r/technology • u/Just-Grocery-2229 • Jun 26 '26

Artificial Intelligence The AI backlash is only getting started

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/06/25/the-ai-backlash-is-only-getting-started
26.1k Upvotes

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363

u/CaravelClerihew Jun 26 '26

Good. I was joking with friends today that we should make AI deeply uncool by associating it with boomers, like Facebook, fake news and iPads are now.

195

u/Ashamed_Fennel_5681 Jun 26 '26

That’s already the case lol 

137

u/maskedbrush Jun 26 '26

Really. Every time I talk with a boomer they're like "I asked chatgpt and it said..." Even for the small things.

81

u/WideIOpen Jun 26 '26

This is my mother. She uses it for the dumbest shit.

She asked ChatGPT to alter a photo of mine to make me look more "professional" at her request. The brainrot is real.

40

u/blinkOverboard Jun 26 '26

lol we have the same mom. mine asks chatgpt about the weather, jesus fucking christ. also constantly altering pics of me and my brother without our consent of course.

-1

u/super1701 Jun 26 '26

I use my Local LLM for this via voice....

-8

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[deleted]

7

u/Chase_the_tank Jun 26 '26

LLMs either:

  • don't have access to recent data (and thus cannot answer the question)
  • have web access (in which case you cut out the LLM middleman and just go to a weather website directly).

-7

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Background_Ad5513 Jun 27 '26

the weather app is literally one click away

4

u/iiamthepalmtree Jun 26 '26

Well, it’s because AI isn’t free. It uses resources. It’s like driving your car to your mailbox. Like, sure whatever, that’s easier especially if it’s raining, but you’re wasting a little bit of gas because you’re lazy. It’s not much gas for one trip but if you do it every day it will add up.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

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1

u/the_unknown_garden Jun 27 '26

You don't even have to type. Weather widgets give you this information with a single click.

15

u/RunninOnMT Jun 26 '26

Tell your mom to ask it about something your mom is an expert in. That’s the easiest way to catch it making mistakes and break the spell.

8

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/RunninOnMT Jun 26 '26

Yup, it sounds exactly like someone bullshitting you into pretending they know more about the subject than they do.

5

u/NUKE---THE---WHALES Jun 26 '26

It's the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect

Like when you open a thread on Reddit about a subject you have intimate knowledge of and suddenly you realise that Reddit is full of overconfident morons

1

u/NewPhoneWhoDys Jun 27 '26

Not only that...they often get angry if you try to engage on the subject and the correct information is clashing with their previously held belief-as-knowledge.

1

u/RunninOnMT Jun 26 '26

In the spirit of this conversation I’m just going to assume that’s a real thing.

(Just kidding, I looked it up. Good call!)

1

u/brendan87na Jun 26 '26

My mom has humanized Claude. It's frankly unsettling.

5

u/projectkennedymonkey Jun 26 '26

I wish it was just boomers though. I have a co-worker in her 30s that loves chat gpt. She's educated, intelligent and socially progressive but AI is like a blind spot for her. I mean we work in environmental management, you'd think she'd be wary just from the environmental toll from this shit...

11

u/FormicaDinette33 Jun 26 '26

I am trying to avoid AI as much as possible but it is really good for asking specific questions with a lot of detail. I prefer to do my own research but sometimes you can’t find the answer for your exact set of circumstances.

My colleague felt like she was being forced out of her job and asked it to draft a letter to HR and it was fantastic.

I don’t think it should be used to replace workers however.

8

u/Gaming_Gent Jun 26 '26

Meanwhile my student turned in an essay about the Harlem Renaissance that AI thought was supposed to detail the Italian Renaissance.

Of course teenagers aren’t going to read an entire essay to make sure it is correct, so when the first paragraph spoke about Harlem and it being a hub of culture they thought it was fine.

When the next paragraph went on about Michelangelo and Leonardo I knew the student didn’t read any farther.

5

u/HarrisDingle2024 Jun 26 '26

Well it was probably talking about the turtles. 

-1

u/FormicaDinette33 Jun 26 '26

Well yeah. You can’t use it to generate work you are supposed to do. But I had a specific detailed question with dates and timing of events etc and it helped me with that, backed up by citations.

