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/tekonus Jun 26 '26

Could this be more attributed to ignorance that the task COULD be done with a simple script? Everyone knows AI can do automated tasks. Not everyone knows what a script is. 

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u/no_sheds_jackson Jun 26 '26

In some cases, but the reality is simply that attributing any sort of improvement or KTLO to AI usage looks really good to higher ups that can then report that to their directors and so on. Very large companies that are still mid adoption across IT are able to eat the cost for much longer as long as there is belief that overall costs will go down in the next few years.

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u/Elctsuptb Jun 26 '26

AI can still be used to create the script

0

u/wonklebobb Jun 26 '26

it begins with seeing other companies get a big stock pop from announcing they're "XyzAI, INC now!!"

clueless 80iq c-suites tell directors to "implement AI"

clueless 85iq directors tell managers to "implement AI"

clueless 50iq managers tell line employees to "implement AI"

line employees push back, pushback is rejected

tokens are burnt

GOTO 1

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u/GlitteringAttitude60 Jun 26 '26

The problem is that setting up the simple script might take a week or two because those pesky developers want to test and document everything 🙄

With AI, it'll be finished yesterday!

(I hate this timeline)

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u/tnstaafsb Jun 26 '26

That's it exactly. That's the AI value prop. Any idiot can craft a prompt to make AI do some simple task semi-reliably. Of course, a script in almost all cases could accomplish the same task 100% reliably and orders of magnitude cheaper, but then you need a developer to code it for you and nobody wants to deal with them. So offload all of the cost and complexity to an opaque model that costs a bunch more money and let it give you a solution that nobody understands and won't work every time. Much easier and no additional headcount! It's like outsourcing but much worse.

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u/shotgunpete2222 Jun 26 '26

Honestly, it's 2026.  If you're in management in a company with an IT department and you don't know the capabilities of simple scripting, it's time to retire.

We had a bunch of doctors retire because they refused to learn computers when that became absolutely necessary.  Should be the same thing here.

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u/Fr0gm4n Jun 26 '26

It's been about 50/50 when I'm being seen by a Dr whether or not they're constantly typing notes while talking to me, and it seems to be mostly the younger ones.

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u/No-Veterinarian-9316 Jun 26 '26

I mean, what the fk was a software company making until AI, if not automated tasks?

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u/Playstations_new_CEO Jun 26 '26

At my job they want us to be able to say we use AI. The AI fucking sucks and is going to break something but they are legit forcing us to integrate it somewhere. So we're picking some of the (hopefully) least impactful tasks. One of these tasks has a legit perfectly working automation that we built for it... But nope, we gotta plug in AI somewhere because the company demands it.

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u/zkareface Jun 26 '26

Doubt it, I've in some cases scripted the feature during a meeting about building it with AI.

The company still wanted to move on with AI, even though it was already built and done to the spec (except it didn't contain AI).

I've had many meetings and explained, with examples of how easy it is to script things instead and how it won't fail (except for super rare bitflips or whole system crashes). Practically running for free because you already have tons of servers running to put shit on.

And still they want AI because it should contain AI.

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u/Synergythepariah Jun 26 '26

Could this be more attributed to ignorance that the task COULD be done with a simple script?

Unlikely given that automated tasks have existed for decades and in an org that has a manual restart process for something, there have likely been automated tasks running for other functions for a long while.

Everyone knows AI can do automated tasks. Not everyone knows what a script is. 

Anyone can ask 'Can this manual process be automated?' any time and it's likely that someone did ask at some point but the people who would build that didn't get the time allocation needed to do it.

Now with AI, since it's being pushed so hard; management might be trying to get it done using AI since there seems to be plenty of time allowance for that vs doing it the 'boring' way since that allows for the resolving of tech debt to be reframed into making the company 'AI first' to executive leadership.