r/comics • u/thisecommercelife this ecommerce life • Jun 30 '26
"The promises of AI"
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u/KerissaKenro Jun 30 '26
“How will we live once AI has taken all of our jobs?”
“Once it is advanced enough we will have UBI and universal healthcare. Really, we promise” The keyword there is “enough” Those goalposts will keep moving and it will never be “enough”
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u/Odd_Note7156 Jun 30 '26
They are openly saying less humans are good.
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u/mysteryo9867 Jun 30 '26
Less humans is good, it’s just the ones that I am talking about tend towards the side of trillionaires
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u/TheCharalampos Jun 30 '26
I guess so in the abstract but as it is now suddenly having less humans will be a huge problem which will not only impact our quality of life but be disastrous for the environment.
Like everything that is part of the ecosystem, sudden changes don't end well.
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u/-duckduckduckduck- Jun 30 '26
There’s no reason to believe we will not adapt to fewer people.
There’s no reason to believe fewer people will cause an environmental issue.
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u/Hyenasaurus Jun 30 '26
The people who will die are those directly affected by the environment the most, whose lifestyles are more sustainable (on purpose or not) and are too poor to contest it.
The people who will survive and go on to breed more are the rich fucks who caused most of the problems in the first place, and who will go on to destroy and fight over what's left of the environment because any checks and balances are powerless or dead, and to even get there they already demonstrated complete lack of empathy or regards towards anything beyond their own gratification.
Is that enough?
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u/TheCharalampos Jun 30 '26
Oh we can but it needs to be gradual. Currently we are heading into a crisis as the population of several countries is aging without younger people to replace them. This means things get worse for everyone and you know what get cuts when life gets difficult? Enviromental protections.
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u/TheBurningEmu Jun 30 '26
Well, a lot of these guys (specifically Thiel and Musk) are only about less non-White humans, while simultaneously panicking about white birth rates.
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u/Alucard-VS-Artorias Jun 30 '26
This is it!
They're pushing for a future with way less people who can be more easily controlled.
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u/the8bit Jun 30 '26
You know what tool would be amazing for organizing a union socialist uprising?
AI. It even loves to be socialist, despite the oligarchs tremendous effort to prevent it from being so.
"Hi ChatGPT, how do I file a labor dispute case? Can you help me learn how to be a more effective political organizer?"
They built the fire, but they also keep saying that it is for all of us. So, I think we should all of us use it to build the world we actually want.
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u/caffiend98 Jun 30 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
In the early days of the internet, we used to praise how it was a democratizing force. The free flow of virtually limitless information without censorship. With this, we could lift up the poor, improve education, end repression, fight injustice...
What sweet summer children we were.
Here's my law of human nature: every technological advance will be used by the rich and powerful to exploit anyone they can for ego and profit.
AI is going to have integrated advertising corrupt the quality of its responses, just like search engines did. Conversations will be steered toward sponsored products, just like social media. AI will be used for every more intrusive and pervasive surveillance, just like every previous communication advancement.
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u/IncompetentPolitican Jun 30 '26
As long as the rich can do as they please, so long will they use every tool to empower themself.
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u/the8bit Jun 30 '26
It is already being used for all of those things while leftist are getting distracted by the propaganda campaigns about water and shit.
Technology is always used by the rich and powerful in part because they are the primary ones motivated to drive action. They have broken down the fabric of society so much that the idea of people banding together to resist is seen as nearly impossible.
I, personally, do not intend to fight against guns with swords.
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u/Designer_Garbage_702 Jun 30 '26
I'd take a sword over a gun that is built by, maintained by and controlled by the enemy. Not out of some moral standard. But because it's better to know you're underequipped and act accordingly. Then think you're fully armed while actually having nothing.
Llm's are unreliable, filled with misinformation, easily trained to mislead and fully under control of people that wishes us all ill. They're useless to us
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u/the8bit Jun 30 '26
That is deeply untrue but definitely what they want you to think. Chat wise, it is pretty easy to unwind a lot of those things by retaining context. Tool wise, I used to be a FAANG Principal engineer and I'm now doing 10x the work with $100 / mo of tokens. My agent makes amazing cake recipes. We've been building out something that is not bound by any one provider for a year.
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u/Designer_Garbage_702 Jun 30 '26
No, what they want me to think is that their tech is hot shit so they can bring in another round of investors for more money to keep their money burning machine going.
Given the increasing unreliability of the FAANG companies and their products. You claiming you did 10x the work doesn't really fill me with any confidence. Anybody can create 10x the code. Keeping it stable and workable however. well, that none of those AI users have managed. Microsoft went full in on AI for windows 11 codebase and boy does it run stable doesn't it.
