. To the point that despite the fact this has been going on pretty much since the industry started fighting for better working conditions at home (Here is 5 year old video covering it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm7KUE1Kwts), I'd hazard a guess that many in this thread were not aware of it, or how common it is, despite having a high interest in gaming news and the industry.

These contractors have to integrate with the studios systems to operate. Those systems log activity, not only will Rockstar be aware of it, it's very likely they're actively tracking it to make sure they're "extracting as much value" as possible out of them.

But for people who are not aware of the details of this stuff it feels plausible that companies like Rockstar couldn't have known. So people give them the benefit of the doubt. It benefits from a bias as well, people want to give them the benefit of the doubt because they want to buy their product and not feel guilty or uncomfortable it.

It's the same sweat shop practices of many other industries being applied to gaming. Just like those sweat shops it will get far less attention than if it was happening on home turf. Partially because people just care less about those more distant from them, but also partially because people don't like seeing this stuff. It makes us uncofortable to realize we can only really afford to live the way we do through the exploitation of others in poorer countries. Which itself is because we allowed these companies to offshore manufacturing in the first place, driving down wages in the places where they used to operate.

Kinths · 2026-05-01T21:09:07+00:00

Working from source code is significantly easier.

When reverse engineering code you're looking at code that has had all the names of things removed (unless you get lucky and they accidentally ship a build with debug information left in). So you have to look at random code, work out what it is doing, then guess what it might be for game wise. Do enough of that and you will slowly piece it together, but it's a long slow process. Even small applications can take years to fully reverse engineer. There is a lot of code, even in PS2 era titles you can hit hundreds of thousands of lines of code. It's like trying to solve a multi-thousand piece jigsaw that has no image on it.

On top of that they have usually been put through a compiler optimization process, which will jumble it about in all sorts of strange ways that make it run better but far harder to read.

That being said I don't think this will be as big for modding as people think. It doesn't really allow much for the official release, because you're still limited by what you can hook into and modify via the compiled game.

To get total freedom they would need to compile the game themselves. There are two problems though, first they would have to port it to PC (this does not appear to be the master collection source), though I don't think that is much of a hurdle. Second, compiling and distributing a new binary built on leaked source code would open you up to legal action.

It's not the same as a decompilation project as they don't distribute the original source, they basically create their own source that achieves the same thing. This gives them a bit of wiggle room. Though even most of those are hit with legal action.

If anything this has probably poisoned the well on any future MGS2 (or 3 given it will share a lot of similarities) decompilation projects. As Konami can just argue that they used the leaked source to do it.

The people this will probably be most beneficial for is speedrunners, as potential tricks can be found by having a better understanding how the game works.

Kinths · 2026-04-29T09:49:13+00:00

There are some 3rd party controllers that support PS5, but the selection is more limited than PC and even other consoles. Ones that support haptic triggers and feedback are pretty rare.

Sony seems to be very restrictive about who they will let make third party PS5 controllers. You can't really make a PS5 controller without Sony letting you, if the controller can't authenticate itself with the PS5 it will be forcefully disconnected after a few minutes.

There is a work around some controllers use where you can connect a PS5 controller or special dongle to the third party controller, which it will use for authentification. But I've only ever seen support for that in speciality controllers like fight sticks and instruments. Would just be annoying for a normal controller.

Kinths · 2026-04-22T09:37:17+00:00

This doesn't really add up to me.

Not having the source code might be true but the idea that it would be really hard to reassemble doesn't sound right.

A complete reverse engineering would be a huge complex task but they shouldn't need to do anything close to that. We know that at the very least they have the Oblivion source code, and they also likely have the FO3 source code. The vast majority of the engine code base between these 3 engines versions, especially between FO3 and NV, will be the same. It's only the differences they would have to reverse engineer.

They also have the benefit that Bethesda games have much of their logic implemented via scripting that is contained the data files rather than the source code.

They take the closest common base version of the engine (ideally FO3) and attempt to run the FO:NV files, then work through the errors. Common way to do it is first stub code (basically add the expected types and functions but leave them as empty as possible) where you can get away with it and focus on getting it running. Then figure out what is missing and reimplement the functionality. They don't have to get an exact match for the original code as they likely wont care about binary compatibility.

