12 minutes ago, Fiorentoni said:

EDIT: I didn't watch the video. my bad if it's explained in there, but I'd still like to know without having to watch it

I don't think they did, and Brian said on the discord he didn't do a good job at messaging this -- especially around the premium voices.

He mentioned last week they had team members impacted by Helene and needed to push it out a few weeks, so he might have been a little disorganized. Usually he's clearer.

21 minutes ago, Fiorentoni said:

Also please enlighten me: How is a LLM AI going to push back your aircraft? That's only the comms, right? You'd still need default ground services or GSX

EDIT: I didn't watch the video. my bad if it's explained in there, but I'd still like to know without having to watch it

Recommend watching the video... Doing things for yourself is the greatest way to self satisfaction.... 🙂

32 minutes ago, Fiorentoni said:

Also please enlighten me: How is a LLM AI going to push back your aircraft? That's only the comms, right? You'd still need default ground services or GSX

EDIT: I didn't watch the video. my bad if it's explained in there, but I'd still like to know without having to watch it

We inject a pushback car and push you back. We have the positions for the correct pushback already (due to TaxiTuner-Data) and that´s why we are able to provide the full pushback service including communication with the ground crew. 

Edited October 8, 20241 yr by ifred

BrammyH: The really important thing to stress is, this has no ATC at all.
That's correct. "SI Entourage" is a stand-alone application (buy once, 35 USD) that is not tied to SI's ATC, it can be used as an add-on to other ATC programs.

The core SI ATC functions are now split into different layers of complexity and completeness:

1. "SINAP v2 Standard Intelligence" covering Commercial IFR, VR Toolbar, Traffic-Awareness, SimBrief integration. This is "pay once", 35 USD.
2. "SINAP v2 Advanced Intelligence" Nearly Human AI voices, more Cabin Crews and Tour guides. Here the pricing is usage-based: you get 250'000 "SINAP credits" for 10 USD and, according to Brian, that should cover approx. 15 flights. (it's not entirely clear to me whether this is a separate option or has to be added to "SINAP v2 Standard Intelligence".)
3. "Premium ATC" which is the present subscription based Sayintentions.AI, 20 USD a month, 195 USD a year. SI Entourage is part of the subscription.

I hope I got that right, correct me if I'm wrong.

Edited October 8, 20241 yr by agutz

53 minutes ago, Fiorentoni said:

So a one time purchase for something that increases their (= SIs) cost over time (AI)? I'd be careful. They might just switch it off once it becomes a net loss for them over time

Yes. We sell it, and switch it off. Or label it early access, even if we had a video where we showed all things already working 9 months before. 

Sorry 🙂 That was too obvious not to take 🙂 
 

33 minutes ago, ifred said:

Yes. We sell it, and switch it off. Or label it early access, even if we had a video where we showed all things already working 9 months before. 

Sorry 🙂 That was too obvious not to take 🙂 
 

How about a serious answer to a legitimate concern instead of throwing shade on a competitor? AI output costs money. Per-output (or character in the case of voices). You are selling a product as a one time purchase, but it does incur an increasing running cost upon you the longer and the more people use it. So your net profit will decrease the longer the product runs, eventually even turning into a net loss.

By the way thanks for the answer to the pushback question, makes sense what you said.

Edited October 8, 20241 yr by Fiorentoni

Here is a FAQ to answer many questions. SayIntentions.AI: Entourage - The FAQ : (freshdesk.com)

Oh so it’s isn’t really a one time fee if you want the nearly human voices. 
 

I mean, I understand why they can’t do a one time thing due to recurring costs for AI, but as a consumer it’s just too complicated to figure out what to get. Feels like I’d need to purchase things later to get a better experience or something. 
 

I guess I’d rather stick with simpler products that are absolutely clear in what you get when you buy them, with no further upsell. 

1 hour ago, ifred said:

Yes. We sell it, and switch it off.

As an aside, you should set your tag to Commercial Member. Or have a mod do it for you if you can't change it.

5 hours ago, Fiorentoni said:

How about a serious answer to a legitimate concern instead of throwing shade on a competitor? AI output costs money. Per-output (or character in the case of voices). You are selling a product as a one time purchase, but it does incur an increasing running cost upon you the longer and the more people use it. So your net profit will decrease the longer the product runs, eventually even turning into a net loss.

By the way thanks for the answer to the pushback question, makes sense what you said.

Do you feel your entitled an answer about their business model or how they manage their costs?

53 minutes ago, KL Oo said:

Do you feel your entitled an answer about their business model or how they manage their costs?

Prospective customers are entitled to an answer as to what plans are in place to prevent a business shutdown that would, potentially, render their purchase unusable, yes.

 

I suspect they're doing it for the pay once model the same way BATC is doing it - a set of things you can say that it will respond to, rather than running it through an LLM.

 

2 hours ago, eslader said:

Prospective customers are entitled to an answer as to what plans are in place to prevent a business shutdown that would, potentially, render their purchase unusable, yes.

 

I suspect they're doing it for the pay once model the same way BATC is doing it - a set of things you can say that it will respond to, rather than running it through an LLM.

 

Nope, everything will be AI.

8 hours ago, Fiorentoni said:

How about a serious answer to a legitimate concern instead of throwing shade on a competitor? AI output costs money. Per-output (or character in the case of voices). You are selling a product as a one time purchase, but it does incur an increasing running cost upon you the longer and the more people use it. So your net profit will decrease the longer the product runs, eventually even turning into a net loss.

By the way thanks for the answer to the pushback question, makes sense what you said.

No, it won´t. But thanks for the heads up.

This looks very interesting.

A competitor for GSX can't come soon enough. If SI manages to provide ground services without a menu failing to load on every second flight and without service vehicles running through each other and the user's aircraft, SI will clearly be a winner.

To be a complete substitute for GSX a follow me car and parking guidance like VDGS would also be necessary though. Hopefully these things will be added later as well.

 

Edited October 9, 20241 yr by RALF9636

15 hours ago, KL Oo said:

Do you feel your entitled an answer about their business model or how they manage their costs?

This has nothing to do with entitlement. If you pay for something you expect to use for several years, you want to be sure it will actually be possible to use this for several years. It's not like these things do not happen (Twin Otter buyers can tell you about it) or as if I'm the only one wondering about such things (remember how people discussed whether Asobo might pull the servers for MSFS 2020 once they do no have marketplace sales for it anymore?).
You may know I'm using BATC at the moment and am very happy with it, but I've used SI previously for several months and am (or better: was) legitimately interested in this other product from SI here.
But of course they don't have to answer. I'm fine with it and can draw my conclusions from the dismissive attitude shown here by the SI staff.