How to burst the AI bubble: Strike at its roots

Once you put it that way, it’s very easy to see why some workers would say, “Oh yeah, I found a thing that AI is good for and I use it, and that’s fine. I’m even excited about it.” And why other workers would be like, “This is making me miserable.” It’s the difference between the words on the Greek temple, “Know thyself,” and your boss shining 16 cameras in your face and going, “I know you better than you do. And by the way, I think you could work an extra hour a day without breaking a sweat.” Ars Technica: You make a point of emphasizing that you are not fundamentally anti-AI, despite sharply criticizing the industry. Cory Doctorow : I have many comrades who describe themselves as anti-AI, and I’ve had some very spirited, productive but heated debates with those people because I don’t think AI is exceptional. That means that I don’t think it’s exceptionally evil. The argument that it’s the fruit of the poisonous tree , that it was made by bad people in bad ways, so you shouldn’t use it—I think it’s very foolish. That is not the merit on which we judge technology. You can talk about whether giving money to these companies is bad. I think it is. You can talk about whether the environmental impact of using foundation models is unsustainable and unsupportable. I think, by and large, it is. …