Yes, many US politicians have a JD. That helps them become 'smart' politicians, that is to become corrupt while being legal. That legal training helps what to say, how to keep layers between them and the money, etc.
Do you need to work as an apprentice for 2 years before you get that electrician license in your country? In many states of US, it ranges from 1 year to four years.
In many European countries you don't need a license for being an electrician, you may need to register somewhere although that won't be very hard. But you do need to follow the national rules and guidelines while working, which is why an education or applying to a large firm where they'll teach you on the job is not a bad idea.
What are the ways to make models work on AMD, Intel, etc faster? Do AMD, Intel, Tenstorrent, Qualcomm (due to their Modular.ai acquisition) combine forces to take on CUDA?
Every ex-Google Deep mind should start a start up, get funding from VCs and Nvidia. Sell the startup back to Nvidia. That's the best play for those who are capable of this kind of AI startup.
Nvidia invested $500M in Firmus a few months ago. It is interesting to note how Nvidia is investing in every start up that deals with AI, data centers, etc in order to keep the train going.
They're looking at a likely $300+ billion in operating income over the next four quarters. $500m simply no longer matters. They'd be crazy not to spread that spigot of cash around. Their goal has to be to accelerate and spread the use of their GPUs for AI as far and wide as possible, build that up as much as possible before the music slows or stops. There isn't anything else to do with that much cash other than attempt to buy up the industry (they won't be allowed) or dump it back to shareholders (they don't want to).
>But what is the incentive for contractors to participate, and how does it overcome the enormous disincentive of "You are training your replacement"?
They don't need any local companies to participate in this program. This company can hire engineers with an understanding of code (even better, engineering/safety principles behind the code) from the industry. Further, they can go and recruit intelligent people who graduated from trade schools but couldn't get that apprenticeship from local unions. That's all they need, as long as home owners are compensated for any screw ups.
The first line 'Partnerships with home-service companies ...' tells the whole story. No local company with decent trades people on their payroll wants to work with home-service companies, it's always the lowest bidder who wants to get that job from home-service companies. Who are these lowest bidders? Someone brand new, who couldn't get enough clients.
If residential HVAC has more monitoring controls, it is easy to diagnose 99% of the time. What needs to be monitored: supply air temp, return air temp, suction pressure, suction temp, liquid pressure, liquid temp, compressor inrush amps, compressor amp draw, blower motor cfm, blower motor amp draw, further info from ECM and VFD modules if ECM blower motor and VFD compressor are used, etc. Many modern HVACs have some kind of error codes to show what is going on; however, every manufacturer wants his own set of codes, and their special communication prototol, their special thermostat, ...
One can extend similar controls to plumbing and electrical too. That requires a total revamp of how residential electrical/plumbing/hvac is done. This is similar to any field where robots have taken over: the field itself changes in order to accommodate robots.
> This company can hire engineers with an understanding of code (even better, engineering/safety principles behind the code) from the industry
I hate to break it to you, but previous waves of AI did exactly the same thing (e.g. expert systems). Every wave of AI insists that the problem is on the algorithmic side and that they've figured it out this time.
I agree that we should see how this plays out, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work. Much like software development, I suspect there are many strong practical reasons why the real world has a tendency to not align with the specified standards. You can't keep insisting it's mere human incompetence without this whole thing sounding like a grift.
> easy to diagnose 99% of the time
Specifications always have edge cases. Abstractions always leak. That's why everyone is still employed despite all the AI hype. It's wise to expect that 1% is a giant cliff that can totally ruin the success of any project.
The issue is not about 1%, but one of the cost of hiring trades people. HVAC companies are charging $25k for a three-ton HVAC unit+furnace in California, when the cost of the the unit is 5k. And these trades people don't want to fix any problem instead they want to sell a full replacement. Same with electrical. You call for some issue. a banktrician (PE owned company with 60 month financial plan) comes and sells a full panel upgrade, full rewiring? What is going to happen then?
Any person with a decent STEM education can learn these trades for DIY'ing. They can learn safety protocols too. When HVAC/plumbing/electricals are installed in a way conducive to robots, it is easier for those who can't afford a lot of money, to work and fix these issues.
The world (esp in residential) is not a union of two disjoint sets: (a) robots/AI (b) trades people. In fact, the third world is huge: an average tinkerer without being burdened by gatekeepers of the trade can fix many issues when these installs happen. At least it becomes easy to replace parts by oneself, instead of hiring a technician.
Your average technician is no better than a tinkerer. For instance, look at HVAC symptoms: https://imgur.com/a/FXf3iXf That's what many HVAC techs carry, they even carry apps that just takes the inputs (pressures, temperatures, etc) and spew out what could be the cause. What if a HVAC system is built in such a way that it is easy to replace parts? Right now, to replace compressor, one has to discharge the refrigerant, unbraze suction and liquid lines, vaccum out, then use nitrogen, braze both lines, then charge it back. Can we have a world where it is easy to reduce these steps so that it becomes easier for robots (as well as for humans)
How about having universal VFD boards the way ABB sells VFDs for water pumps and other motors, instead of getting tied with a particular brand?
The real problem is whether average home owner can bear the cost of trades people? Sure, trades is just like Accenture IT consulting: one rock star software engineer with 30 dummies who can jack up the billable hours; same goes for law firms too.