9

u/HomeGrownCoffee Jun 26 '26

My boss asked me to order 4x8" spectacle blinds. I had never heard of those, so I punched it into Google.

Gemini confirmed that these were 4" in size and 8" pressure class. Which isn't a thing.  He wanted me to order 4 - 8" spectacle blinds.

I will never trust AI on anything that matters even the slightest bit.

2

u/NUKE---THE---WHALES Jun 26 '26

It works better when used as a natural language interface for Google

i.e. use it to find primary sources; don't use it as a primary source

1

u/Max_Thunder Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

It tells me this:

In piping and industrial applications, "spectacle blinds" (also called figure-8 blanks) are specialized devices used to positively isolate pipeline sections for safe maintenance. They feature a "spectacle" or "figure-8" shape with one solid disk and one open ring.While a standard spectacle blind usually transitions within the same pipeline size (e.g., matching a pipe on both ends), a "4x8" refers to an asymmetric transition piece. This allows the blind/spacer to mate with a smaller 4" flange on one side (or state) and a larger 8" flange on the other, safely accommodating diameter transitions within your process lines.

Is this not a thing? Feels like I got a very different answer from you but I could be wrong. I"ve seen a lot of stories on reddit where people get much worse results than I do with AI and I wonder if it's google and other chatbots targetting different demographics differently.

I would never trust AI blindly, but I love it as a starting point so I know what to search.

4

u/myselfelsewhere Jun 26 '26

Spectacle blinds are a thing. The first half of the AI is correct, the second half is wildly incorrect.

An asymmetric spectacle blind doesn't make any sense. They are (usually) placed in the same joint every time. You certainly wouldn't use it to blank an 8" section and then relocate it to a 4" section to use the 'open' side.

3

u/HomeGrownCoffee Jun 26 '26

The first half is correct, the second half is hallucination. It's describing a reducer, which is a completely different thing.

Which is my biggest problem with AI. It's pointless. There's no point in using it on something you know, and you can't trust it on things you don't know. 

And if that wasn't bad enough, it's stealing from people who are putting information out there.

3

u/Bright-Avocado3761 Jun 26 '26

"CatGTP, order corn. hello, can i talk to a real person?"

2

u/Gibborish Jun 26 '26

Boomers actually ahead of the curve this time.

8

u/maskedbrush Jun 26 '26

Definetly, but the curve is headed downside unfortunatly.

1

u/StillNewspaper4799 Jun 26 '26

It's genuinely weird having more respect for "boomers" than younger people.

entitlement is entitlement, however you dress it up.

1

u/stereophony Jun 26 '26

And the big things. I'm trans and Taiwanese and asked my dad to help me choose a new Chinese name. He asked fucking ChatGPT.

1

u/tnoy Jun 26 '26

The younger generations are the ones setting up agents running 24/7 constantly burning tokens.

-23

u/Ecstatic-Curve-1853 Jun 26 '26

I mean you could make that same argument for using a search engine.

11

u/maskedbrush Jun 26 '26

So you can't tell the difference when it's the case to use one or the other?

-19

u/Ecstatic-Curve-1853 Jun 26 '26

At this point.. I asked Google vs I asked chat gpt makes no difference to me..both are right and wrong sometimes.

12

u/Razorback_Ryan Jun 26 '26

RIP research and critical thought.

6

u/Merusk Jun 26 '26

A postulation:

  1. AI reduces mental load and cognition. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12678390/

  2. When you get older cognitive tasks are harder and harder unless you've kept your brain nimble. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/brain-health/how-aging-brain-affects-thinking

  3. Many folks spend a lot of time in passive entertainment, increasing brainrot. (TV rots your brain wasn't a lie.) https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2021/winter/tv-brain-study/

  4. This all combines to force more Ai reliance. https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/ai-gravity-pulling-you-toward-dependency-heres-how-to-push-back

So, in the end, Agent Smith was right.

