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ritz_labringue

67 karma · joined April 27, 2017

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ritz_labringue··on GPT-5-Codex
Well, it's really a VSCode extension that lets you run Codex CLI in the IDE. Not the "cloud" version of Codex... So GP is technically correct
ritz_labringue··on Ask HN: How can ChatGPT serve 700M users when I can't run one GPT-4 locally?
You’re right, I conflated two things. MoE improves compute efficiency per token (only a few experts run), but it doesn’t meaningfully reduce memory footprint.

For fast inference you typically keep all experts in memory (or shard them), so VRAM still scales with the total number of experts.

Practically, that’s why home setups are wasteful: you buy a GPU for its VRAM capacity, but MoE only activates a fraction of the compute each token, and some experts/devices sit idle (because you are the only one using the model).

MoE does not make batching more efficient, but it demands larger batches to maximize compute utilization and to amortize routing. Dense models batch trivially (same weights every token). MoE batches well once the batch is large enough so each expert has work. So the point isn’t that MoE makes batching better, but that MoE needs bigger batches to reach its best utilization.

ritz_labringue··on Ask HN: How can ChatGPT serve 700M users when I can't run one GPT-4 locally?
The short answer is "batch size". These days, LLMs are what we call "Mixture of Experts", meaning they only activate a small subset of their weights at a time. This makes them a lot more efficient to run at high batch size.

If you try to run GPT4 at home, you'll still need enough VRAM to load the entire model, which means you'll need several H100s (each one costs like $40k). But you will be under-utilizing those cards by a huge amount for personal use.

It's a bit like saying "How come Apple can make iphones for billions of people but I can't even build a single one in my garage"

ritz_labringue··on My "Are you presuming most people are stupid?" test
I don't think I agree with the premise. Sure there are lots of car accidents in absolute terms, but given how many people drive and how error-prone driving inherently is, most people are actually pretty decent drivers
ritz_labringue··on Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
AI is really useful when you already know what code needs to be written. If you can explain it properly, the AI will write it faster than you can and you'll save time because it is quick to check that this is actually the code you wanted to write. So "programming with AI" means programming in your mind and then using the AI to materialize it in the codebase.
ritz_labringue··on Meta's Llama 3.1 can recall 42 percent of the first Harry Potter book
Harry Potter action figures trade almost entirely on J. K. Rowling’s expressive choices. Every unlicensed toy competes head‑to‑head with the licensed one and slices off a share of a finite pot of fandom spending. Copyright law treats that as classic market substitution and rightfully lets the author police it.

Dropping the novels into a machine‑learning corpus is a fundamentally different act. The text is not being resold, and the resulting model is not advertised as “official Harry Potter.” The books are just statistical nutrition. One ingredient among millions. Much like a human writer who reads widely before producing new work. No consumer is choosing between “Rowling’s novel” and “the tokens her novel contributed to an LLM,” so there’s no comparable displacement of demand.

In economic terms, the merch market is rivalrous and zero‑sum; the training market is non‑rivalrous and produces no direct substitute good. That asymmetry is why copyright doctrine (and fair‑use case law) treats toy knock‑offs and corpus building very differently.

ritz_labringue··on I think I'm done thinking about GenAI for now
I very much agree, and I think people who are in denial about the usefulness of these tools are in for a bad time.

I've seen this firsthand multiple times: people who really don't want it to work will (unconsciously or not) sabotage themselves by writing vague prompts or withholding context/tips they'd naturally give a human colleague.

Then when the LLM inevitably fails, they get their "gotcha!" moment.

ritz_labringue··on Building AI agents to query your databases
It does require writing good instructions for the LLM to properly use the tables, and it works best if you carefully pick the tables that your agent is allowed to use beforehand. We have many users that use it for every day work with real data (definitely not toy problems).
ritz_labringue··on Grok3 Launch [video]
It's not on par with o1, let alone o1-pro
ritz_labringue··on Setting up PostgreSQL for running integration tests
Why can't you just create a pool of databases and truncate all tables after each run ? That should be pretty fast
ritz_labringue··on Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft
researchers are paid 2x what engineers are paid at OAI, even if it's not the same job there's still one that is "higher level" than the other.
ritz_labringue··on Show HN: Generate startup ideas based on HN comments
> Create a blockchain-based AI-powered VR platform that allows pet owners to monitor and interact with their pets remotely, providing real-time feedback on their health, behavior, and emotions. Incorporate web3 technology to ensure secure and transparent data management, and leverage VR/AR to create an immersive experience for both pets and owners. This startup idea taps into the growing trend of tech running through every industry, while also addressing the need for innovative solutions that benefit both pets and humans.

All I need now is a tool that will generate the YC application

ritz_labringue··on GPT-3 APIs are now in public beta
Thanks ! Didn't know that. Isn't it also very expensive to run ?
ritz_labringue··on GPT-3 APIs are now in public beta
Doesn't it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars just to train GPT-3 ? If so, that seems like a good reason to use a "managed" GPT-3.
ritz_labringue··on Show HN: Fion – A new tool to track your spending, without a budget
I confirm that this product cannot be launched in France with this name
ritz_labringue··on Amazon to pay $1B+ for Zoox
Your parent is specifically talking about greenfield projects that are not customer facing. Alexa/Echo is customer facing.
ritz_labringue··on Tycoon Xavier Niel says he was spy who hacked ex-French president
disclaimer: he was an investor in my startup

He spends a lot of his money on giving back: 42, a free programming bootcamp (https://www.42.fr/), Station F, a huge co-working space in Paris which hosts entrepreneurs for free (https://stationf.co/)

He also has a very active VC/Business Angel fund (he funds 2 early stage startups every week out of his own pocket). His telecom company (free) helped divide by 2 the average price of mobile plans in France.

All in all, his impact seems very positive, I'd love to understand why you think he is evil

ritz_labringue··on Retry pattern – A fundamental pattern for systems resilience (2018)
Thanks. This makes sense.
ritz_labringue··on Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation
If you pay for the premium/metal plan, the support is stellar as well (or at least, it has been for me)
ritz_labringue··on Retry pattern – A fundamental pattern for systems resilience (2018)
Not sure why this is getting downvoted
ritz_labringue··on Apple expected to adopt keyboard with scissor mechanism for 16-inch MacBook Pro
What does it have to do with the control key ?
ritz_labringue··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (July 2019)
Not looking for a job, but the product looks awesome!
ritz_labringue··on Starlink – SpaceX’s broadband internet system
Well, the website is actually pretty nice, maybe it's time for you to get a modern browser.
ritz_labringue··on Notre-Dame cathedral: Firefighters tackle blaze in Paris
This does not look like a reliable source of information at all.
ritz_labringue··on Apple iPhone SE Available on Apple Store Again
The keyboard is fixed on the 2018 MBP
ritz_labringue··on iPad Pro as Development Machine
VS Code and Visual Studio are different beasts, though.
ritz_labringue··on Web Scraping with Electron
I can't not mention this infamous SO answer: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open...
ritz_labringue··on Ask HN: How do I earn more as a developer?
I'm a junior developer in Paris (~1.3 years of experience). I make 54.5k/y "brut", which is basically a bit under 3000 after tax per month. 2500 seems a bit low to me, especially if you are in Paris and have 2+ years experience.
ritz_labringue··on Open-Sourcing ClusterFuzz
Unity itself (the engine) is written in C++. Game scripts are written in either C# or UnityScript iirc.
ritz_labringue··on The Facebook Era Is Over
Definetely not in France. FB Messenger is the primary way of messaging people here