The thing that stands out about the commencement video is how genuinely surprised she was at the backlash towards what she said, like I really don't think she was expecting that. It goes to the point that, in addition to the economic bubble around AI, there is this other 'social' bubble, where people like this woman have so totally absorbed the "red pill" or whatever you want to call it that they simply can't believe there are real people out there who don't share their thoughts on AI. And her and her ilk are in for a very rude awakening!
"There is undoubtedly anger at out-of-touch billionaires ... I think [most people are] more likely to understand AI as an extension of an already inequitable system, and as an accelerant of that inequality.": So when do most people finally DO something about it? At minimum, when do they stop reviling every proposal to strip those billionaires of some of their ill-gotten gains or to steer government toward serving ordinary people as "SOCIALISM!!!"? Because even many people who wouldn't call themselves "conservative" do that. They keep voting for "centrists" and "moderates" who are barely, if any, less dedicated to serving moneyed interests than avowed "conservatives" are. If insanity is "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result", then many Americans are insane.
It would be nice to be hopeful - it really would. However, I've been watching this mass folly for over half a century now. Will "AI" provoke sufficient fury that this rotten system finally gets routed out? The oligarchs and their lackeys - people like Ms. Caulfield - most certainly have it coming to them, as their utter contempt for most of their compatriots (and indeed most of their conspecifics) has never been more naked. But I won't be surprised if most Americans just keep knuckling under, as they've been doing for so long.
I think the reckoning may come sooner than the AI proponents expect. The growing unease and anger over not just data centers, but a whole range of AI-related insults on society, is one of the least partisan issues of our time. Too many incumbent politicians fear the financial power of Big Tech. But at some point, the public will demand action.
Wait till the economic fallout from Trump's war on Iran -- $10 gasoline, 10% inflation, 10% unemployment -- combines with the populist backlash against AI and the billionaire tech bros. We may have a pre-revolutionary situation in these US of A by next October. Sam Altman and his ilk might want to change identities and relocate to another country....
I imagine most people will only want to take action when they see severe effects in their everyday lives. There would have to be a catastropic economic crisis imo.
This might be my own poor phrasing, but I chose the term AI populism *because* I wanted to present the new AI backlash as an extension of existing populist sentiment. I explicitly would not characterize most xrisky doomers as AI populists & would not lump them together — most MIRI types are focused on the technical (big model scary) vs the political characteristics (concentration of power scary).
We may agree more than not, then! But then I wonder what the utility of a term like 'AI populism' is in that case?
It seems to me that the people—young people especially—who dislike AI do so because of how it's impacting their prospects and daily lives. That doesn't really feel like a particularly novel political posture to me, or anything you would need to call AI populism. It seems like lots of people resenting the big companies (and the people who own them) that are aiming to profit by automating their labor and eroding their opportunities.
This is why I think it feels condescending to label those outside of Silicon Valley who are clearly on the losing end of all this, and are responding accordingly, with a term like 'AI populist'. To the many people (perhaps the majority) whose jobs the tech firms have in their crosshairs, disliking AI and the people who build it is just common sense.
How many of those students booing used ChatGPT (or other programs) to "help" them study and write papers, etc.? How many have allowed AI to think for them or to do simple tasks? There are many ways AI encroaches on our lives that we can't do much about at this time, but not using the "tools" is one way to resist.
I really liked your last couple articles about the effects of AI on illustration and why people are booing AI in grad ceremonies. I was particularly interested in your characterization of AI populism as faintly condescending. I completely agree and this really frustrates me!! They make people that have completely reasonable apprehensions about AI, both in terms of being afraid of its impact AND skeptical of its use seem like idiots who could be prone to bad decisions or something.
This is also a hallmark of Sun’s reporting, where she positions herself and her subjects (usually engineers at frontier AI labs) as having access to some enlightened perspective on AI and everybody else as a rube who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Like you said, I don’t understand how you can see this technology as apart from the political economy within which it was created. Also, to be an anthropologist you can’t take everything your subjects say at face value, even if they’re engineers at fancy companies lol. Sun is so dazzled by their credentials she refuses to thoroughly interrogate their claims, instead choosing to present their version as some absolute truth.
Brian, this is a strong framing. A lot of the AI backlash makes more sense when you stop treating it as people rejecting technology and start seeing it as people reacting to how AI is being used inside an already unequal economy. The tool may be powerful, but the trust problem comes from who controls it, who benefits from it, and who carries the cost.
I wonder when we hit the point in history where citizens no longer tolerate the ruling class’s inability to understand or respond to the reality of most people’s lives.
A thoughtful reminder that public perception of AI is shaped as much by economic realities as by technological advancements. Building trust in AI requires demonstrating clear benefits for individuals, businesses, and communities, not just efficiency gains.
You show up at a ceremony of graduating college kids and proceed to deliver a speech about how the technology you’re propagating is going to render all their degrees worthless and leave them unemployable and you’re shocked, shocked that these kids are booing you?
Again, rich people spend so much time around other rich people that they forget how sociopathic they sound to ordinary people.
The thing that stands out about the commencement video is how genuinely surprised she was at the backlash towards what she said, like I really don't think she was expecting that. It goes to the point that, in addition to the economic bubble around AI, there is this other 'social' bubble, where people like this woman have so totally absorbed the "red pill" or whatever you want to call it that they simply can't believe there are real people out there who don't share their thoughts on AI. And her and her ilk are in for a very rude awakening!