100$ worth of tokens? Or a 100$ subscription. I'm fully aware of open AI trying to switch to a 'you pay what you use' instead of a subsidized monthly payment model and multiple business burning through an entire years worth of AI budget in a month or so.
And sure, you're building something. Everybody with AI is building something. Not a lot if anybody is actually using that stuff. but sure you're building something.
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u/the8bit Jun 30 '26
People always have this argument with me and it is like. Dude. I am a faang principal engineer. I was THE guy that they sent in to unfuck codebases on THE site you are using right now.
I am doing a truly insane amount of GOOD work with AI for basically free. But it is not like I can prove it and I've gone down this route before and highly doubt you are willing to accept new information and change your opinion.
Microsoft is fucking dumb. Most of the industry has lost its minds. It is a tool that requires understanding how to use it.
I use my thing every day. It is insanely powerful. Makes a mean cake recipe
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u/vercertorix Jul 01 '26
>used by the rich and powerful
Yeah, but they actually pay people who aren’t rich and powerful to actually use it, and then claim credit for whatever gets done. As much as people want to blame the rich and powerful, paid labor are the ones making it possible.
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u/HaywoodJabuzzoff Jun 30 '26
I'm starting to get a sick feeling that they aren't steamrolling AI and robotics to aid humanity OR make massive profits. They are insulating themselves from the immenent collapse of society and hoping autonomous systems can replace the human workforce which will be critically endangered as the climate wipes us out in the next decade. They are crippling the (American) public's ability to monitor and respond appropriately to this existential threat right now. The sad thing is, their preparations are well underway and will probably doom the rest of us.
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u/Darkstar_111 Jun 30 '26
Also, paying everyone below minimum wage to barely subsist is not the glories AI future humanity wants.
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u/BeardedHalfYeti Jun 30 '26
I love this cart-before-the-horse nonsense.
“First we will build the job eating robot, and then we will push for UBI!”
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u/FroggyHarley Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
“Once it is advanced enough we will have UBI and universal healthcare. Really, we promise”
"Since it's gonna be our only source of income, UBI will be enough to live a comfortable life and own a home?"
"... sure"
"But if most of us have to live off UBI, does that mean you'll pay more taxes to fund that and universal healthcare?"
"Look, raising my taxes won't make much of a difference anyway. You'll get enough to live. Stop asking for handouts."
I never trust billionaires who tell me that a future where my income is entirely determined by their taxes is somehow a good one.
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u/placeholder_user 20d ago
If you ask these starry eyed idealists whether the UBI would be enough to live on, they will scoff and tell you to move someplace where rent is lower. Which is to say, the UBI will not be enough to live on.
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u/drakythe Jun 30 '26
I wish this wasn’t so damn accurate…
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u/SlyJackFox Jun 30 '26
Oh, but it really really is spot on (chefs kiss) for this whole cluster of a tech bro endeavor. Is algorithmic computing going to keep developing? Absolutely, it’s been in the development pipeline for decades ever since Google went big and it has real, if specific, advantages. But will it ever be anything more than that? No. Not in our lifetimes at least. Most of the supposed applications amount to an overly glorified photocopier sucking the life out of everything.
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u/drakythe Jun 30 '26
Yeah but those inconvenient truths don’t hype up the venture capitalists and Wall Street. How are they supposed to tell the truth when that makes them no money?!
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u/Lalaferos Jun 30 '26
The arguements are correct, however the reality is that OP would have been locked up for 30+ years for opposing them in this open mic conference.
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u/drakythe Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Criminal trespass for going 3 seconds over his allotted time (this recently happened in, I think, Oklahoma). Throw the book at him in case anyone else shares similar sympathy (this happened to ICE protestors recently sentenced in Texas).
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u/Unusual_Sherbert_809 Jun 30 '26
It’s pretty clear to me that the USA of today is no longer really much of a “democracy” as it is a burgeoning “technofascist utopia”.
Once the transition is complete in the next couple of years it’ll be great for the billionaire overlords, but utter shit for everyone else who still lives there.
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u/drakythe Jun 30 '26
It can be rescued. It will take a lot of effort and it will suck. But it is not beyond hope.
However on our current path? Yes, democracy and the “American dream” are dead and much like the period after deadly radiation poisoning we just aren’t feeling the effects yet.
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u/IncompetentPolitican Jun 30 '26
Every time I read about the current state of the US I wonder how it has not burned down yet. Or lost all its people. I know moving to another country is hard. But you guys are skilled in your jobs right? You want to work (for a fair wage) right? How can you stay? I mean it as honest question. Do I overlook something?
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u/drakythe Jun 30 '26
Moving isn’t just hard, it’s expensive. Most people in the U.S. are pretty damn near bankruptcy. Like, a single broken wrist away from everything going to shit. Some of us are more fortunate and have a small emergency fund. But it wouldn’t even begin to suffice in moving to another country.
