I work at a Fortune 50 company with hundreds of analysts, engineers, data scientists, and from socializing and networking with people, it’s become really clear to me that a lot of people are using their own PC or paying for AI out of pocket. This was shocking to me, as I thought that the company was funding AI like API GPT for work. But it seems like a lot of people are actually using their own personal computers at home and paying for API access to Claude, GPT4, or even getting local AI models like Llama 3.1. When I was talking to a data scientist specifically, He explains that he spent $2900 out of his own paycheck to get a top of the line computer with a really good processor and RTX 4080 Just so he can run his own local AI model for work in order to solve business problems… Like, I was shocked, they’re not bringing company data onto their own devices or anything, but they are using local AI models to generate code in python, SQL, C#, stuff like that…

Here’s an example of a redditor who appears to be doing the same thing. He talks about how the company is investing strategically long run, but won’t pay for AI resources, so he just pays for it out of pocket. This is actually very common and very similar to what I’ve heard at work!!

Does anyone else have any experience or has heard of This being done? I’ve never heard of this before, but apparently it’s more common than I thought. Pretty crazy to pay out of pocket for this kind of stuff

  • SteveFromMySpace@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    0·
    18 days ago

    I had a discussion with an exec member at my office about this lately. My direct report’s laptop was failing (we produce videos) and renders were not happening. When they did, they took forever. I explained this was an expensive way to do business and he needed a laptop because he had started using his home battlestation for renders. For those who don’t know, rendering a lot of video content is a very good way to grind down your GPU.

    I proposed that they offer him a $50/month stipend for the usage of his computer and not bother with a laptop since they had been dragging feet for months. To me this seems like a no-brainer. That’s enough money for the guy to be worth it but they also don’t have to spend $1200+ on a new computer at once. Everyone kind of wins.

    I was told no because others don’t get a stipend. But they all have functioning work laptops! They choose to include their personal computers sometimes - they aren’t video editing mind you - but they don’t have to. My direct report didn’t have a functional piece of business hardware

    Eventually his work laptop completely bit the dust and they relented, he’s got a decent laptop now. But man we wasted months on this shit.