The highest frequency in history! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

2025年11月2日 | admin | kyugjgh

1. Preface: The GPU with the highest frequency in 6nm process was born.

In 2016, NVIDIA and AMD entered the 14/16nm era almost at the same time, but the GPU they released at that time was completely unlike the products of the same era.

At that time, the frequency of GTX 1080 could easily break through 2GHz, but AMD’s RX 480 has been struggling around 1.3GHz.

Six years later, the running frequency of NVIDIA’s latest generation RTX 3000 is still stuck at 2GHz, while AMD’s RDNA 2 GPU with 7nm process technology has reached 2.4GHz, and it is far away from the latest generation of N cards in terms of energy efficiency ratio.

Now the RX 6500 XT with TSMC’s 6nm process is coming, and it will be completely invincible in frequency.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

RX 6500 XT still adopts RDNA 2 architecture, but the manufacturing process has been upgraded from TSMC’s 7nm to 6nm. The core of RX6500XT is a smaller Navi 24, with 16 groups of computing units (1024 stream processors) and 16 Ray Accelerators optical tracking units, and the acceleration frequency has reached 2825MHz.The power consumption of the whole card is 107W, in which the power consumption of GPU core is 90W.

Different from the previous RDNA 2 GPU, the real operating frequency of RX 6500 XT can easily exceed the acceleration frequency of 2825MHz. If AMD is willing, it is not difficult for RX 6500 XT to run at a frequency above 3GHz.

The video memory is matched with 64-bit 4GB GDDR6, with a video memory frequency of 18GHz and a bandwidth of 144 GB/s. There is still an Infinity Cache integrated inside the GPU, but the capacity is only 16MB.

Therefore, this is a graphics card for 1080P, which is not suitable for running games with a resolution of 2K or higher.

The detailed parameters of RX 6500 XT are as follows:

The highest frequency in history! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

As can be seen from the above table, with the support of 6nm process technology, Navi 24 accommodates 5.4 billion transistors with a chip area of 107 square millimeters, and the transistor density is 10% higher than that of Navi 23 with 7nm and other RDNA 2 GPU.

Of course, in addition to the improvement of transistor density, the 6nm process technology also makes the frequency of RX 6500 XT reach an unprecedented height.

For the purpose of controlling the chip scale,The AV1 and H.265/HEVC codes are cut off from Navi 24 core, and AMD suggests using the coding ability of CPU instead of operation.

In addition, Navi 24 can only support PCIe 4.0×4, which is used on motherboards supporting PCIe 4.0. The bandwidth of x4 is still sufficient for RX 6500 XT (equivalent to PCIe 3.0 x8).However, if the motherboard or CPU only supports PCIe 3.0, there will be obvious performance loss.

The suggested retail price of RX 6500 XT starts from 1599 yuan, which doesn’t look cheap. But nowadays, the GTX 1650 Super with lower performance is generally more than 2,000 yuan, and the GTX 1660 Super is more than 3,000 yuan.

Second, the sapphire RX 6500 XT Platinum Edition Tour

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

We received the sapphire RX 6500 XT platinum version, and the design continues the design concept of the platinum version.

The whole front is black, with two 95mm double ball fans. The height of the radiator is about 1~2cm higher than that of the whole PCB.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

There has to be a metal backboard anyway.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

The output interface has only one HDMI 2.1 and one DP1.4.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Two pure copper nickel-plated heat pipes with pure copper base can easily cope with players of RX 6500 XT level.

The memory and power supply module are also attached with heat-conducting adhesive.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

The PCB board is very short, in fact, it can be made into ITX specifications after being replaced with a single fan radiator.

The design of 4+3 phase power supply circuit is a bit extravagant for RX 6500 XT.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Close-up of power supply circuit.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

The core of Navi 24 has 5.4 billion transistors, and the chip area is only 107 square millimeters, which is nearly 1/3 less than the 158 square millimeters of RX 5500 XT.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Samsung GDDR6 memory, with a single capacity of 2GB and a frequency of 18GHz. RX 6500 XT has two video memories with a bit width of 64bit, a total capacity of 4GB and a bandwidth of 144 GB/s..