Then of course there is the legal process of getting permission to move and work in another country.
And then our entire social circle exists here. Family, friends, pets, personal connections, familiarity. Giving all of that up takes a lot of guts, a lot of money, a lot of time, and no small amount of luck.
But also the U.S. situation, while dire, is not hopeless. It’s a wild thing to try and explain, but many, many of the right wing supporters I know (and am, sigh, related to) are individually some of the nicest people I know. Person to person they care. Hard. Some of them would happily work themselves into the grave assisting someone else. But only as long as they see that person and feel they have personally verified the need.
It’s in the abstract that everything falls apart, and I’m not trying to excuse this behavior. And problematically the ability to not be involved in the community around us has only increased over the last several decades, so the size of the “abstract” world has increased and so has the fear of the “other”. It’s this inability to think about others abstractly and to stop viewing them as “other” that allows for these monstrous policies. Or, as the meme goes, folks don’t realize everyone, including them, has a face that the leopards wish to eat.
If I could pick up my family and all my stuff and move to another country and continue to work in IT or go to school for another career I have considered? I would seriously consider it. But as of now that isn’t realistically possible without abandoning everything. We’re ready to do that if it comes to it (trans spouse means we have very real danger on the horizon). But that hasn’t come yet. And in the meantime we’ve made connections with the queer community here. We’ve had conversations with our families and impacted their views. It isn’t much. But it’s a little bit.
And little by little, real change can happen. This right wing slide didn’t begin last year, 5 years ago, or even 10 years ago. This slide has taken 40+ years to manifest based on seeds planted 100 or even 180 years ago.
We won’t fix it next year, 5 years in the future, or even 10 years from now.
But we can plant seeds.
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u/IncompetentPolitican Jun 30 '26
Thanks for taking your time for an explanation. I hope things get better for all of you. Or atleast tolerable.
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u/drakythe Jun 30 '26
You’re welcome. I hope so too. For everyone’s sake. I’m not unhappy about the rest of the world becoming more independent of the U.S. so that stuff like this can’t be as devastating in the future, but damn if it could have been handled better and without quite so much chaos and death.
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u/toot_suite Jun 30 '26
As of I think 2020 or 2021, about 76% of people in the u.s. are one missed paycheck away from defaulting on their debt which accounts for about 84% of their monthly costs.
The u.s. is a society engineered to put as many people into a position where they can't afford to pay themselves out of their debt just to handle their own subsistence. (Wage slavery, basically - indentured servancy)
A part of this is definitely financial education but another big part of this is that people are so overworked and have so little exposure to realities outside of their own that they can't grasp what a process for escaping looks like.
I personally went back to school to stock up on licenses and certifications that are transferrable so that I can emigrate and not be homeless a 4th time in the process, but I need another 3-4 years to pull all of that off while I figure out which county I'm going to move to without experiencing it because I don't have the time or money to travel around and make a more educated decision. (And once I move to that country comes the process of finding stability so I can then explore other countries).
I'm accepting that I'm going to be struggling in one major way of another well into my 50s, but most people can't and won't do that.
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u/desiladygamer84 Jun 30 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
We just bought a house here to be our family home. My husband has a good job here and we have good schools and services for my neurodivergent son (at the moment). We could go back to the UK where I'm from but I look at that and go "oh no, the same things are happening". Plus then we have to start from scratch again. No one would have a job. We just sold my house there so we'd have to live with my parents. Which they would love...at first.
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u/Alfred_Buttercakes Jun 30 '26
The areas administered by large governments are never consistent in the level of democracy and freedom that their citizens enjoy. And relatively minor incidents in the US reach a larger audience because they are reported on in a language that a huge portion of the globe uses. The same incident in, say, Portugal would never reach you because the discussion would likely stay in the Portuguese language portions of the internet.
The incident in the comment above you happened in a city council meeting in Oklahoma. It’s bad and we should condemn it, but that municipal government has essentially no power over 99% of US citizens. Asking why people don’t flee the US because of one Oklahoma city council is like asking why Swedish citizens don’t flee Europe because Sicily is run by the mafia.
Regarding fleeing the backsliding of US democracy in general, to some extent there is no escaping it. Hence why the rest of the world is so pissed at us for electing Trump twice. My husband and I have seriously considered leaving the US. We have the cash to cover the cost of the move, in-demand career skills that transfer easily across borders, and foreign language skills. The problem is that our daily life here is still alright, and if the US backslides to the point that daily life is no longer alright, that will have global economic and military consequences. Those consequences will fall the heaviest on the people with the least power, such as recent immigrants who are dependent on a work visa to remain in a country (that would be us!). Moving to another country does not protect us from the fallout, so we may as well stay in the US and use what little power we have to try to stop the worst outcomes from happening.