"There is undoubtedly anger at out-of-touch billionaires ... I think [most people are] more likely to understand AI as an extension of an already inequitable system, and as an accelerant of that inequality.": So when do most people finally DO something about it? At minimum, when do they stop reviling every proposal to strip those billionaires of some of their ill-gotten gains or to steer government toward serving ordinary people as "SOCIALISM!!!"? Because even many people who wouldn't call themselves "conservative" do that. They keep voting for "centrists" and "moderates" who are barely, if any, less dedicated to serving moneyed interests than avowed "conservatives" are. If insanity is "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result", then many Americans are insane.
It would be nice to be hopeful - it really would. However, I've been watching this mass folly for over half a century now. Will "AI" provoke sufficient fury that this rotten system finally gets routed out? The oligarchs and their lackeys - people like Ms. Caulfield - most certainly have it coming to them, as their utter contempt for most of their compatriots (and indeed most of their conspecifics) has never been more naked. But I won't be surprised if most Americans just keep knuckling under, as they've been doing for so long.
I think the reckoning may come sooner than the AI proponents expect. The growing unease and anger over not just data centers, but a whole range of AI-related insults on society, is one of the least partisan issues of our time. Too many incumbent politicians fear the financial power of Big Tech. But at some point, the public will demand action.
Wait till the economic fallout from Trump's war on Iran -- $10 gasoline, 10% inflation, 10% unemployment -- combines with the populist backlash against AI and the billionaire tech bros. We may have a pre-revolutionary situation in these US of A by next October. Sam Altman and his ilk might want to change identities and relocate to another country....
I imagine most people will only want to take action when they see severe effects in their everyday lives. There would have to be a catastropic economic crisis imo.
Yes!!!! That is why I say Algorithms are Personal. Only when Americans get hit by an algorithm, only then, will they care.
This might be my own poor phrasing, but I chose the term AI populism *because* I wanted to present the new AI backlash as an extension of existing populist sentiment. I explicitly would not characterize most xrisky doomers as AI populists & would not lump them together — most MIRI types are focused on the technical (big model scary) vs the political characteristics (concentration of power scary).
We may agree more than not, then! But then I wonder what the utility of a term like 'AI populism' is in that case?
It seems to me that the people—young people especially—who dislike AI do so because of how it's impacting their prospects and daily lives. That doesn't really feel like a particularly novel political posture to me, or anything you would need to call AI populism. It seems like lots of people resenting the big companies (and the people who own them) that are aiming to profit by automating their labor and eroding their opportunities.
This is why I think it feels condescending to label those outside of Silicon Valley who are clearly on the losing end of all this, and are responding accordingly, with a term like 'AI populist'. To the many people (perhaps the majority) whose jobs the tech firms have in their crosshairs, disliking AI and the people who build it is just common sense.
The correct link to the students booing the mention of the "AI is the next industrial revolution" (at 1:21:10): https://youtu.be/zwYkHS8jvSE?t=4870
How many of those students booing used ChatGPT (or other programs) to "help" them study and write papers, etc.? How many have allowed AI to think for them or to do simple tasks? There are many ways AI encroaches on our lives that we can't do much about at this time, but not using the "tools" is one way to resist.
Don’t hate the players, hate the game
"The only winning move is not to play."
I really liked your last couple articles about the effects of AI on illustration and why people are booing AI in grad ceremonies. I was particularly interested in your characterization of AI populism as faintly condescending. I completely agree and this really frustrates me!! They make people that have completely reasonable apprehensions about AI, both in terms of being afraid of its impact AND skeptical of its use seem like idiots who could be prone to bad decisions or something.
This is also a hallmark of Sun’s reporting, where she positions herself and her subjects (usually engineers at frontier AI labs) as having access to some enlightened perspective on AI and everybody else as a rube who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Like you said, I don’t understand how you can see this technology as apart from the political economy within which it was created. Also, to be an anthropologist you can’t take everything your subjects say at face value, even if they’re engineers at fancy companies lol. Sun is so dazzled by their credentials she refuses to thoroughly interrogate their claims, instead choosing to present their version as some absolute truth.
Brian, this is a strong framing. A lot of the AI backlash makes more sense when you stop treating it as people rejecting technology and start seeing it as people reacting to how AI is being used inside an already unequal economy. The tool may be powerful, but the trust problem comes from who controls it, who benefits from it, and who carries the cost.
AI is the bellewether for the end of the age of symbols. Nothing more.
Thanks for this Nick. I recently heard the conversation between Bernie Sanders and Geoffrey Hinton at Georgetown University. Simply chilling! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz3gvM7Oj3g&t=13s
I also heard Hinton had a good conversation with John Stewart that I am going to listen to when I have the courage. AI freaks me out totally!
Depressing.
The future belongs to …. Not your kids.
我也不太喜欢AI populism的说法
I wonder when we hit the point in history where citizens no longer tolerate the ruling class’s inability to understand or respond to the reality of most people’s lives.
A thoughtful reminder that public perception of AI is shaped as much by economic realities as by technological advancements. Building trust in AI requires demonstrating clear benefits for individuals, businesses, and communities, not just efficiency gains.
I'm citing this page in a new paper and i cited it in my book, FWIW: https://innomen.substack.com/p/the-butlerian-setup
You show up at a ceremony of graduating college kids and proceed to deliver a speech about how the technology you’re propagating is going to render all their degrees worthless and leave them unemployable and you’re shocked, shocked that these kids are booing you?
Again, rich people spend so much time around other rich people that they forget how sociopathic they sound to ordinary people.