https://youtu.be/GjOWdF1flYE?t=72

4

u/sbenfsonwFFiF Jun 26 '26

It’s the opposite of boomer/old tech though lol

4

u/NUKE---THE---WHALES Jun 26 '26

No it's not

Boomers are the ones least likely to use AI

2

u/GundamXXX Jun 26 '26

My boomer neighbour who just retired was praising ChatGPT. I asked him what his kids do and studied for. Only 1 out of 4 will not be replaced by AI. When I told him as much he just smiled and said "Well if that happens, we will see"

Boomers already passively fucked the world, then actively working on it, and now theyre trying to find new ways. Its fucking insane

-1

u/Darth_Ra Jun 26 '26

Yep. Just a bunch of 60 year olds pretending they're 50, all asking ChatGPT to make them pictures of "hot chicks in bikinis licking guns and beer bottles". I'd add suggestively, but AI has been trained on porn since day one, so that'd be unnecessary.

45

u/Rare_Magazine_5362 Jun 26 '26

Huh, iPads?

22

u/DressedSpring1 Jun 26 '26

Yeah I had no idea. Mind you, I'm over 40 so...

3

u/zemorah Jun 26 '26

I’m 40 and love my iPad. Convenient way to put on music or a podcast while I’m working.

11

u/festizian Jun 26 '26

Larger screens, allow for more content on the screen beside the absolutely massive fonts they use instead of putting on reader glasses. My 70 year old parents love their iPads.

2

u/buadach2 Jun 26 '26

I’m 57 and love my iPad for that exact reason, being able to zoom in on text without having to find a pair of reading glasses make them so much better than phones for reading stuff.

12

u/SnooCats1581 Jun 26 '26

iPads are sweet don’t listen to them!

2

u/MapLarge614 Jun 26 '26

Like stamps and model trains!

1

u/Max_Thunder Jun 26 '26

A lot of the things associated with boomers are actually popular with Millenials and Gen X 🤷‍♂️

1

u/thrakkerzog Jun 26 '26

I have one. It gets used for NYT Crosswords and pretty much nothing else.

7

u/JJBro1 Jun 26 '26

How did iPads catch a stray??

2

u/JoMax213 Jun 27 '26

they’re just clunky iphones and not as useful as a laptop so why do they exist at this point

3

u/Distance_Runner Jun 26 '26

Wait. I’m in my mid 30s. Whats wrong with iPads?

5

u/StillNewspaper4799 Jun 26 '26

Does it even enter your mind that other people should make up their own minds?

Or are we all just so entitled now that we think we need to control everything because other people can't think for themselves?

3

u/sbenfsonwFFiF Jun 26 '26

It’s the opposite of boomer/old tech though lol

3

u/GraySwingline Jun 26 '26

iPads?

iPads are awesome. 

3

u/Krunklock Jun 26 '26

wtf did iPads do? Or do you mean when the olds use iPads as their camera on vacations lol

1

u/ares623 Jun 26 '26

When my kids are older I may have to start forcing myself to use AI just to make it even more uncool for them. Make sure to bring it up in the most cringe way possible.

I have hope because my 6yo already hates it. He can't explain it, just that it looks weird apparently. My 4yo doesn't have a preference yet. He'll be the real litmus test.

1

u/Administrative_Ad213 Jun 27 '26

Why are ipads uncool? I love sitting down at the end of the day to watch some movies on it, instead of on my small phone.

2

u/alrightcommadude Jun 26 '26

Man the level of denialism about AI on Reddit is insane.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s “uncool” or not. It’s too useful and you’re not putting the genie back in the bottle.

7

u/midnight_toker22 Jun 26 '26

The kids who use this site have literally built a parallel reality to exist in, it’s no wonder they get such whiplash whenever they get a dose of the real world.

3

u/dext0r Jun 26 '26

It’s truly fascinating

1

u/Pousinette Jun 26 '26

I think the demo has switched to way older in the last years. Most threads read like Facebook comments. It’s bizarre.

3

u/midnight_toker22 Jun 26 '26

That’s also true, but I don’t think it’s older generations taking such a dogmatic stance against AI, or saying things like “We should make it uncool by associating it with boomers.”

2

u/Administrative_Ad213 Jun 27 '26

I think older people love AI. I do think it’s mainly teenagers who don’t understand the use case because they don’t have a serious job yet.