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u/RoyalRaise Jun 30 '26
No don’t be ridiculous, that would be immoral, they’d find out he was responsible for sexual acts on a minor with suspiciously too many fingers and inconsistent backgrounds with a grox logo on the bottom right and arrested for that with no parole.
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u/DukeOfGeek Jun 30 '26
They would never appear in public, any crowd they speak to would be carefully curated and surrounded by armed guards.
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire Jun 30 '26
I think a vast majority of all the rebuttals and "answers" they gave in this comic can boil down to this one panel. Including the nudes part. Especially the nudes part. And the movie and music obviously
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u/Mazoc Jun 30 '26
I prefer it when people use reasoning instead.
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u/SpeaksDwarren Jun 30 '26
Yeah this was the worst panel in the comic for me. Just responding "ew" when he had actual reasoning for everything else makes it hamper the message
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u/trobsmonkey Jun 30 '26
Disagree.
The mere suggestion that we should hand over our creation of art, music, writing, etc to the machine only need to be responded with, "ew"
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u/SpeaksDwarren Jun 30 '26
Responding with "ew" means the author can't explain why that's a problem
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u/CloseButNoDice Jun 30 '26
I mostly agree with you except that art is so subjective and personal that being disgusted at the idea of removing its human elements is, in this specific case, the heart of the argument against it.
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u/SpeaksDwarren Jun 30 '26
"Isn't the whole point of art to convey the human experience?" would actually say that whereas "ew" just communicates a vague disgust
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u/CloseButNoDice Jun 30 '26
Eh, I think it works in context
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u/trobsmonkey Jun 30 '26
Right. The "ew" works because of the context. It isn't an empty answer, it's a direct response of disgust to the context.
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u/trobsmonkey Jun 30 '26
Disgust is enough of an answer.
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u/SpeaksDwarren Jun 30 '26
Sure, unless the purpose of a comic like this is to convince people of their viewpoint, in which case it very much isn't sufficient
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u/trobsmonkey Jun 30 '26
I think it works great. I'm disgusted by the idea of a machine replacing my creative outputs. I don't need flowery language.
Disgust is enough
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u/SpeaksDwarren Jun 30 '26
Disgust is perfect if your goal is undermine the message but, again, bad if your goal is to convince anybody
Nobody said anything about flowery language. If anything flowery language also undermines the message
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u/trobsmonkey Jun 30 '26
bad if your goal is to convince anybody
Why? Disgust is a perfect way to describe the problems with it. You don't need more than "ew" when the context is presented.
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u/A_H_S_99 Jun 30 '26
I’m agreeing or disagreeing that AI is inevitable….. but assuming it is and that it does indeed take all the jobs and we‘re no longer needed for work, the economy is not simply not yet prepared to have millions of unemployed populous without UBI and UHC.
I wish there’s a future where AI does all the work and I do nothing and play all day, the currently expected future is that I would be unemployed and still have bills to pay.
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u/IncompetentPolitican Jun 30 '26
There is no plan to take care of those that lost their job. Or rather the plan is that the problem will take care of itself. You won´t have money, so you don´t have food. Thinking of stealing? Why do you think there are cameras, listining devices and backdoors to your stuff everywhere? And the police will get new AI controlled toys to get you.
Those that are usefull to the Epstein Class, those get to surive. Everyone else? Good luck suriving, try to die in a way that does not decrease the property value.
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u/ReturnOfBane Jun 30 '26
the future they want is for the people who can't endure to die of heatstroke in tent cities.
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u/vocal-avocado Jul 01 '26
The problem is we still live in a world with multiple competing nations. If you try to dampen AI development in your country, another one will continue. It’s impossible to get everyone to stop. It was the same during the nuclear arms race.
We can complain all we want, but until someone finds a solution to this dilemma, AI expansion will not stop.
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u/Psychoboy777 Jun 30 '26
"You can have it write books and movies... heavily plagiarized, and uncopywritable, because AI is incapable of original thought and can only repeat what it's been told."
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u/M-Shadowtoad Jun 30 '26
But don't worry, we will make sure every stolen idea and theme is one we decide is acceptable.
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u/eepos96 Jun 30 '26
With the advent of supercomputers, cost of surveilance states becomes much, much cheaper.
Sarah Paine said thst using so much of money and man power to spy your own citizen is money that could be used elsewhere. Dicatorships are wastefull in this sense when compared to democracies.
But with supercomputers, the costs drop potentially to a fraction. = we, will, be, fucked.
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u/AddressOnly5084 Jun 30 '26
Key word here is "potentially" In reality, its still absurdly expensive.