Third, theoretical performance test: the operating frequency is stable at 2875MHz.

The test platform is as follows:

It should have been the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

1、3DMark

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

In the 3DMark test of 2K resolution, the graphics score of sapphire RX 6500 XT Platinum Edition reached 6654 points, the highest core temperature was 60℃, the highest core operating frequency was 2877MHz, the highest fan speed was 1500RPM, and the highest power consumption of GPU was 91W.

In addition, although the highest running frequency of RX 6500 XT is 2877MHz, in fact, it has been running all the GPU test projects of 3DMark at this frequency.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

In the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra test, the graphics score of RX 6500 XT is 3495, the highest core temperature is 62 degrees, the highest Hot Spot is 91 degrees, the highest core operating frequency is 2874MHz, and the maximum power consumption of graphics card reaches 91W.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

In the test of 3DMark, the sapphire RX 6500 XT is almost the same as RX 580 8GB in both 2K and 4K resolutions, and it is slightly ahead in general.

However, compared with RX 6600 and RX 6600 XT, the gap is very obvious.

2、3DMark Time Spy

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

In the 3DMark Time Spy test with 2K resolution, the graphics score of sapphire RX 6500 XT reaches 4947, the highest core temperature is 63℃, the highest Hot Spot is 94 degrees, the highest power consumption of GPU is 91W, and the highest running frequency of the core is 2876MHz.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

In the 4K resolution 3DMark Time Spy Extreme test, the graphics score of RX 6500 XT is 2274, the highest core temperature is 64℃, the highest core operating frequency is 2573MHz, and the maximum power consumption of the graphics card reaches 137W.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

In the 3DMark Time Spy test, RX 6500 XT and RX 5500 XT are also on the same horizontal line, regardless of the resolution of 2K or 4K.

Fourth, the game performance test: a number of games with RX 5500 XT have won and lost.

1、 GTA V

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

2. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

3. castle wolfenstein: New Blood.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

When "castle wolfenstein: New Blood" is tested under extreme image quality, it will always prompt that there is not enough video memory, and forced testing will lead to a sharp drop in frame rate.

This game suggests lowering the picture quality appropriately.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

4. Horizon: Dawn of Zero

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

5. Age of Empires 4

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

6. Cry of the Island 5

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

7. Cry of the Island 6

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

If Cry of the Island 6 is tested with the highest image quality, it will also explode and display. It is suggested that the image quality should be lowered appropriately during the game.

8. Tomb Raider: Shadow

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

9. Extreme Racing: Horizon 5

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

"Extreme Racing: Horizon 5" requires 7.8GB of video memory capacity even if the highest picture quality is turned on at 1080P resolution. If the image quality is properly reduced and the memory requirement is controlled within 4GB, the frame rate of RX 6500 XT will be greatly improved.

10. Jedi survival

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

11. Cyberpunk 2077

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

RX 5500 XT burst the video memory in Cyberpunk 2077, so the frame rate is abnormally low.

12. Death ran aground

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

13. Wizard 3

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

14, no land 3

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

15, war machine 5

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

The data are summarized as follows:

It should have been the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Of the 15 games we tested, at least 5 of the RX 6500 XT have burst the video memory (marked with yellow) if tested with the highest image quality, so it is suggested to lower the image quality appropriately during the game.

The performance of RX 6500 XT is very close to that of RX 5500 XT, with a difference of 4%, if we don’t consider the flash memory or lower the image quality properly.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

At the resolution of 2K, the 16MB Infinity Cache+4GB GDDR6 video memory is somewhat stretched. In order to obtain a higher frame rate at this resolution, the image quality needs to be further lowered.

V. Overclocking test: Unfortunately, it was limited to 2975MHz.

The RDNA 2 GPU of the previous 7nm process can easily reach 2750~2800MHz through overclocking. Then, after upgrading to the 6nm process, what kind of overclocking capability can the RX 6500 XT achieve!

