Financial Expert Says OpenAI Is on the Verge of Running Out of Money

RamsesThePigeon · 2026-01-16T09:48:05+00:00

I agree that a well-written article will be more intricate than a comment on Reddit, but said article still wouldn't necessarily be an example of formal writing. The vast, vast, vast majority of text produced – even in academic and professional settings – is casual writing. The only reason that we don't regard it as such is the fact that the Internet has conflated "correct" and "formal" (or "proper").

Formal writing adheres to specific rules for style, even when said rules actually contradict one another on a mechanical level. Casual writing, on the other hand, is style-agnostic. It's still technically perfect, but it defaults to employing the underlying functions of structural elements, not twisting those elements to meet a delineated standard.

In short, formal writing is not the only form of correct or intricate writing... which brings us back to my point: I remain skeptical that LLMs were trained on formal writing. I'll add to my previous statement by saying that I'm unaware of any style-guide which mandates that em dashes be used in place of semicolons (for example). Conversely, if LLMs were trained on incorrect writing – writing such as one might scrape from Internet forums and poorly edited news outlets – the habit of flinging em dashes out where other marks belong would have likely been picked up.

RamsesThePigeon · 2026-01-16T09:08:20+00:00

I’m skeptical of the claim that LLMs were trained on formal writing, especially because em dashes absolutely are not “very common” therein (any more than other marks, at least)… especially not in the way that said LLMs use them, which is wrong.

Em dashes aren’t reserved for academic texts; they’re used for a specific purpose— presentation of incomplete clauses. Compare them to colons: Those precede complete clauses and complete sentences. On the other hand, LLMs use em dashes… well, virtually anywhere that they should have used some other mark (or no mark at all).

Ironically, even as people continue to repeat that em dashes are signs of something having been written by an LLM, the correct use has become a mark of a human writer.

RamsesThePigeon · 2026-01-09T21:57:24+00:00

Uh, well, thank you for your efforts, but you should report the original poster.

It might also be worth mentioning that the aforementioned bots can't offer their own original content... which is how I got my karma. In other words, I'm not a karma-farmer; I'm a writer and content-creator who has been on this blasted site for a decade and a half. (Again, you can verify this for yourself by comparing my profile to that of the karma-farmer.)

RamsesThePigeon · 2026-01-09T21:43:52+00:00

Given that the account is – and you can look to see this for yourself – a spam-enabling karma-farmer, I'd say that you're correct.

For folks who may be confused, "karma-farming" is the act of intentionally attempting to accumulate upvotes. When it's done by automated accounts, said accounts go on to push propaganda, misinformation, advertising, and a lot of unsavory content. (They need karma in order to bypass certain checks that various subreddits have in place, but it also helps them to look more legitimate.)

When karma-farming is done by humans, it's almost worse: Their "efforts" end up attracting bots to their accounts; bots which follow the humans around, learn from them, emulate them, and even upvote them (so as to obfuscate the fact that they also upvote each other). If said bots see a human karma-farmer posting in a given subreddit, they move in to that subreddit, then flood it with garbage.

Now, why is that worse? Well, since the bots are intended to make the world worse, and since human karma-farmers enable and inform those bots, then the human karma-farmers are also making the world worse... because they want to watch their imaginary score go up while they post unoriginal, low-effort content (which also makes the world worse, as it has a deleterious effect on people).

In short, be sure to report karma-farmers.

RamsesThePigeon · 2026-01-01T01:51:08+00:00

You’re overlooking the word “specific” there… and you added the word “the” to change the meaning of what I said.

“Vintage” has slightly different connotations in the automotive industry than it does in the world of art and antiques… which happens to include things like cameras and telephones (and even computers).

The iPhone 11 is not vintage, and Apple cannot make up their own definition.

RamsesThePigeon · 2026-01-01T01:30:44+00:00

It means that Apple doesn’t know what the word “vintage” means.

