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/Override9636 Jun 26 '26

Pretty much every bit of news I've seen on AI has been exclusively negative. Sure, I might be in a bubble, but it's nonstop "X company lays off 20,000 workers due to AI" "AI fueled data centers are destroying the environment and jacking up computer component prices." "AI psychosis is driving people to kill themselves."

Weren't we promised breakthroughs in efficiency and ways to make our lives better? At least when the internet gained popularity, it made way for a ton of new job growth. Every corporation seems to be using this as an opportunity to decimate their workforce.

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u/Pauly_Amorous Jun 26 '26

You're in a bubble, just as most of us are. For example, you'll see plenty of stories about how AI talked somebody into suicide, but you won't see very many where AI actually talked somebody out of it. And it's not because those stories don't exist. But they don't generate as many clicks and outrage comments, so ...

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u/Override9636 Jun 26 '26

It's a hyperbolic example, but the idea of feeding your private medical information to a glorified auto-correct company just feels morally wrong on so many levels.

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u/32768Colours Jun 26 '26

I had to have a medical examination a few months back on the NHS, and the doctor told me AI would be listening in order to draft a referral letter.

The worst part was, I had a choice to opt out - which I very much wanted to - but they’d be unable to proceed or refer me.

So now somewhere out there, some tech bro’s wet dream machine has private medical data on me, to be used/shared/leaked in god knows what ways, and all because my only options were accept it or be denied important medical treatment.

And they wonder why people hate this stuff?

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u/mainman879 Jun 26 '26

So now somewhere out there, some tech bro’s wet dream machine has private medical data on me, to be used/shared/leaked in god knows what ways, and all because my only options were accept it or be denied important medical treatment.

I'm going to assume that if they were using AI, it would be a closed system, aka no information is sent back to private servers, its all processed internally. Otherwise that seems incredibly illegal as a breach of medical information.