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Unfortunately, the BIOS of sapphire RX 6500 XT limits the maximum frequency, which can only be pulled to 2975MHz. The default voltage is 1.2V, which can only be reduced but not increased.

The video memory frequency can be up to 2400MHz, which is equivalent to 19.6GHz, which is no worse than GDDR6X.

In addition, the default GPU power consumption of 90W can be up to 104W.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Run 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme after overclocking,The operating frequency of RX 6500XT is like a straight line, which has been stable at 2975MHz without any fluctuation.For many years, we have seen such a situation for the first time, and the operating frequency is stable at the set highest frequency.

The previous RDNA 2 GPU was set to 2850MHz, which usually only reached 2700MHz.

Unfortunately, AMD’s BIOS limits the overclocking limit, otherwise it will be extremely easy to break through 3GHz.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

After overclocking, we also conducted a game test. In Tomb Raider: Shadow, the running frequency of RX 6500 XT Platinum Edition was always kept at 2975MHz.

With the increase of frequency, the frame rate of the game has also increased from 59FPS to 62FPS.

VI. Power consumption and temperature test: The running frequency of the game is stable at 2850MHz, and the actual power consumption is lower than the preset TDP.

1. Temperature test

Furmark was used to test the baking machine of RX 6500 XT platinum edition, and the room temperature was 24 degrees.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

Furmark’s parameters are set to 1920*1080 resolution and 0AA. After running for 37 minutes, the temperature of RX 6500 XT is stable at 63 degrees, the Hot Sport temperature is 83 degrees, the GPU power consumption is 90W, and the fan speed is 1277RPM.

In addition, the GPU frequency is as high as 2577MHz when baking. If you have no idea about this number, here are some examples.

The baking frequency of RX 6600 is 1859MHz, and that of RTX 3060 is 1575MHz.

To put it another way, if AMD properly controls the frequency, RX 6500 XT can actually do without external power supply.

2. Power consumption test

We re-tested the power consumption of all graphics cards by using the extremely cool V850 gold medal power supply, and tested the power consumption performance of the whole machine during standby, games and FurMark baking.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

The power consumption of baking machine is closely related to the preset TDP. Basically, when baking machine, the power consumption of baking machine can reach the preset power consumption of GPU.

However, when running games, the GPU core of RX 6500 XT actually does not need to reach 90W power consumption to make the GPU frequency run above 2800MHz.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

For example, when we are running Survival of the Jedi, RX 6500 XT can run stably at 2864MHz* (not overclocked) with only 80W power consumption.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

In Age of Empires 4, only 73W is needed to maintain the operating frequency of 2868MHz.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

In Cyberpunk 2077, only 63W power consumption is needed to stabilize at the frequency of 2870MHz. Of course, there are some factors that cause the GPU to fail to run at full speed and full load.

Therefore, for RX 6500 XT, most games actually don’t need 90W power consumption, and the core frequency can be stabilized above 2850MHz.

VIII. Summary: It could have been the first 3GHz GPU.

The performance of this graphics card did not bring us too many surprises. What really surprised us was that the 6nm process technology could make the frequency and energy efficiency ratio of RDNA 2 GPU reach an unimaginable level.

Summarize the test results as follows:

1, the operation frequency of terror

RX 6500 XT is the GPU with the highest running frequency so far. NVIDIA is dragged down by Samsung’s 8nm process technology, and the frequency of Ampere GPU can’t even exceed 16nm Pascal, which has been stuck at 2GHz for many years.

The acceleration frequency of RX 6000/6700/6800 graphics card with 7nm technology can reach 2600MHz, and the actual operating frequency is also 2200~2400MHz.

After upgrading to 6nm process technology, the acceleration frequency of RX 6500 XT reached a horrible 2825MHz, and even more frightening, its actual operating frequency was even higher than the nominal acceleration frequency.

In most games, the GPU core of RX 6500 XT can be kept at 2850~2875MHz, and rarely below 2800MHz.

