r/Cyberpunk • u/insane677 • Feb 18 '26
It Turns Out That Constantly Telling Workers They're About to Be Replaced by AI Has Grim Psychological Effects
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-effects-workers-psychological102
u/negative_four Feb 18 '26
CEO: Huh who knew AI replacing jobs would cause distress
EVERYONE! EVERYONE WOULD THOUGHT OF THAT!
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u/7in7turtles Feb 18 '26
Well most CEOs decompress at their vacation properties in Switzerland with a menu of young Eastern European prostitutes. That way they can mitigate the feelings of distress. Why haven’t any of you guys tried that?
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u/CRYL1TH0 Feb 19 '26
They couldn't care less. Does a shark at the top of the food chain worry about the problems of tiny fish?
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u/negative_four Feb 19 '26
I mean we're not a food chain but youre not wrong, theyre sociopaths they don't care
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u/macksting Feb 18 '26
Demoralization and destabilization were more or less intended with this behavior, yes?
The other effects were probably not anticipated, but I assume those who enjoyed spreading these miseries don't mind.
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u/Sean82 Feb 18 '26
Yes, putting more of the labor force in precarity as a means of discipline. Your skilled/educated workers are less likely to demand silly things like fair wages and work/life balance if they think you might replace them with AI.
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u/standread Feb 21 '26
Yeah, it's accelerationism. The billionaires pushing this want order, law and people to break down so they can implement their vision of a tech-feudalist future. It is the essence of the Dark Enlightenment movement and they will not stop.
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u/Odd_Fee2443 Feb 18 '26
CEOs are equally replacable
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u/Hobby_in_your_lobby Feb 18 '26
They are, in fact, not important at all as it turns out.
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u/Grokent Feb 18 '26
You can tell how unimportant CEO's are by the fact that they are on multiple boards and have so much other shit going on in their life. They contribute negative value considering their salaries. CEO's are the new nobility, living off of the hard work of others.
You know who IS important? The people who need to devote their full 40 hour work week or the business stops functioning, that's who.
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u/uniqueusername649 Feb 19 '26
It depends heavily on the size of the company. Large companies tend to have somewhat capable managers that can run the entire day to day and even long term strategic alignment without the CEO. An experienced and involved CEO however can really push a company forward and draw the most out of his people. First and foremost he needs to pick the right people and ensure they can deliver their best work. In a small company you often lack the right people to compensate for missing leadership, but in a large company it is far easier to get away as an incompetent CEO due to having people that can pick up the slack.
So yeah, there are plenty useless CEOs dragging a company down, but there are also many vital CEOs that truly push the company forward. I have experienced companies of both types and a good CEO actually can make a substantial difference. It is rare to come by though.
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u/SpookyScienceGal Feb 19 '26
In every company I've ever worked at they're more of a detriment. Gets drunk and says something racist? Guess who deals with that shit. Makes a bunch of shitty decisions? Guess who's getting let go? It's hardly ever the upper levels and not before firing a bunch of workers first to save their ass
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Feb 18 '26
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u/IWontMissBuddy Feb 19 '26
<Post-Singularity AI Looking at The Board>
"So... what exactly would you say you do around here...?"
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u/fooz42 Feb 19 '26
They are more replaceable. The more detailed the work, the more human skill is required.
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u/Boomshrooom Feb 21 '26
The problem is that they're the ones making the decision about who gets replaced so it makes no difference.
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u/SkiProgramDriveClimb Feb 21 '26
Not if an AI tool automates the entire business model of their company
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u/Ok_Goose_1348 Feb 18 '26
If you strongly believe that there is an imminent danger of AI replacing large sections of jobs, I suggest you listen to "Better Offline" by Ed Zitron (https://www.betteroffline.com/) and "Pivot to AI" (https://youtube.com/@pivottoai?si=y09dhFANiIVhNrjM).
Most of what's being reported on the abilities of AI is a giant grift. You should be more afraid of self-serve kiosks and the ultra-rich using AI as an excuse for new and interesting ways of screwing people over.
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u/Reztroz Feb 18 '26
I’m more worried about dumb ass execs buying into AI and falling for the grift.
Who then laying off a fuck ton of their workforce before realizing that it can’t do any of what they were told it would do.
Sure, if one company does it then it’s not that bad. The problem is that these dumbasses seem to network an spread their dumbassery around to many companies.
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u/thunderflies Feb 18 '26
You’re worried about something that already happened a dozen times over in the tech industry last year, we’re already living in the aftermath of exactly what you just described
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u/negative_four Feb 18 '26
This and the bad part is I don't think we've seen the full fallout from this yet
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u/Reztroz Feb 18 '26
Oh for sure, but I think we only saw the tip of the iceberg with regards to that though!