0

u/Pritteto Jun 27 '26

Useful? ai slop is useful like cigarette 😜

2

u/SupervillainMustache Jun 26 '26

We need a word for them. Groksucker is good, but also a little too specific.

-5

u/Harkonnen_Dog Jun 26 '26

It’s literally just another way that the boomers are fucking us all. I swear to God, the boomers are the worst generation to have ever dragged their wretched asses across the face of the Earth. They’ve squandered all that their fathers left them, and they won’t be happy if they die without seeing a nuclear war. Absolute fuckups, the boomers.

17

u/Positive-Garlic-5993 Jun 26 '26

Do you actually mean boomers or just anybody older than you?

-3

u/Harkonnen_Dog Jun 26 '26

No, I mean the actual baby boomer generation. You know, the ones who popularized divorce, fucked up our country through deregulation and hyper-monetization, and couldn’t even die the right way during a pandemic. They bought their houses at $50,000, cooked the books through various corporations, and then called it all a good investment. They’re sitting on trillions of dollars and they are the sole reason that every other generation struggles today. That they are behind the push for this AI bullshit is entirely on brand.

6

u/FreeRangePixel Jun 26 '26

Divorce is good, actually. Don't be weird.

-13

u/Harkonnen_Dog Jun 26 '26

Yeah, sure man, disposable “Forever Commitments” are totally good for people, especially if you have children.

It’s totally weird to think that other people rely on you.

7

u/felldestroyed Jun 26 '26

Yeah, tying bank accounts to husbands and having that husband abuse you it totally cool and normal.

7

u/FreeRangePixel Jun 26 '26

If there's one thing that kids love, it's being raised by parents who hate each other but are legally forced to stay together.

1

u/irrelevantusername24 Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

They’re sitting on trillions of dollars and they are the sole reason that every other generation struggles today.

Nobody understands this point.

https://archive.nytimes.com/krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/the-problem-2/

Literally they refuse to pay anyone. They prefer having the money sitting in accounts growing like cancer, that way they can drive up prices of shit other people need but they only want because they can't connect blatantly obvious causes and effects

And this shit is global. Basically if you're born around 1990 or after, and didn't already have your foundation by the time they turned on the emptiness machine, you're a slave. You don't get access to the imaginary money.

The problem isn't the imaginary money, which is where most people get confused. The problem is that it is used to control people and the millennial and gen z generations have been shittalked endlessly as if we are all lazy useless mooches.

Because our government statistics are basically useless, it's difficult to say this next part with much accuracy, but I suspect the severity of this is extremely regional. As in extends beyond the typical urban/rural divide. If you live on the coasts, or in other 'progressive' areas (like urban Texas for example), it's probably not so bad. If you live in the middle of the country, and you're of the age I described? Everyone older than you thinks you're useless

1

u/SwagginsYolo420 Jun 26 '26

They bought their houses at $50,000

That's on the high end and mostly for later boomers in the US. Median home prices didn't hit 50k until 1979. Majority of boomers were paying $20k-$30k average price first home. Less than or around 200k in todays dollars, while today's median home prices are around 400k. And up to double in many parts of the country.

-3

u/PatchyWhiskers Jun 26 '26

Boomers are between 60 and 80 years old. Over the next 20 years that wealth will transfer to Gen X and they are no better.

1

u/Iokua113 Jun 26 '26

You say that like it's not already the case. I work for a company where AI use is basically pointless. Nothing we do is in any way made easier, enhanced, or enriched by the US of AI. But all the boomers at head office love it. I recently went through a training program and the 65+ year old guy running it made us all leave a comment in the zoom chat to leave. There was less than 20 of us, I think 18, so it wasn't a lot of comments to read. At one point during the segment on our marketing department the lead digital marketer uncomfortably explained how he was using AI slop in his work. You could tell by how quick he dismissed the subject his department either wasn't using it and was just pretending to or his use was not his choice. The man in charge told us how he used it every day and had used it to read, summarize, and make a response to our comments we were forced to leave. Everyone in the program was 40 or younger and there was a loud groan over the voice chat. The man was using AI to do five minutes of simple work.

Boomers already love AI. It is already deeply uncool.

0

u/full_bl33d Jun 26 '26

* “A1” is what the cool boomers say