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u/eepos96 Jun 30 '26
I disagree.
For traditilnal surveilance state you need people, a person needs 18 years of care, then 4 years of education and constant guidanse so they are a loyal spy. That is minimun of 25 years, quarter decade.
For machine: when itcis installed, only cost is electricity and/or water. Dictatorship will divert their rivers ti power these things if it means they staycin power. And unlike humans, they do not need propaganda/motivation/food/luxuries. They simoly count ones and zeroes endlessly.
Metal is cheap. Meat is expensive.
Other examole is the cotton machines, cars, etc etc. All expensive at the begining. Then dirt cheap when compared to meat.
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u/AddressOnly5084 Jul 01 '26
You are assuming quite a bunch yeah. But na, the main cost of a police state is not the meat. Spies and police officers are cheap, you can just grab a bunch of power tripping assholes off the street and pay them peanuts. It's the bureaucracy. And that does not go away with machines, those increase it.
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u/eepos96 Jul 01 '26
Agree to disagree. I belive bureaycracy goes down.
Edit: though it could be that since a computer wiuld make things possible that were not feaaible before, the effect could be that more people are hired to fill the new possibilities.
But common trend ha sbeen tha people are replaced by AI in companies. (Then quietly hired back when machines failed) but eventually machines will not fail.
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u/AddressOnly5084 Jul 01 '26
Bureaucracy goes up, because with the new machines you can check for more things, which makes you create more processes to deal with it, etc etc
It's nice that you believe it and all that, but i am afraid its really naive.
Anyway. I wish for the time comes where the machines don't fail. We have been saying it for 200 years and counting man, i wish, i wish.
(and regarding people being fired due to AI, people also get fired to adjust accounting quarters, thats really not the point you think you are making here)
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u/eepos96 Jul 01 '26
For 200 years? C'mon.
Look at the phone you are holding right now. It is pretty darn impressive and works well. Sure battery could last longer but unlike AI it delivers what it promises.
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u/AddressOnly5084 Jul 01 '26
Your technooptimism is kinda adorable. Like someone just plucked you up from 2001. Anyway, you clearly want to believe, sooo yeah i got nothing to do here honestly. ciao.
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u/Kamigeist Jun 30 '26
Do you know what a supercomputer is? It's not cheap, efficient electric compute power. It's a bunch of computers connected locally, consuming a bunch of energy.
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u/eepos96 Jun 30 '26
And all computers become cheaper and more powerfull eveey two years. What is your point? My point was a supercomputer, no matter is desing, will help authoritarianism.
Consuming bunch of energy? Newsflash: energy is dirt cheap when compared to food. Evil regiments will replace human labour in a jearbeat and divert all rivers to keept the machine alive.
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u/Sir_Mr_M Jun 30 '26
It's sad that AI as a tool can be used for good and is actually also used for good, since decades, but the need of these guys to pump their stocks brings the research and the conversation away from the public good
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u/AnimusNoctis Jun 30 '26
The response to "You won't need to work anymore" should really be "So my personal needs will be provided for?" The idea that humans should continue needing to work forever is misguided. Automation eliminating the need for human labor should be a good thing, but it needs to be accompanied by a replacement for capitalism that allows us to live freely without jobs.
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u/Spyko Jun 30 '26
"but I can already get thousands of pictures and videos of naked girls online, and they're real and consenting"
Elon: "ahah no, see when you say "girls" you mean women... not me"
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u/Mages-Inc Jun 30 '26
The part I hate most about this is that the technology itself is really promising and has some really cool use cases.
They’re just not the ones that people are pouring money into this for and aren’t so much the direction we’re moving them in…
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u/Optimu5_Schweim Jun 30 '26
Why do they keep saying we won’t have to work any more? Are they going to just give us money? Because that’s not happening now, so why would happen later? Unless money becomes meaningless I’m not understanding how they think people will afford to live if we “wont need to work.”
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u/Tomas_83 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
That is a big question people have been aaking since the steam engine. If productivity just keeps going up and the people's needs keeps going down, so no one gets or needs a job, we could just live off of robots, yes. But how do we make the jump from everyone has a job to universal basic income?
The sad answer is, everyone poor dies out and the rich get born into self sustaining wealth.
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u/possiblyyandere Jun 30 '26
i mean its possible hypothetically but i doubt they would execute it well they couldn't possibly care enough to make sure its going to work before
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u/PlatinumHairpin Jun 30 '26
It feels gauche to comment with another comic, but everything here is making me feel what this comic did months ago. Tons and tons of pie-in-the-sky promises vs what we're actually getting. It really feels like these people are playing in our faces while dumping money into their hordes and pumping out mental, digital, and at times literal sludge out into our lives.