RX 6500 XT’s first RDNA 2 GPU with actual operating frequency higher than the nominal acceleration frequency.

2. Game performance

A graphics card with such high running frequency and excellent energy efficiency ratio should not be bad in game performance. However, due to the limitation of 16MB Infinity Cache, 4GB video memory and 64bit width, its actual performance is only equivalent to RX 5500 XT, and some latest 3A masterpieces will have burst video memory.

The best resolution of RX 6500 XT is 1920*1080. When playing 3A games with this graphics card, players are advised to lower the image quality level appropriately, and the game experience will be much better.

Almost became the first 3GHz GPU! AMD RX 6500 XT first evaluation

3. Ray tracing

The RX 6500 XT has 16 built-in Ray Accelerators, which can support real-time ray tracing. We made a little test, and when real-time light tracking is enabled in the game, the frame rate will drop obviously.

However, AMD supports RSR. If you want to experience optical tracking, it is recommended to wait for AMD’s upcoming driver supporting Radeon Super Resolution. RSR can greatly reduce the GPU’s rendering pressure and memory capacity requirements, and then appropriately reduce the image quality. RX 6500 XT will not have much problem running the light-chasing game.

In addition, opening SAM and FSR technologies in some games can also improve the running frame rate to some extent.

4, overclocking

Overclocking is the most regrettable thing, because AMD officially limits the upper frequency limit of BIOS. We have tried several non-public RX 6500 XT graphics cards, and the highest frequency can only be set at 2975MHz.No matter in the game or the test of 3DMark, the overclocked graphics card can always be stable at the running frequency of 2975MHz.

In the future, if someone can unlock the BIOS limit or rewrite the BIOS with tool software, the operating frequency of RX 6500 XT will easily exceed 3GHz.

Perhaps AMD wants to leave the title of the first 3GHz graphics card to the 5nm Radeon 7000.

5. Power consumption

The preset GPU power consumption of RX 6500 XT is 90W, but in fact, in most games, 90W power consumption is not needed at all to make the GPU fully loaded and maintain the running frequency of 2850MHz+.

On the i9-12900K test platform, the power consumption of the whole machine is less than 200W when the RX 6500 XT single-bakes the GPU. If it is matched with the processor of Ruilong 5 5600X or i5-12400, the power consumption of the whole machine can be controlled within 300W even if it is double-bakes.

When installed, a power supply with rated power consumption of 350W can meet the demand.

6nm has been terrible, and now we are very much looking forward to what kind of subversion Radeon 7000 GPU with TSMC’s 5nm process can bring!

Continue reading »

The Ultimate Winner of the World Cup and the ＂Magic＂ of Generative Artificial Intelligence

