Launch YC: Optifye.ai – AI performance monitoring for factory workers

https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/MsF-optifye-ai-ai-performance-monitoring-for-factory-workers

by walterbell • 1 year ago

42 53 1 year ago

ycombinator.com

WantonQuantum• 1 year ago

Some thoughts as a software engineer living in a country with quite strong workers' rights laws (not the US):

- Yuck.

- This is capitalism and, like it or not, I personally benefit from capitalism.

- When the capital comes from affluent countries and the labour comes from countries with weak labour laws, we get a bad situation where the workers are exploited.

- I need to up my game on purchasing from ethical clothing brands.

maxwell• 1 year ago

Dystopian.

astonex• 1 year ago

The launch video is absolutely disgusting

edit: it looks like they’ve now removed it, and yc removed their launch tweet

melvinmelih2• 1 year ago

Video mirror in case you missed it: https://x.com/cdolan92/status/1894216778126959027?s=46

ummonk• 1 year ago

When did tech people decided to turn into straight up comic book villains?

toomuchtodo• 1 year ago

https://x.com/AlexBlechman/status/1457842724128833538

spaceman_2020• 1 year ago

We were promised abundance but instead got OpTiMiZaTiOn

Legitimately feel like just crashing out of this industry and taking up farming or something

coldtrait• 1 year ago

Ever since the AI boom, I feel.

melvinmelih2• 1 year ago

I do not understand how:

1) Someone actually thought this was a good idea

2) Someone actually built it

3) YC actually funded it

tansan3• 1 year ago

4) Someone actually pitched the marketing idea

5) Someone actually made the video

6) Someone actually shared it with YC

7) YC thought it was a good idea to post it

This went through too many layers

infrawhispers• 1 year ago

Why not frame things from the perspective of rewarding good performance? I am sure this will get bought by companies looking to squeeze their workers…and I will not be surprised if this leads to worse outcomes for staff and employers in the medium to long term.

The launch video was disgraceful.

geepytee• 1 year ago

Why not frame things from the perspective of rewarding good performance?

This guy knows marketing. Agreed it would not have been as controversial

moconnor• 1 year ago

In a pipeline the slowest-performing stage determines the throughput, the fastest is irrelevant.

Using humans in pipelines irrevocably sets this kind of dynamic up, sadly.

Aushin• 1 year ago

Because that's not the impetus for creating it and they're not clever enough to hide it. They made it because they want to punish what they believe is the laziness of people beneath them.

elfbargpt2• 1 year ago

I assume unions would have a problem with this right?

moralestapia• 1 year ago

This is getting HUGE exposure on Xwitter right now.

YC is backtracking on them and rightly so. I don't blame them, they probably pitched something relatively ok-ish; today's demo is just a disaster from every angle.

Incidentally, this also shows why 2020s YC is a different beast than 2010s YC, they don't really care about your startup, they don't even really know what is it about, its just a pure numbers game at this point.

Methaphorically, YC also optifye-d itself into what it is nowadays.

bruceb• 1 year ago

"today's demo is just a disaster from every angle."

It is not. Lots of exposure. Those who complain were not customers. Those who are potential customers don't care about comments on twitter.

Can argue backlash hurts YC but for the company itself probably helps in long run.

Apocryphon• 1 year ago

Did lots of exposure help PearAI?

thepasswordis• 1 year ago

The website makes it sounds like this is just...AI sweatshop monitoring software? What the heck?

https://www.optifye.ai/

carabiner2• 1 year ago

This is an actual panopticon?

tansan3• 1 year ago

This seems like a top signal to me. Some form of institution rot going on?

xucian• 1 year ago

good way to put it. how do you plan to get rich form this top signal? short a specific company?

tansan3• 1 year ago

I wish I had the answer

BladeJogger2• 1 year ago

Successful shorting seems to be damn near impossible in this economy. It's just too irrationally optimistic. Maybe this is changing under Trump, but most of the famous short sellers (James Chanos, Hindenburg Research) have closed shop

cute_boi• 1 year ago

I really don't understand why someone is encouraging slavery and YC actually funded it.

Day by day things are moving towards dystopia.

carabiner2• 1 year ago

YC is funding cruise missiles: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41305736

This story was even flagged. Like wtf?

adamrezich• 1 year ago

Sure seems like a little bit of exposure to third-world conditions is making a lot of first-world people here uncomfortable.

elfbargpt2• 1 year ago

I don't think anybody is unaware of third-world conditions. Just surprised YC is investing in tech that helps enforce those conditions directly

NeutralCrane• 1 year ago

This isn’t restricted to third world countries. I’m an ML Engineer and had someone reach out to me last year about a position at a US based startup that is essentially doing the same thing as this, but for service staff in restaurants.

tock• 1 year ago

Money over ethics has been the norm for a long time now. A lot of us unfortunately work at companies that actively make the world a worse place.

ztratar• 1 year ago

The worst ever YC demo and company I've ever seen.