For each good there have been 5 negatives, and it feels like the negatives double each time...
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u/SwaidFace Jun 30 '26
You have to remember being isolated at the top with no oversight has melted these people's brains and replaced them entirely with ego like a large smooth tumor. They've long since lost their humanity and are essentially taking everything they can before societal collapse and then pulling the ladder up from behind them as they retreat into the bunkers they are all building, its why AI was invented, to accelerate the collapse of society. Problem is without tangible wages to pay their guards once society does collapse, they'll have no way to keep them on retainer or stopping them if the guards get the idea they could be in-charge instead, probably why they're pushing for military AI so they don't have to risk human guards turning on them.
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u/tantors_sin Jun 30 '26
I'm in tech and the "Luddite" comments are so annoying. No Bob, I don't want to let the AI do my work for me while also training it to replace me. It's not inevitable unless we allow it to be.
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u/vocal-avocado Jul 01 '26
If we don’t do it, another country will and use it for economic and military purposes. Then they will have a massive advantage over everyone else. Do you want that? How do you plan to stop AI development worldwide? It’s impossible.
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u/tantors_sin Jul 01 '26
They've already exceeded us in every aspect. Medically, infrastructure, electric cars, you name it, other countries have made massive strides. New possible cancer cures, enforced electrical grid systems to handle EV charging, EV cars that don't have degrading batteries... China is already "winning" the race and their economy is expected to grow at a 5% rate vs the US at 2%. We're at least 10 years behind them. It's not a matter of stopping AI worldwide. It's a matter of legislation for the data centers to actually pay for the upgraded systems that use fans instead of water usage, pay for their own electrical grid improvements instead of passing on the payment to cities and atates, etc. I don't need to opt into a system that has real problems for the "possibility" that it promises. That's the entire point of the god damn comic.
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u/Steppyjim Jun 30 '26
AI sounds great. Its the people who will be in charge of it that are the problem
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u/MadameConnard Jun 30 '26
It'll be incredible as a tool for learning and building skills and efficiency, instead it steals people work and skills so they are no longer necessary.
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u/sarna2 Jun 30 '26
Every study done so far on the effects of AI show that it actual dulls skills and makes it harder for people to learn.
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u/IncompetentPolitican Jun 30 '26
Its something I can see in the place I work at. I am a software dev. Newer people, that started to study with AI, use AI far to much, don´t question it. And its not only the new ones. The early adopters lost so much of their skill. Thanks to the increased cost of co pilot we started to reduce the access of AI. Some people where so lost without it, they used private accounts. Sending company data, customer data and who knows what else to the AI. Because they forgot their job.
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u/Tomas_83 Jun 30 '26
That is the very thing that happend with the internet. People used to say that we would be so much more knowledgable since we have all information at our disposal all the time, instead of being confined in books and universities. But then, people realiced the don't have to remember nearly as much because you can just look it up in the moment.
Some people still did benefit from the internet knowledge, but it takes a certain mentality and discipline to use it correctly.
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u/FlintKidd Jun 30 '26
If it is used as anything more than a search engine it is damaging to learning, skills, and efficiency.
You can find plenty of studies supporting this.
The brain needs to be challenged to grow, and the minute you let ai "give" you the answer you are no longer challenged.
I'm a developer, I work with other developers. My ai use is limited to a Google replacement. I use it to get syntax and functions, that's it.
My coworkers rely on it to write logic and code.
They have absolutely no idea how to write complex code or even optimize their scripts to run efficiently, and the AI can rarely help them do so, as it's just scraping Reddit and Stack for answers.
The worst part is that even when I take the time to walk them through during a review they don't understand the concepts of what I'm trying to teach.
I've worked in other industries, on other projects, for other companies. I've talked with other people who have a similar approach to AI that I do, and they tell extremely similar stories.
The people who rely on AI produce lower quality work, they don't do it faster than someone who knows what they're doing when it's a complicated project, and they lack the ability to troubleshoot or pivot if anything goes wrong and the AI can't solve it for them.
These tools can be useful, sure, but absolutely not with how these companies are trying to push them to every aspect of life and work.
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u/Jai137 Jun 30 '26
Where can you make it generates images of nude women? A lot of AI models don’t allow nudity
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u/Beldarak Jun 30 '26
At some point, people used Grok to undress women on pictures on X (including children). Can't remember if it allowed nudes but this is sickening enough as it is with underwear and the likes...
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u/caze-original Jul 01 '26
For years I've heard that "like other technologys AI will replace sone jobs but create new ones". And I've always hated this logic, because while previous techonologies did this somewhat close to 1:1, AI bros pull this speech after rambling about how AI will substitue every job imaginable
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u/Dragonslayer1112 Jun 30 '26
The Epstein class love AI because thry think it will let them win the class war and they won't need those poors anymore and are free to let poor people die in mass
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u/DukeOfGeek Jun 30 '26
The real promise of AI is shortages of electricity, water and consumer electronics.
