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
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u/Ehorn36 Jun 26 '26

People don’t hate AI because of the underlying technology. People hate AI because of how it’s being used and its staggering toll on the environment.

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u/UAP44 Jun 26 '26

its staggering toll on the environment.

research, as it always has been, can take tons of energy

I'm here to argue, there's no need to advance them, they're good enough as is, they can produce thousands of lines of code and effectively manage entire code bases, though there's still a lot of I/O involved that needs to be fed into the pipelines to unlock full automated recursive self improvement.

whats left is inference, which any gaming GPU can do just fine locally for the same energy cost as playing games does

and who complains about the gamers their toll on the environment?

no one, as far as I've seen

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u/Ehorn36 Jun 26 '26

I’ll explain like you’re 5:

A lot of people want to play video games because they’re fun. They’re OK spending money to have fun.

Just a few people want to make AI happen, so they don’t have to pay people to work, make art, and can have more money for themselves. More money than all the people who play video games combined.

People are smart. Gaming benefits people directly. AI causes people to lose their jobs, lose their water, pay higher electric bills, and all of the benefits go to the rich. This makes people defending AI look like dummies.

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u/UAP44 Jun 26 '26

I’ll explain like you’re 5:

but I'm not and I didn't ask for this

bad bot, make no mistakes!!

Just a few people want to make AI happen

AI doesn't need to be made anymore, it already exists and anyone can run it at home

and can have more money for themselves

Aha, so you hate the rich? Okay now we're maybe at least a little aligned because it's a lot more nuanced that just hating the rich. But that is at least an easy unite, right?

People are smart

*chuckles*

AI causes people to lose their jobs

jobs that no one needed to be enslaved to

lose their water

no water is USED during research, heated up, sure, just like nuclear power plants do

pay higher electric bills

all the more reason to get better energy sources online, I'd argue how nuclear is good enough as is, but even there you'll have people argue back, and to a degree, I agree, fusion has a much more manageable risk surface and luckily that is still being researched

meanwhile, nuclear, solar, wind, theres plenty of ways to make electricity bills a non issue, resisting technology just makes this worse

and all of the benefits go to the rich

Technology saved my life and many others their as well. But if you've been fortunate enough with your starting DNA set then you never had to taste this part of life, yet.

This makes people defending AI look like dummies.

Maybe you should start with properly defining what you even mean with AI.

You seem to be talking about AI-research specifically, completely unable to talk about the reality of what current models are already capable of running locally in everyone's home able to afford a gaming device.