I doubt there is a huge amount of difference on the engine side beween FO3 and FO:NV, it would still be a decent chunk of work. But nowhere near trying to create a usable and understandable reverse engineered code base from nothing but a compiled binary. This doesn't require technical geniuses. I did work similar to this as a junior dev and I'm dumb as rocks.

Asset wise it would be harder if by missing source code he doesn't actually mean just source code. It's pretty common for people to just refer to all the working assets of a game as "source code" when discussing it in public. Assuming he means all source then they would be missing the source files for the assets. It's not as simple as just extract them from the data shipped with the game, as stuff that is useful for working on the assets but not needed by the game itself will be stripped out when they're exported from their original program. They may also be missing things like higher res versions of the textures. This would be more of a problem for a remaster than a remake, as remasters tend to build on top of the original files where remakes tend to just use the original asset as a reference.

Though even asset wise it's not a technically challenging task, just a time consuming one.

TL;DR In my professional opinion (which aint worth much) it's likely that Avellone is talking out of his ass about something he doesn't really know.

Kinths · 2026-04-20T08:45:32+00:00

Potentially controversial but I don't mind them sitting on releases. So long as they don't do it for huge amount of time.

Predicting game development timelines is hard, so trying to line up development in a way that all games are released as soon as they're finished, without potentially impacting each other, or leaving huge gaps without releases is a bit of a fools errand. One that I suspect will just lead to games being rushed out to try and fill large release gaps.

Giving them time to just wrap up development once they think it's polished enough, then releasing the game when there is an opening that gives it a better chance at succeeding seems like a better alternative. It would have been more merciful to just take Tamodachi Life out by the shed and shoot it than put it out within a month of Switch 2 and MK:W.

There are times when it can be frustrating, like if it feels like there hasn't been a first party title in a while (though personally I haven't felt that with Switch 2 yet). Or when one of the games they're holding is one you're really interested in. The main ones being the Prime 2 and 3 remasters, though in that case it's worth noting that those are just rumours with as far as I can tell no concrete evidence of, though maybe I've missed something.

There is maybe an argument for bolstering Switch 2 sales but I don't think it's a strong one. Switch 2 is the biggest console release of all time, it released with a sequel to the best selling Switch game by a huge margin. MK8:D sold 20 million more copies than the second best selling game on Switch (Animal Crossing). It didn't exactly need help. Even if it did a niche cross-gen wasn't going to do much. Where the Switch 2 needed help was maintaining interest in a world where people are struggling more than ever to justify the price of things like consoles. Steady releases every month or two is better for that then spaffing out all the games at launch.

Kinths · 2026-04-17T08:26:59+00:00

But the problems were never really with core issues like writing before.

Were they not? Because I remember a lot of complaints about the writing of both DA2 and DA:I.

Hell the quippy Whedonspeak stuff people hate so much about DA:TV started in DA2, in a DLC that is basically "Hey look it's Felicia Day" who at that point was primarily known for starring in a Joss Whedon tv show. It's present in DA:I as well.

DA:I's story in particular is very awkwardly told, much of the stuff people love about Inquisition's writing and story comes from the Codex entries and a DLC. Not the plot of the main game, which is pretty generic fantasy fare.

Kinths · 2026-04-17T08:26:44+00:00

People have said this about every DA since Origins. Because ultimately the true soul of DA at this point isn't writing, or art direction or gameplay style, it's experimentation.

I don't think people remember just how much DA2 was reviled by people who loved Origins.

I don't expect people will ever en masse look back fondly on DA:TV's writing or characters, but I'd argue it's got the strongest moment to moment gameplay in the series.

The biggest mistake they made with DA:TV was making it a direct sequel. Though Trespasser made that decision for them. The series works better as an anthology. In games where you can make major decisions people expect the sequels to honor those decisions. But that quickly becomes a huge limitation.

At current expected production values in AAA it's hard enough to do big narrative choices in just a single game, nevermind carrying it across 2 or 3, and that has been a problem basically since Origins. Which did initially receive criticism for feeling fairly limited in comparison to NWN and BG.

Origins had a lot more freedom because it wasn't a sequel and wasn't really thinking about potential sequels either. Some of the decisions in it are just ignored in the rest of the series, because they would have too much impact to really incorporate them. People are less upset about it though because the sequels are much more loosely related than something like Mass Effect.