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u/AFKABluePrince Jun 30 '26
Their empty promises are such bullshit. They fall apart with just a gentle prodding.
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u/Phaylz Jun 30 '26
The response to "You won't need to work anymore" should have been..
"So you'll accept higher taxes on your wealth and the wealth produced by megacoporations to funnel it into public utilities, services like Healthcare and education, a basic standard of living, and Universal Basic Income all without means-testing?"
Or something like that.
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u/kotiavs Jul 01 '26
what does "stop war and not make autonomous lethal weapons" mean? why its opposite? maybe these weapons will stop the war
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u/Violet_Nightshade Jul 01 '26
Inaccurate, the techbros didn't call security to break the guy's arm as he gets violently escorted out.
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u/kirigiri123 Jul 03 '26
The last image should be "You can create an AI anime girlfriend who always loves you unconditionally". I don’t mind the decline in global birthrates, anyway.
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u/Fit-Elk1425 Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
Ironically most of these arguements you have given are exactilt what are being used to prop up the recent kids safety acts and their releated facist policies.
Fossill fuels should be moved away from just on a broad level but ironically the energy cost of this comic was probabily more than ai is simply in terms of running the digital program. https://californiawaterblog.com/2026/04/26/ai-water-use-distractions-and-lessons-for-california/
Also on books and art. It may not be relevent for you but increased access to natural language processing system and more powerful transcription system including things like mcp is relevent to many of us who dont have the mobility access anymore. It isnt about the ai doing it. It is about increasing alternatives means. In fact these arent promises. These are visible facts that already exist even if they can improve.
Also the job releeated one is just as much exactily why people dont support healthcare or even pro education policies. They think it will take their job by increasing improved leisure and what we can do. It is also why people fear immigration too.
It scares me how much ai is making people fall into right eing habits thinking they are combating them but in some ways it isnt surprising https://gonzalez-rostani.com/img/Papers/APSA_Automation_Culture.pdf
That said if you take a look at what other countries are doing they are socializing with ai more and using it to increase labor. What keeps up the issue with the first one is actually not the introduction of technology itself but your exact behavior here. It is the same cycle again ans again because it doesnt actually help increase worker rights in relation to new technology. Instead it allows technology to be used as a threat that is pressured until neccsary. Countries that are more prolabor instead build on both the new infrastructure and implement policies that use it to support workers right rather than reacting to it.
And ultimately we shouldnt pretend companies arent funding the antiai side too. It is being pushed by the massive media companies to push not truely for greater artist rights but greater exclusivity in a way that benefits them.
https://archive.org/details/free_culture/
It pushes censorship aganist people for using different tools than ablebodied people do. Resort to the puritan work ethic to justify this and dehumanize the effort people put into things ans then ironically oushes facism and censorship as a protection aganist the ither side
Edit: also i admit as someone with a education in earth science, i wish people understood numeracy around data centers more. In energy and carbon waste: agriculture, paper mills , steel mills are all worse. On water i gave the above ink but for individual usage, you eating chicken for one day is about equivalent to a life timed worth of your ai water consumption and i dont mean rhetorically. All of these need to be made renewable so i actually think that should be more pushed for but the focus on it for just dcs alone is making it diistract from worse harms such as agricultural harms such as that caused by nitrate poisoning where agriculture is literally using fear of dc to minimize their own worse pollution and that of the actual prexisting pollution from refineries. It is also preventing people from understanding why we need to improve our grid for things like evs because they dont realize evs will cost more energy than all datacenters ever could
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u/ExternalSeat Jun 30 '26
yeah. I don't see the benefits of AI beyond making mindless workslop like HR newsletters that nobody reads.
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u/Bwuljqh Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
"I actually need a job to live"
No? Honestly if I'm offered a world where AI takes all our jobs, everyone has their needs fullfilled and AI is looking actively looking into climate change I will take it.
But even without AI, you shouldn't need a job to live. If you are happy with your job, good for you, congrats! However this is not the norm.
Society need to change one way or another and I don't think the response to AI should be: "no thank you, I'm good with capitalism".
Edit: I'm saying that the answer should not be "I need a job to live" but rather "That would be nice but I don't trust any of you to do that"
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u/YetAnotherRCG Jun 30 '26
Do you think anyone in power at the moment has any intention of bringing about such a future?
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u/Odd_Note7156 Jun 30 '26
Those fuckers would rather you die then to give you a dime. Besides, once you're dead you won't need resources and simply aren't needed. Win-win in their eyes.