2025年11月1日 | admin | gjdhjhkfh
The ultimate winner of the World Cup is transnational capital.
Recently, Majeed Malhas analyzed various comments around the World Cup in jacobin. Western commentators have reason to criticize the political authoritarianism of Qatar, the host country, and the harsh working conditions before the competition. In response, critics in the post-colonial world put forward reasonable views on the hypocrisy of the West. After all, the colonial superpower laid the foundation for the disaster in Qatar. Although each side has put forward reasonable views, the resulting dialogue is not completely fruitful. The political discussion around Qatar in 2022 shows that the narrative of "clash of civilizations" continues to dominate the global political imagination, although the modern reality is that transnational capital, whether eastern or western, is ruling the world and has the ability to bring the government to its knees. While people are busy blaming, international companies are plundering.
On December 15th, 2022, local time, Doha, Qatar, the city scenery of Doha on the eve of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 finals was at a glance.
Qatar, a small oil-rich country, won the bid to host this year’s World Cup under blatant corruption. At the beginning, the country had almost no sports infrastructure, but it launched a large-scale project of $220 billion to host the most watched TV event in the world. Qatar’s economy has long relied on migrant workers from all walks of life, and their number has increased by more than 40% since they won the bid. Today, only 11.6% of the country’s 2.7 million residents are Qatari nationals. Unstable immigrants, mainly from Southeast Asia, have increased greatly, and they are hired to do manual labor in order to build almost non-existent infrastructure by 2022.
Although hundreds of billions of dollars have been invested, the working conditions of these manual workers have always been blatant exploitation. Migrant workers in Qatar are faced with life-threatening working environment, unsafe living conditions, delayed and insignificant payments, withholding passports, and threats of violence. They are engaged in manual labor under the scorching sun in the Gulf. Since Qatar won the bid for the World Cup, 6,751 migrant workers have died.
Although human rights groups and journalists have been documenting the rampant exploitation of migrant workers in Qatar for ten years before the 2022 World Cup, mainstream western media only began to emphasize these injustices one month before the game-tickets have been bought, hotels have been fully booked, and all infrastructure has been completed. The most outspoken western media is the BBC, which refused to broadcast the opening ceremony of the competition and chose to broadcast a round table condemning Qatar’s human rights record.
The BBC’s criticism of Qatar is completely correct. At the same time, they did not recognize the role of British colonial heritage in establishing exploitative working conditions, which existed in Qatar long before the World Cup. Britain intervened in a material and systematic way, which continued to benefit the Qatari monarchy and the global free market dominated by transnational (but mainly western) capital.
In Qatar and the wider Middle East, the core of the systematic exploitation of workers in Southeast Asia is the kafala (sponsorship) system, which makes employers who sponsor migrant workers’ visas exempt from the labor laws that protect Qatari nationals. Migrant workers have no right to find new jobs, to form trade unions or even to travel.
The modern Kafala system can be traced back to a relatively unknown colonial bureaucrat, charles bell Belgrave. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, modern Qatar and the wider Arabian Gulf were colonized by Britain. Belgrave is a British veteran who participated in the war. In 1926, he was appointed as an adviser to the tribal monarch who later became modern Bahrain to help build a modern nation-state with a normal government bureaucracy.
The British administration of the post-Ottoman Middle East relied on "protectorate" or "mandated ruling country" rather than colony, with the intention of ensuring the long-term interests of Britain in the region. Foreseeing that direct colonial rule after the war would eventually be unsustainable, Britain wanted to create a feasible structure for a national government that was friendly to the West and consistent with the free market.
Long before the discovery of oil, Bahrain and its surrounding areas were coastal nomadic societies, which revolved around fishing and pearl picking. The emergence of the border defined by colonialism has brought obstacles to the industry in this region, which relies on cross-sea trade and the free flow of labor, but is now restricted by new concepts such as passports and visas.
In order to solve this problem, Belgrave compiled the first version of the modern Kafala system, which soon spread to other newly established governments in the region. In the end, this enabled Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and other Gulf countries to facilitate labor migration and exploitation from Southeast Asia.
Kafala system was generally unpopular in Bahrain, and Belgrave finally resigned in 1957 amid protests. However, after Belgrave left, and after Britain gave up its rule in the Gulf region in 1960s and 1970s, this system still existed. It was this system designed by Britain that led to the deaths of thousands of migrant workers in Qatar before the World Cup. As this origin story shows, the problem is much bigger than the behavior of a barbaric eastern country, and it is difficult for the western hands to be clean.