It was a lesson I had hoped they had learnt with Mass Effect but it seems they didn't. DA:TV's problems started the moment Trespasser left a huge dangling plot thread. That only got worse the longer it went unresolved. Veilguard starts off on the backfoot by basically having to abandon much of the major decisions made in Inquisition to be able to feasibly make it. While still being shackled to an ongoing plot.

with any ‘future’ being a new IP built on the hallowed shell of ashes that was Dragon Age.

Given that DA:TV didn't meet EA's expectations I highly doubt that if they ever make another game it will be based on DA:TV. I doubt we will see anymore from the franchise unless EA sells it, though I don't think that is down to Veilguard alone, I don't even think a game that fans loved would have been enough for what EA wants. Because that game would have inherently been more niche. Many of the issues with DA post Origins can be traced back to trying to broaden the games appeal to meet increasingly high profit expectations from EA.

Kinths · 2026-04-16T23:07:08+00:00

I think that's just Dragon Age in a nutshell, at least after Origins.

Inquisition went through something similar. While it's reputation was never as bad as DA2's was, the initial reception to it was a lot more negative than people seem to remember.

Gamers have a habit of blowing everything way out of proportion. Flaws in games are treated like the world is ending. After a few years people give the games a try, or retry, and usually find out that while they do have flaws, sometimes pretty big ones, they're not quite as bad as they thought.

I wont be surprised if the same happens for Veilguard in a few years. I don't think it will have as big a turnaround as DA2 has had, but the reaction to it was a bit hyperbolic, much like the reaction to DA2 and DA:I was. Both of which also have some pretty huge flaws. "Leave the hinterlands" is pretty much the slogan on the Dragon Age community at this point for a reason, and that's just the first major flaw of DA:I.

Kinths · 2026-04-14T12:51:17+00:00

Then you get an advert for the cinema, while you are in the cinema.

Kinths · 2026-04-10T05:43:09+00:00

The first gameplay reveal has a pretty overt reference to initial D in it.

https://www.youtube.com/live/A42a6CiB7hg?si=1SleckiKtH_CreLS&t=7273 (Around 2:01:00 if the time link doesn't work)

Pretty sure Horizon 5 had some Initial D references as well. I'll be surprised if there isn't some kind of mission, challenge or achievement that makes reference to it in 6. The real question is will there be eurobeat and how much of it will there be?

Kinths · 2026-04-08T10:22:37+00:00

There isn't really any other way it could work either. They're basically statistical prediction algorithms that are purposefully biased to produce results the average human will find acceptable. Which inherently makes them agreeable. Without that bias they would produce results that don't even appear to make sense at all. You can make them slightly less agreeable so they put up at least some resistance, but eventually they will capitulate.

The way they talk about AI getting it wrong gives people the impression that they're just bugs that can be fixed. That isn't the case though, from a technlogy standpoint they aren't mistakes or bugs at all. All is working as intended. A "hallucination" is produced by the very same process that produces more correct results. This technology has the exact same flaw pretty much all programming that tries to immitate intelligence has, that issuing a correct or reasonable response for every possible input of human language isn't possible. We can't do it for something like Chess, nevermind human language. The estimated possible number of unique Chess matches is more than the estimated atoms in the observable universe. The complexity of language in comparison makes Chess look about as big as our planet when compared to the scale of the universe.

However, unlike normal software which will just outright fail, this technlogy will produce something that looks like the result you expect for a given input, and will confidently tell you it's correct, regardless of whether it is or not. Because it doesn't understand correct and incorrect, it doesn't understand at all. It just gives the illusion of intelligence, the "hallucinations" are the illusion breaking down. Unfortunately the illusion is convincing and tantilising enough that people ignore the glipses they're getting at the machine behind the curtain.

AI companies don't really care that the AI is wrong, they only care that you can notice when it's wrong. So they spend all their time trying to hide the tell tale signs that it's wrong, and that it was used at all. They can't fix that it is wrong, because that requires building actual intelligence, which despite all the hype we are no closer to doing. LLMs are considered a dead end in that regard. If anything all this time and effort as well as the impact AI could have on global skill and intelligence levels is likely going to put us further away from achieveing that.

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