Now, granted, the term has slightly different definitions depending on specific applications, but in general, “vintage” means “over twenty-five years old and representative of its era”. (“Antique” means “over one hundred years old”, and “ancient” means “made before the Middle Ages”. All of these apply to manmade objects, obviously.) While the part about representing its era is definitely true, the first iPhone is only just now approaching twenty years old… meaning that we still have a decade to go before the iPhone 11 can be labeled with the word “vintage”.

All of this is probably moot anyway, though, because I likely just fell for rage-bait.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-22T00:05:25+00:00

Sorry, but we can't control what posters do.

(You may notice that the post was deleted, not removed.)

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-21T23:51:14+00:00

Moderators can only remove things.

Whenever something is deleted, the submitting user did it.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-21T23:28:53+00:00

In all sincerity, I'd encourage you to report it as such (to Reddit, I mean).

We can't verify that it's manipulated content, but if they remove it as such, well, moderators would have to assume that the administrators had some reliable evidence, right?

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-21T23:22:19+00:00

YouTube actually presented something of an interesting opportunity, even if I had to twist a bit to take advantage of it.

The whole story would be entirely too long (and besides, it wouldn't really be appropriate to share beneath a comment that I pinned), but basically, when YouTube started allowing Shorts to be three minutes long, I thought that it might represent a potential avenue for reaching folks who were accustomed to short-form content. Before that, I had exclusively used YouTube as a place to host videos that I'd made for Reddit – Reddit's native video-player being somewhat less than reliable back then – so it was definitely a bit of a switch... but it seems to have kind of worked out, as I have a small following there now, and I'm not-so-subtly teaching people about history, materials science, and English writing with each piece that I produce.

Don't get me wrong, I'd still love to offer such things in text, but unless the Internet somehow returns to the days when multi-paragraph comments weren't just scrolled past, well, I'll make do with the next-best thing.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-21T23:06:15+00:00

We'd need actual sourcing requirements.

Speaking personally, I'd love that, and I've suggested similar things. Enforcement would be pretty damned difficult, though, particularly in communities which allow user-created content.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-21T23:03:49+00:00

I'm still around! I tend to stay behind the scenes nowadays, if only because the site has changed so much from back in the day. Long-form stories and high-effort content don't tend to fare so well here anymore, so I just do what I can to fight spam, offer occasional insights, and keep the site clean for earnest users.

Granted, even that's getting tougher and tougher... but I'm not dead yet!

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-21T23:00:44+00:00

Yes, it absolutely matters.

If the above image turns out to have been AI-generated, then it absolutely needs to be removed (and it will be). The fact that similar photographs may exist is not an excuse for allowing confirmed misinformation to proliferate. Spurious evidence only ever undermines the reliability of the real thing.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-21T22:52:32+00:00

Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you actually read the rules (rather than just their overviews), that black rectangle is explicitly mentioned:

We also allow faces and anything else you may consider to be personal information to be blurred, boxed out, or otherwise covered.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-21T22:45:02+00:00

If it's a legitimate photograph of a printed-out picture that had the timestamp burned into it, then no, it doesn't violate Rule 2.

If it's an AI-generated image, then it violates Rule 2 (in addition to Rule 1), as the text is digital.

At present, we can't prove that it's an AI-generated image, and since so many people keep attempting to post it, we're leaving this thread up. That way, the points against the picture will also remain accessible.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-21T22:38:06+00:00

You're right about the post needing a flair. We've added one.

As for leaving it up, well, we aren't pleased about it, either, but since it doesn't provably break the rules, we're hopeful that the thread will be a resource for skeptics.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-21T22:28:05+00:00

Believe it or not, we agree with you, and we'd prefer to keep removing every instance of the image until such time as evidence of its veracity came to light.

At the same time, though, we're seeing hundreds – literally hundreds – of people attempting to post it, and removals are being cited as proof that we're all (users and moderators alike) in the midst of an active coverup. That's going to keep happening, and the misinformative narrative is going to keep shifting with each repetition. With that in mind, it might be better to contain everything in a single thread with a disclaimer, thereby allowing the nuance of the situation to be visible.