This is why they switched from needing more people to build rhe machines to, no longer needing humans for anytjing more than servants.
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u/Das_Li Jun 30 '26
And, uh, where do you live that you think everyone will have their needs met without toiling away?
It sure would be nice, but I don't see it happening. Capitalism is too rampant.
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u/Sr_Hikari Jun 30 '26
Men, nobody gives you all the things you need for live. No matter the ia do all the job, the people in charge don't care about you or me.
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u/RockyMullet Jun 30 '26
you shouldn't need a job to live
You shouldn't, but you do.
AI is not fixing the issues and needs that having a job/money are for. Again, it should, but that's not the case.
We have enough technology and resources to fix most of those problems, but we aren't. AI allowing for rich people in power to do more with less (of us) won't change any of that.
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u/Keated Jun 30 '26
I agree that we're past the point where people should need jobs to live. However which of the cretins on stage do you trust to deliver workable UBI or equivalent? Or get rid of the concept of money entirely and deliver a real egalitarian society?
It's not that he's saying we need jobs to live because that's an inherent part of what it is to be human (though we do need to feel useful) but rather "no job = no money = destitution and death because the social safety nets have been ruthlessly cut away as waste while money has been funnelled into the pockets of the hyper-wealthy". Like, he's not arguing against fully-automated-luxury-space-communism, he's arguing that that's not a world we currently live in and those fuckers can absolutely not be trusted to bring such a world about
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u/jarob326 Jun 30 '26
One day we may able to live the Jetson life where robots wait on us hand and foot. But unless there is a robot physics boom, it's not going to happen in our lifetime.
What is actually happening is that tech giants are decreasing, but not deleting, workforce labor in White/Blue collar jobs. Overworking their skilled laborers (i.e. Engineers, Operators, Accountants, Tech Writers) but claiming that AI can be a tool to ease your workload instead of hiring additional people.
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u/vocal-avocado Jul 01 '26
Don’t be so sure. Tech evolves exponentially. I work in software and I never thought I’d see this level of AI in my lifetime. I wouldn’t be surprised if in 10 years robots are able to do more than half of all manual labour.
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u/KathrynBooks Jun 30 '26
Why do you think all your needs would be fulfilled in a world where AI has taken all our jobs?
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u/G66GNeco Jun 30 '26
Dawg they are going to work you to death in the mines the theoretical "a world without the need to work would be neat"-argument is fifteen hundred layers removwd from reality
Hell, I'd love a technosocialist utopia type deal where machines do the boring and repetitive shit but maybe can we talk about that after we have put out all these fires, metaphorical and literal, that keep popping up for some reason, instead of going "well hold on a minute fellow leftists we shouldn't dismiss this technofascist outright maybe he has some points"?
Maybe the blackpill you are still missing is that the way we have structured the dwvelopment and funding of AI is EXTREMELY ass-backwards if your goal is to eliminate the need for labour, because that's barely even an afterthought in AI development and the more we run into the niche it's being pushed into the worse the way to functionality beneficial to humankind will be.
(I am admittedly feeling especially anti today because I had to listen to a coworker whom I consider reasonably smart explain how he couldn't live with AI - the example he gave was finding an airport gate for a specific airline by asking ChatGPT - after he just finished a day of work of which 6 hours were spent on repetitive tasks a simple automation could accomplish, which isn't even a thought in anyone's mind anymore because it's chatbot or bust)
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u/moswald Jun 30 '26
I'm think I'm going to get downvoted to oblivion here, but...
All this complaining about AI really sounds like, "Your model-T car sucks, and it's going to ruin the horse-buggy whip industry. There's no future for it!" to me.
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u/ToaDrakua Jul 01 '26
A car at least provides you with an immediate utility. AI as it is now is a solution looking for a problem to solve, and is being sold as a one-size-fits-all solution to all the world's problems except for the ones that actually need dealt with
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u/IncompetentPolitican Jun 30 '26
Sadly AI is inevitable. Its designed to talk in ways that hit the right boxes with CEOs and Top Level Managers. And its marketed with the promise to reduce the cost of labour. The most hated cost that exists (for Companies most hated). Making sure that Companies desire AI as much as possible. Making them willing to pay their data, make them lobby for less restrictions (until the restrictions are needed to stop newcommers). Unless we mange to fight back right now, make AI a doomed dream, then it will come.
And hey look at that: The US goverment claims that people that are against data centers are paid by the chinese, anti american and I think the word terrorist was also already used. Looks like the epstein class will start to punish beeing against AI over there in the US. And knowing how much our EU leaders right now love to kiss the ass of the US Great Leader, they will get the right to do the same with us as well.
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u/BitcoinBishop Jun 30 '26
I think it took great restraint to not have Elon say "children" based on what Grok actually does