Technology is supposed to make the world better. This is vile, and the script itself shows the founders do not care or understand what they are doing.

mellosouls• 1 year ago

We’re CS grads from Duke and because our families run manufacturing companies, we’ve seen more assembly lines than most industrial engineers

Tl;dr; We place cameras in manufacturing lines and use computer vision to show line supervisors who’s working and who’s not in real-time.

Alternative TL;DR: privileged kids turn exploitation into a dashboard feature.

crsv• 1 year ago

Duke is such a great fit for this story, lol.

BladeJogger2• 1 year ago

and uhhhh... other aspects about them

Aveng19913• 1 year ago

The founders merely translated existing practices into a piece of software. While the demo was a little off, the pain point is pretty valid. As a manufacturer,I have seen factories loose contracts over 20 cents, while the same goods is retailed 4X-5X margin at $85. At the end of the day factories rarely make margins on COG (Cost of Goods), but survive on the residues of efficiency. Even though volume is the game, brutal efficiency is the rule. I personally feel it’s a misplaced backlash on the founders or the factories, while the main enablers are the Big retailers. Factories are at the mercy of big retailers, their relationship dynamic akin to mob boss-henchman, where the factories simply follow the orders.

Most factories practice two modes of compensation: 1. Per pc rate - Payment is directly tied to the output, more efficient. Requires skilled workers and can sometimes be a little costlier and impractical. Defects are deducted from the workers pay.

2. Monthly salary - This setup can accommodate semi skilled workers since each worker only handles one part of the whole. It’s a relatively cheaper process. However inefficiencies can easily creep in, defects can pile up which can wipe off the whole margin and ruin the factory.

I don’t believe in running a sweatshop, but even well run humane factories have to battle inefficiencies all the time. The line between marginal point inefficiencies can mean canceled contracts, cancelled goods and financial losses. At the end of the day it’s the workers who have to take the brunt. The upside of efficiency is timely wages; the downside is already obvious. The upside of inefficiency is a little break for workers; the downside is job loss and unpaid wages.

Hence I am not a fan of mass production esp under contract from Big retailers.

igleria3• 1 year ago

where the factories simply follow the orders

I seem to remember some person using this argument. I think it's called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders

CamperBob24• 1 year ago

That's kind of outrageous, like the common trope of comparing workers to "slaves." Lot of privilege on display here.

There are still a few Holocaust survivors left. Go ask some of them how their experience compares to that of factory workers who can, ultimately, walk out the door anytime they want.

Aveng19913• 1 year ago

In the context of the current topic, follow the orders means meeting deadlines and maintaining cost. Big retail weld massive power over manufacturers, consumers over big retail, the desire for faster and cheaper goods over consumers. It’s a loop where the blame shifts as per the convenience. As a manufacturer, I have also seen some factories passing on the opportunity to contract for some really big retailers, since taking on their orders meant squeezing their workers.

At the end of the day, it’s all about efficiency.But running efficiently shouldn’t come at the cost of low paid workers.

sailingparrot• 1 year ago

As a manufacturer [...]
It’s a misplaced backlash on the founders or the factories, while the main enablers are the Big retailers. Factories are at the mercy of big retailers.

Everyone always think the fault lies somewhere else. Go ask big retailers and they will say they are the mercy of competition and consumers' demands.

Ultimately, everyone is trying to extract the maximum profit they can, and that includes factories.

Aveng19913• 1 year ago

Yes that’s totally true. I have seen huge orders being cancelled at last min due to few days delay. Factories loose contracts over minor issues. The whole mass production phenomenon is very unhealthy esp in fashion where trends changes every week; the pressure to churn the production on time is even greater than other industries.

Not every factories are sweatshops; even good humane factories are under tremendous pressure to run efficiently. Running a business efficiently isn’t a crime. However I do agree that the demo could have been a little more better.

saganus• 1 year ago

Why was the other post flagged?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43170850

Zigurd• 1 year ago

Taylorism. Techbros invented Taylorism. Unironically.

breakyerself• 1 year ago

Kill it with fire. This is disgusting.

I'm a factory worker. Have been for most of the last 30 years. It's nice to know what some people in the tech industry think of us.

cwiz• 1 year ago

Developers of this will eventually end up doing factory work. I've been this path. Inevitable

garymendel• 1 year ago

un-fn real. the new maga normal.

Launch YC: Optifye.ai – AI performance monitoring for factory workers

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