Kafala system is just one of many modern exploitative labor systems in the so-called "third world", which can be traced back to western colonial rule. Broadly speaking, the consumption lifestyle enjoyed by many people in the west is realized by outsourcing extreme economic exploitation to post-colonial countries with social oppression.
Therefore, the non-historical accusations made by the West against Qatar were ridiculed as hypocrisy by many people in the post-colonial world, and some commentators quickly pointed out the shortcomings of Western governments in solving their own working conditions, not to mention racism, misogyny and homophobia in their own countries.
These critics have reasonable views, just like the critics of Qatar itself. But the dialogue is doomed to be fruitless in the end. The West blames the backwardness of the East, and the East blames the hypocrisy of the West, which is endless. This kind of discourse relies on the reductive differences between the East and the West, and fails to grasp the common interests of western and eastern governments and companies in maintaining the system of exploitation and social oppression.
Qatar, separated from Iran by a wall, is the largest military base of the United States in the Middle East. It is no coincidence that Biden’s administration gave the green light to sell $1 billion in weapons to Qatar during the halftime of the high-risk competition between Iran and the United States. This kind of behavior is predictable: it is not strange for the United States to turn a blind eye to the behavior of its oil-rich allies in the Gulf and criticize its enemies for doing the same.
European governments and enterprises have also established profitable relations with Qatar. In fact, on December 11th, four members of the European Parliament were accused of accepting bribes from Qatari officials to influence policy decisions.
For western sponsors, sportswear companies, sports broadcasting companies and other multinational enterprises, they have made a lot of profits from the workers who have worked hard to prepare for this event, which is rarely mentioned by critics and partisans. In Qatar’s 2022 dispute, the only western organization that was reasonably criticized was FIFA, a non-enterprise or government entity. Like western governments, western enterprises are largely left to their own devices.
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022’s narrative of "clash of civilizations" in 2022 has distracted people from the biggest problem that plagues the exploited migrant workers in the Middle East and the world, that is, global neoliberal capitalism. The real winners of the World Cup are transnational capital, whether in the West or Qatar, while the real losers are exploited migrant workers and politically suppressed citizens of Qatar and the post-colonial Middle East.
Both sides’ attention to the imaginary savage eastern countries or hypocritical western countries fails to explain the financialization and transnational nature of capitalism in the 21st century, and how it has changed the global political landscape-often combining the East and the West to benefit from the exploited global poor.
Another author, Paul Fogarty, also wrote in jacobin that this year’s World Cup is the epitome of the company taking over football.
Vague slogans are the common language of modern football, which cover up those morally questionable people who run football and profit from it. For example, one of the major English advertisements that have been playing during this World Cup is the advertisement of Hyundai, a Korean automobile manufacturer.
The advertisement combines the rapidly expanding music with the vast mountain scenery and the illusion of racial harmony and universal brotherhood. Steven Gerrard, a former Liverpool captain, told people that sustainable development is the "century goal" of mankind, and his tone was ridiculously cold.
What’s even more ridiculous is that Steven Gerrard’s former English teammate David Beckham directly equates the dreams of young working-class footballers with those of the extremely wealthy adults in Qatar’s bid to host the World Cup. Beckham’s willingness to say these words is easy to explain. It is said that he earned $150 million as an ambassador.
In the author’s view, this morally corrupt World Cup held in Qatar is the latest stage of the degeneration of modern football. Of course, people have been playing football since ancient times, but the British Football Association officially compiled the rules in 1882. Football club has become a source of pride for the local working class, and it is also a simple way to escape on Saturday afternoon. Today, the top clubs in Europe have become the playthings of the super-rich, making football farther and farther away from its popular foundation.
The monarchs in the Gulf region bought three sleeping giants in European competitions, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Newcastle United. These clubs can now control huge amounts of money.
Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have dominated their domestic leagues in recent years, while Newcastle was only controlled by Saudi Arabia more than a year ago, so it is in the early stage of competing for world hegemony. There seems to be no doubt that all three national clubs are for long-term development. Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Cup in 2010 and reached an agreement to acquire Paris Saint-Germain six months later. Prior to this, the bid for the World Cup had been planned for many years. Billions have been invested, and countless billions of investments are coming.