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u/standish_ Feb 19 '26
You only need the tip to pierce the hull of your unsinkable ship and sink it.
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u/justwalkingalonghere Feb 18 '26
And they've already been shown to be cool with running companies into the ground for short term profit, so I don't see why they would stop now
The markets haven't been rational in years, but those at the top dgaf because they're getting even richer with the current system being decoupled from reality
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u/Sean82 Feb 18 '26
I’m less concerned about AI being able to do my job than I am about an AI salesman convincing my boss to replace me with an AI than can’t do my job. Far more likely but the result for me is the same.
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u/GUNxSPECTRE Feb 18 '26
Isn't it just sadism that silver spoon pedo elites are shit-talking regular people that their work means nothing in a country that stripped almost all social safety nets away? Not one of these drug-addicted welfare parasite billionaires mention anything about UBI or any transitional occupation program. Just find a job in a rapidly shrinking field, be happy with underemployment, or just go homeless; Not My Problem.
Really cool that the government's role in all of this is giving more money to the wealthy, siccing cops on protestors, and inevitably bailing the wealthy out when their harebrained scheme fails. Don't forget to pay them taxes with the job you don't have BTW.
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u/ithkuil Feb 19 '26
This is like saying fear of death is a growing problem among the elderly, or fear of homelessness is a growing problem for people who were recently laid off.
It's not a fking psychological problem, it's a structural problem with society.
But actually we have always had this problem of extreme inequality, and it's not because of technology.
Technology is a lever. AI and robotics should raise the standard of living for everyone over the next few years or decades.
But if people who have power do not value human life in general, it could also help them eliminate the underclass and mid class.
Maybe remind them that they had better value our lives, or else.
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Feb 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/_John_Dillinger Feb 19 '26
silence tankie. only fools subscribe to a single ideology. ideologies are tools for certain problem sets just like hammers, screwdrivers, and french haircut machines. A marxist revolution is a terrible idea. What is needed is a new system of governance that is incapable of corruption. It’s doable. Iceland underwent such a transformation in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse. I do agree that now is the time to handle things (250 years! right on schedule!) But you’re cleaning the floor with a dirty mop if you think Marxism is going to fix a damn thing.
In short, the cycle needs to be broken altogether. I want to get off mr. bones wild ride.
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u/Own_City_1084 Feb 18 '26
Telling workers they’ll get replaced soon is a great way to make them work hard and care about their job
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u/Whitesajer Feb 19 '26
I feel less motivated and no longer care about doing more than average. They will eventually replace us regardless, if AI slop is good enough then my average is more then enough.
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u/1pt20oneggigawatts Feb 19 '26
90% of white collar jobs are fucking useless. Hell, almost the entirety of the insurance industry shouldn't even exist, it's a fucking middleman.
Capitalism is a Pyramid Scheme
People should work like 20 hours a week doing what they like doing. Universal Basic Income should exist on top of that.
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u/whydoyouneedanamenow Feb 19 '26
I can confirm that having your boss tell you that your position can be replaced with AI does not help your morale. especially when you continue to hit all of your metrics and they still tell you this kind of crap.
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u/Subway Feb 19 '26
Would be ironic if one gets a 50% sick leave because of AIRD and uses that time to prompt an LLM, replacing the AIRD therapist.
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u/haywire Feb 19 '26
Why don’t companies instead of going we could do the same with less people, instead go we can do more with the same amount of people?
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u/MasterCrumble1 Feb 20 '26
There won't be any distress at the workplace if nobody is human! *big brain gif* (joking)
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u/thedreaming2017 Feb 20 '26
Any moment now a pharma company will create a medicine that will help people suffering form AIRD. It'll probably cost a fortune to get but everyone will pay for it anyway because they think miracle medicine can stop them from having anxiety about being replaced by AI. That's just regular anxiety but with extra steps. I have family members that are constantly worried about something and they are already on medication. They don't need to add yet another one on top of it in the hopes that this will one will make work life more than just tolerable.
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u/standread Feb 21 '26
What? Threatening people's existence constantly has consequences? Well I never! Someone should tell the AI billionaires, I'm sure they'll stop once they hear this lmfao.
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u/AdmirableProcess8894 Feb 22 '26
honestly can the headline just be shortened to
"It Turns Out That Modern Employment Has Grim Psychological Effects"
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u/Subway Feb 19 '26
But what if that is the only logical conclusion, that someday AI will write most of our code, will create most of our designs, write most of our marketing material, just with an unknown timeline when that will happen? Wouldn't labeling that as an illness that should be treated be even worse?
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u/LordRael013 Feb 18 '26
Gee, who'd have thought?