I don’t disagree. If there is no alternative then this is better than nothing for most people.
Personally speaking, knowing about the background of some of the investors involved (Andreesen), and their active role in what’s happening in the US, I personally have cooled on using Mistral somewhat. Will still use though if I have to, but have plans to ultimately self-host - will have to make do with a stripped back AI experience.
cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/25368493
Hi Everyone,
I wanted to share something that I’m hoping will help me when it comes to making better choices about what I buy. While this isn't about promoting European products in the first instance, it's designed to help me figure out which brands I currently use, but may need to avoid, so I can find better alternatives that are local, European, allied countries, or even values-led US brands if no other option exists.
Here's what I did:
Got the idea from Reddit: I saw a post on Reddit with a visual of all the brands owned by big multinational companies. Really helpful to see the visual but there were literally thousands, and I wanted a text list I could feed into an AI chat as a reference document.
Did Some Research: I looked up these multinational companies on Wikipedia which seemed to have a relatively updated list of subsidiary brands, focusing on the parent companies I wanted to steer clear of, like PepsiCo, Nestle etc.
Cleaned Up the List: I used AI tool to organise everything into a neat PDF.
Made It Easy to Use for me with AI: I added the PDF to a chat in Mistral so I can quickly check any products I see in my fridge or cupboard. The AI helps me spot any brands I should avoid. I can also just list the brands off using voice for ease/speed but accuracy suffers a bit. I may also be able to just take a picture but haven’t tried that yet.
The image is the output.
Anybody with access to a simple list and an LLM could do this. Been inspired by the excellent websites and resources others have made and posted here, which I will use to find alternatives - but I first needed to know where the problems were!
Im hoping this will make it easier to buy stuff that aligns with my values. Hope this makes sense and helps someone else too!
Edit1: added link to source PDF containing list of companies and their brands. You can download this and search manually to avoid any use of AI. https://files.catbox.moe/jtmcb5.pdf
I haven’t done any proper validation - was just a very basic PoC, using resources available to anyone (a list of companies and their subsidiary brands + free LLM) to see if it would work in principle.
The file itself is sourced from Wikipedia, so is probably accurate enough if you just wanted to ctrl+f and search manually.
Here is a list that may be helpful
https://files.catbox.moe/jtmcb5.pdf
And if you were not totally against using AI, then you could load that list to Mistral, take a pic and identify things quickly. As per the photo.
Hi there. I really like your thinking. I’m not a professional developer, but I suspect it’s only a matter of time that apps that do something like this are available.
Here’s a post I saw on a related community which describes something like what would make you happy :)
https://feddit.uk/post/25526618
Also, I tested my own very basic idea by taking a picture and uploading to the Mistral chat - it identified the products accurately, which was promising.
I don’t feel bad, but having moved a few days ago I’ll share my experience.
I try and come here first, will check the one or two things I’ve posted engaged with, scroll a bit - but realise I haven’t quite joined enough communities for there to be novel information each time I check in.
I then default to Reddit, and quickly go into my default auto-scroll passive lurk mode. I see something new - like the most recent Anonymous hack on twitter, and then come back to see if I can find it on Lemmy!
One key difference is I rarely posted on Reddit, but have felt very comfortable posting here. Not sure why!
Hi Everyone,
I wanted to share something that I’m hoping will help me when it comes to making better choices about what I buy. While this isn't about promoting European products in the first instance, it's designed to help me figure out which brands I currently use, but may need to avoid, so I can find better alternatives that are local, European, allied countries, or even values-led US brands if no other option exists.
Here's what I did:
Got the idea from Reddit: I saw a post on Reddit with a visual of all the brands owned by big multinational companies. Really helpful to see the visual but there were literally thousands, and I wanted a text list I could feed into an AI chat as a reference document.
Did Some Research: I looked up these multinational companies on Wikipedia which seemed to have a relatively updated list of subsidiary brands, focusing on the parent companies I wanted to steer clear of, like PepsiCo, Nestle etc.
Cleaned Up the List: I used AI tool to organise everything into a neat PDF.
Made It Easy to Use for me with AI: I added the PDF to a chat in Mistral so I can quickly check any products I see in my fridge or cupboard. The AI helps me spot any brands I should avoid. I can also just list the brands off using voice for ease/speed but accuracy suffers a bit. I may also be able to just take a picture but haven’t tried that yet.
The image is the output.
Anybody with access to a simple list and an LLM could do this. Been inspired by the excellent websites and resources others have made and posted here, which I will use to find alternatives - but I first needed to know where the problems were!
Im hoping this will make it easier to buy stuff that aligns with my values. Hope this makes sense and helps someone else too!
Edit1: added link to source PDF containing list of companies and their brands. You can download this and search manually to avoid any use of AI. https://files.catbox.moe/jtmcb5.pdf
We don’t have the same health insurance system as the US, but I really feel for people anywhere in the world who fall ill and can’t access affordable healthcare.
There is health insurance if you want it in the UK, but most people use the National Health Service, which is free. I am always grateful for this.