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brutalist's avatar

Another flavor: “AI chatbots and friends can help people feel less lonely!”

Gee, wonder if the fact that Silicon Valley has done its best to ensure every social interaction is mediated by a data-harvesting app on a tiny screen has anything to do with why people feel so lonely in the first place

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Bruce Cohen's avatar

“That the result will be lost and degraded jobs, worse customer service, hollowed out institutions, and all kinds of poor simulacra for what used to stand in its stead—all so a handful of Silicon Valley giants and its client companies might one day profit from the saved labor costs.”

As I’m sure you are aware, several (maybe most or all) of those giants are being pushed into the AI business by the opportunities for executives and other stock owners to siphon off large quantities of money from the huge streams of investment being poured into the field (Sam Altman is probably the exemplar of this manifestation of greed).

My son worked for more then 15 years as a freelance graphic designer, getting contracts with large companies like Nike and Adidas renewed for years. In the last year work has dried up completely as his clients all shifted to using generative AI, and he was lucky to be able to switch industries after 8 months of unemployment to being a wafer fabrication tech at Intel. Some of his friends have not been so lucky at finding new employment. But in this case my son is benefiting from the unreliability of automation: the systems that run the fab lines need the constant oversight and correction of human beings, and it’s unlikely that managers will be willing to risk the investment in a multi-billion USD fab plant or the ongoing bottom line of the production of millions of chips with AI that can’t be trusted.

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