I’ve often made the point that generative AI is an amazing tech much like asbestos is an amazing material: they have qualities that feel like genuine miracles but at a human cost so high that broad adoption is only possible if human life is devalued beyond what has been acceptable up until now

But much of the adoption of generative models doesn’t come from the few it does well, but is driven by those who do not understand the job they’re replacing.

@baldur asbestos, CFCs, lead in petrol

@joelanman @baldur I love all of these examples! They're great to throw back at the people who claim, "Well, AI is coming, you can't stop it, so you might as well get used to it."

No. We have a long and growing history of abandoning technologies that are shown to be harmful. Nothing is inevitable. We can stop AI, just like we stopped using CFCs, asbestos, and lead.

And we must.