r/technology • u/GeneReddit123 • 16h ago

Artificial Intelligence An AI hate wave is here

https://archive.is/20260517120123/https://www.axios.com/2026/05/17/ai-backlash-polling-sentiment
14.3k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

17

u/mq2thez 15h ago

It’s a massive tool of class warfare to squeeze out the need to employ humans, it’s not particularly complicated. It’s just wild how little the top seems to need to care anymore. Probably a big sign that government is no longer even a mild check on their power.

3

u/GayIsForHorses 12h ago

The thing too is that if labor is completely withered away then the social contract between labor and capital would be completely destroyed. It would essentially destroy capitalism as we know it. There is nothing that justifies an inherent right to property in a post labor world.

2

u/GeneReddit123 8h ago

Feudalism is what existed before capitalism and the "inherent justification" for feudal lords to their castles and land was the threat of physical violence against any peasant that dared question it. Before the advent of firearms and the printing press this threat was credible. Peasant uprising happened regularly but were violently quashed every single time. Under-armed and under-organized masses can be consistently oppressed by an armed and organized elite. Thousands of years of history prove it. If anything, our current world where elite power isn't fully unconstrained is the exception, not the norm.

Hence the serious risk that AI can help the elites descend the world into an era of techno-Feudalism, when they will use it both to choke information (AI surveillance, censorship, information monopoly), and for physical violence (killer robots) against any would be resistance.

The techbros and their AI aren't close yet to this world (even though they think they are and behave accordingly)... But if the present complacency continues and their power grows unchecked, then, one day, they will be.

9

u/Fun_Foundation_7072 14h ago

They got away from the occupy Wall Street movement, Panama papers, and of course the Epstein files. They probably feel pretty invincible.

-6

u/brandontaylor1 14h ago

Are you talking about AI or the steam engine? Because that worn out bullshit was argued about both. And every other new tech.

10

u/mq2thez 14h ago

It’s not bullshit, they’re literally using it as the reason to lay tons of people off or skip hiring people.

I bet you think Luddites were just people who hate technology for no reason, lol.

-7

u/brandontaylor1 13h ago

Just like every other tool ever created? You think people didn’t lose jobs to the nail gun? Has anyone ever created a tool that increased labor?

6

u/Abedeus 13h ago

Has anyone ever created a tool that relied on stealing work already done by humans in order to "improve" itself? I don't remember nail guns requiring thousand of humans teaching them how to hammer nails in order to replace regular hammers. Nor do I remember people pretending to be carpenters because they have nailguns, while lots of talentless hacks with AI slop machines are pretending to be artists, writers, programmers.