When discussing the influence of these clubs on the competition structure, journalists often quote euphemistic phrases such as "soft power" and "sports washing" (used to describe the practice of individuals, groups, companies or governments using sports to improve their reputation damaged by improper behavior, which can be achieved by holding sports events, buying or sponsoring sports teams or participating in sports as a form of publicity). These terms conceal the level of financial fraud, which is unparalleled in modern games as far as Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City are concerned. But UEFA, the European governing body, responded with only the lightest touch of supervision.
Facts have proved that Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City are particularly good at using creative accounting methods to avoid the restrictions on club expenses. The huge "consultant" fee paid to Roberto Mancini, the former head coach of Manchester City, is just one example. Their strategies also include winning praise for reviving dilapidated areas (or investing in real estate, as others say), reaching inflated sponsorship agreements with state institutions, and hiring a team of insanely high lawyers when the football authorities try to impose any form of sanctions on them.
This means that they can diversify their financial interests to meet the arrival of the post-oil era.
Although FIFA and David Beckham have protested feebly that the World Cup can bring a more open society, we only need to look at the recent Russian anti-LGBQT+ legislation to find evidence to the contrary. In view of Qatar’s official World Cup ambassador’s recent declaration that homosexuality is a "mental injury", it seems that journalists should continue to pay attention to this country after playing the last ball on Sunday night.
Bill Shankly’s most famous quip implies that football is not a matter of life and death, but a matter "much more important than this". It is impossible for him to imagine that thousands of people will die in the stadium built for the World Cup, or allow a series of broken promises and cynical political activities, all of which revolve around Qatar in 2022.
"Magic" of Generative Artificial Intelligence
At the moment when the "magic sense" of science and technology is gradually fading, the recent progress in the field of generative AI has aroused widespread and enthusiastic attention. Both the paintings generated by the artificial intelligence image generator DALL-E 2 for free and the chat content generated by the artificial intelligence chat robot ChatGPT have become the objects that people compete to share on social networks. In the midst of a thriving scene, some people have expressed various concerns about this technology. The article "Money Will Kill ChatGPT’s Magic" recently published by Atlantic Monthly thinks that the problem is that these technologies will eventually be used for profit-making purposes.
The article pointed out that ChatGPT is currently free, but Sam Altman, CEO of its development company OpenAI, said, "We will have to monetize it at some point, and the calculation cost is painfully expensive." This company, which is expected to earn US$ 200 million in 2023, is not a charity. Although it was started as a non-profit organization in 2015, it abandoned this status more than three years later and set up a "capped profit" research laboratory supervised by a non-profit board. The company’s supporters have agreed to make no more than 100 times the profit-if your expectation is that its products will take over the global economy one day, this is obviously insignificant. ) Microsoft has injected $1 billion into the company, and it is conceivable that Clippy driven by ChatGPT will regain its vitality.
Offering free trials is an excellent marketing strategy. It is reported that within a few weeks after the re-release, more than 1 million users have used ChatGPT, and OpenAI paid for it. Today, OpenAI is becoming the most successful consumer-oriented artificial intelligence company, just as Netflix is to streaming video and Google is to search, OpenAI may become the leader of deep learning. David Karpf, the author of this article and an associate professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, asked the question: What will happen to the use of these tools when they start to generate profits instead of losses? Will it become a paid subscription product, or will it run advertisements, or will it provide power for new companies that will replace existing industries at lower costs?
Karpf thinks that we can learn from the development track of the early Internet. In his course "History of Digital Future", he will show students the film Hyperland in the 1990s. This "fantasy documentary" depicts a journey to the future being created by multimedia technology experts at that time. In the 1990s, technical experts are committed to developing a set of new tools that will subvert media and education: replacing "linear and non-interactive TV" with customizable and interactive "software agents". This sounds a lot like the algorithm recommendation engine and news subscription that define our digital experience today. The key difference is that the software agents in the film are controlled and customized by the users themselves, while today’s algorithms cater to the needs and interests of the companies that develop and deploy them. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok all try to increase the time you spend on their websites through algorithms. They are designed to serve the interests of the platform rather than the public. As Adrienne LaFrance, executive editor of Atlantic magazine, said, the result is that the architecture of modern network is similar to a doomsday machine.
