Episode 15 of Localogy’s “This Week in Local” podcast explores two hot topics — no code and sentient AI. Both were top of mind for Localogy analysts Mike Boland and Charles Laughlin.
The no code discussion was spurred by Yext’s foray into the no code website builder space via its new Studio product, which Mike wrote about recently on Localogy Insider.
This led to a discussion of what exactly no code is and why it matters to the local digital ecosystem.
No Code, No Problem
Mike notes that the launch of a no-code site-builder tool “deepens Yext’s presence in the website builder competitive space.”
The no-code site builder space has to date been dominated by players like Wix and Squarespace.
“Usually, the place where no code is most prevalent is what we’re talking about, which is websites because you can easily do something that’s drag and drop,” Mike explains on the podcast.
“No code has also crept into, but I’m a little skeptical of it, actually building apps that have functionality…that needs to query a server, and just do all this more complicated stuff,” Mike said. “But it’s a little more difficult. Because at some point, there’s code.”
Our Role in Making it Happen
The second topic riffs on an article Charles read recently on Techradar by Lance Ulanoff, the former editor of PCMag.com (titled, “Sure, Keep Training Bard and Chat GPT Until They No Longer Need Us“) discussing the wisdom (or lack thereof?) of collectively training AI bots by continuously interacting with them. The analysts briefly kicked around whether we are creating the future we fear by doing so.
Charles thought the question itself “had a certain resonance.” Mike, On the other hand, came down as a pretty hard skeptic of the AI skeptics, as he has done in previous episodes.
“I’m not saying anyone should stop talking to chatbots or stop trying to figure out how to use them to make money. We’re going to do that. That ship has sailed. There’s no bringing that ship back to port,” Charles said on the episode. “But I thought it was just an interesting notion that if we’re gonna get upset about sentience, we should understand our role in making it happen.”
Mike made the point that the notion of relying on crowdsourcing for a significant element of a tech company’s business model is not new. It’s about as old as the Internet.
“Yeah, there is something interesting there that we’re essentially the fuel for the revenue generation and the business models, but that I look at and say, ‘That’s nothing new.’ If we look at the Web 2.0 movement, one interesting thing that always comes out of that era that people don’t talk about is you have companies like Facebook that benefit from a media business model. But without the content costs,” Mike said on the episode.
“They figured out how to take that old media model, but strip out the cost of writers and producers and content because the content that they’re monetizing is all of our interactions and conversations and status updates.”
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Episode 15 of the podcast is sponsored by Localogy’s L23 Conference, April 17-19 in Coronado Bay, California. Visit Localogy.com to learn more. If your organization would like to sponsor an upcoming episode of this podcast, please send a note Charles@Localogy.com. Also, please write to us if you have a guest recommendation for an upcoming episode.
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