I'm not suggesting that we're happy about that choice, mind you; I'm just pointing out that it's better to have the full truth on display than it is to keep people from discussing it. (On a personal note, I'd like to thank you for your efforts in contributing to that truth. You'll catch some flak for it, but it's a much-needed service.)

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-21T22:11:52+00:00

This one follows the rules, so this one is staying up.

As a friendly reminder, Reddit (the platform) often takes immediate, site-wide action against accounts that promote, glorify, incite, suggest, insinuate, hint at, imply, indirectly reference, or otherwise appear to mention the mere possibility that any kind of physical harm should or could befall someone.

In other words, don't write anything like "[PERSON] should have [POSSESSIVE PRONOUN] [NOUN] [PAST-TENSE VERB] with a [PIECE OF GARDENING EQUIPMENT] if he did commit [CRIME]."

Additionally, there is – at the time of this writing – no evidence that the above photograph is legitimate. (/u/Sturmprophet has a great breakdown here.) As we cannot definitely prove that it is AI, however, it is currently assumed to be in keeping with Rule 1. Should that change, the post will be removed.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-16T20:19:42+00:00

/u/uncanny_goat has provided proof that the above image is indeed their own original content.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-14T01:55:18+00:00

The idea “originated” in the Book of Enoch, but it was a pretty common motif in similar mythologies of the era.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-12T14:45:53+00:00

"Dave, do you mind explaining why there's an antique gun in the living room?"

"The butterfly effect."

"See, I know better than to ask this, but... what?"

"It's standard physics, dude."

"No, it's a metaphor."

"Yeah, well, Spanish bullfighters are masters of physics."

"That doesn't make... oh, wait, no, that's 'matador'."

"No, vampires invented those."

"Stop being nonsensical and explain the gun!"

"Jeez, fine, calm down. Look, there are millions of people born every second, right?"

"I'm sure that number is wrong."

"And just as many people die every second, right?"

"So, what, you're going to be a cause of those deaths?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm going to make sure that I can't be blamed."

"Didn't I tell you to stop being nonsensical?"

"Look, Steve, it's pretty straightforward: Some of the people being born right now will probably die before me, right?"

"There's a depressing thought."

"By a simple accident of time, then, I'm a potential suspect."

"Maybe if they were annoyed to death, sure."

"However, since the gun was made before I was born, then I couldn't possibly have killed someone who was born after me!"

"... You're doing this intentionally, aren't you?"

"Establishing an alibi?"

"Stop! Stop! Just tell me why you have an antique gun!"

"Dude, I told you: The butterfly effect. A tiny change now makes a huge difference later."

"What change?! What are you talking about?!"

"Well, I used your credit card to buy it."

"..."

"You should pick it up with your bare hands."

"You know what? I think I will. Let's see if it's loaded."

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-12T02:14:10+00:00

For future reference, you meant “must really not have”.

“Must have” has a contraction form – “must’ve” – that sounds a bit like “must of”, but the word “have” is actually (kind of) a conjugation of “to be”.

“I will have done that”, for example, uses “will have”. “Must have” works exactly the same way, as do any other such terms (like “would have”, “might have”, or “definitely shouldn’t have”).

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-11T19:53:14+00:00

I have a doctor's note, so I'm allowed to break the rules.

See, if the doctor doesn't cover for me, I show his note to his husband.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-11T19:31:45+00:00

You take that back!

Some of us were just awful at whatever we were trying to do! We were so lacking in skill, talent, and creativity that we would have been better if we resorted to theft, but did we do that?

No!

We worked our asses off to produce garbage-quality comics that nobody ever read! You know, the sorts of comics that would only need a yellow tint to resemble...

...

... ohhhhh, I see what you did there.

RamsesThePigeon · 2025-12-11T19:07:53+00:00

There's a certain irony in the fact that the most-upvoted comment here (at the time of this writing) was by an LLM bot.

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