The article further points out that the future of generative artificial intelligence seems to be an unexplored field, but in fact it is more like a trail in disrepair. This path is not clearly marked, but it has been walked by many people. To put it bluntly, we will live in a future that will provide investors with the greatest return. Now it’s best to stop imagining the possible achievements of tools like ChatGPT when they are used freely and universally, and instead think about which potential uses will maximize the benefits. New markets will emerge over time. For example, in 1998, Google set off a revolution in online search, but at that time, leading online search could not make a lot of money. This technology first needed to become efficient enough to attract people. Since then, Google launched Adwords, an advertising service platform in 2001, and became one of the most profitable companies in history in the following years.
In Karpf’s view, this is the most divorced from reality in the hype of ChatGPT. If history is used as a guide, then tools like ChatGPT will mostly create repercussions in existing industries, rather than subverting them through direct competition. The long-term trend shows that new technologies tend to aggravate instability. Large, high-yield industries usually resist new entrants until they incorporate new technologies into existing workflows. This is the old road we have traveled. In 1993, Michael Crichton declared that The New York Times would be buried within ten years, and it would be replaced by a software agent that provided timely, relevant and personalized news to consumers who were willing to pay. At the end of 2000′ s, massive open online courses were regarded as the emissary of higher education, because from then on, you can watch MIT professors attend classes on laptops and get certificates through online exams without paying tuition fees.
Technical experts often claim that medical care, education and other fields are about to be destroyed, not because these industries are particularly vulnerable to new technologies, but because they are major sectors in the economy. DALL-E 2 may be a great destruction for freelance graphic designers, because the industry is too small and has not been organized to protect itself. The American Bar Association and the health care industry are much more efficient in setting up barriers to entry. ChatGPT will not be the end of the university, but it may be the end of the college homework ghostwriting business; It will not be the end of The New York Times, but it may become another obstacle to the reconstruction of local news. Industries that are connected by freelance piecework may be in big trouble. Experience shows that the more unstable the industry, the greater the risk of being destroyed.
Atman himself imagined in an article entitled "Moore’s Law for Everything" in 2021 that in the near future, professionals in the medical and legal fields will be replaced by artificial intelligence tools: "Within five years, computer programs that can think can read legal documents and give medical advice … We can imagine that artificial intelligence doctors can diagnose health problems better than humans, and artificial intelligence teachers may accurately judge and explain students’ incomprehension. These promises sound very similar to the excitement caused by IBM’s supercomputer Watson more than 10 years ago. In 2011, Watson defeated Ken Jennings in the American quiz show Jeopardy, which set off a wave of speculation that a new era of "big data" had arrived. Watson is praised as a symbol of extensive social change, which will have a fundamental impact on medical care, finance, academics and law. Then the successful business case never appeared. Ten years later, The New York Times reported that Watson had been quietly used for smaller purposes.
Karpf pointed out that the problem with atman’s idea is that even if the computer program can provide accurate medical advice, it still can’t prescribe drugs, make an appointment for radiological examination, or submit documents to persuade insurance companies to pay for it. Medical expenses in the United States are not directly driven by doctors’ salaries. Similarly, the soaring cost of higher education is not driven by the salary increase of professors. He cited the public relations industry as an example, saying that ChatGPT is best at producing cliches, and with a little training, it can find words that are often combined. Most marketing materials are predictable, especially suitable for programs like ChatGPT. But even so, it is hard to imagine that any senior executive would convey such cost-saving measures to the board of directors and shareholders, that is, let a neural network take charge of the company’s advertising work. More likely, ChatGPT will be incorporated into the existing company, so that it can employ fewer employees in the production process, but still charge the original fee.
There are still some questions to be answered, such as how the old and new regulations will affect the development of artificial intelligence. Napster, a music software, was about to completely change music until lawyers intervened. Twitter users have uploaded the generated artificial intelligence image of Mickey Mouse holding a machine gun. Once lawyers and regulators intervene, the development company is likely to get into trouble.
Karpf concluded that with the passage of time, institutions will adapt to new technologies, and new technologies will be incorporated into the huge and complex social system. Every revolutionary new technology will change the existing system and be changed by it. These income patterns will not be clear in a few years, and we have the initiative to influence the development together. That is, where our focus should be. After all, all magic shows have their skills.
Reporting/feedback
Continue reading »