@futurebird It's also seen as a way to shift blame when something goes wrong. I don't think that this is a primary motivation, but I would say that it's more prevalent than one would think.

These landlords want to be seen as "responsible owners" when things are going well but as soon as something goes poorly, they want someone/thing else to yell and scream at (whom they don't have to look in the face) to get things going. It's about being able to shift the blame and causality away from themselves when something goes wrong. And, to be frank, most business types are too dumb to realize that they've been sold on a promise of "new efficiencies" that will never be delivered.

What is that old saying, "A poor workman blames his tools?" I believe that this is one of the main ideas driving this "AI" adoption in business - what these people really want are tools for which they can take credit but then also blame as being "faulty" when their own ineptitude causes problems.

That's all that this whole "AI" bubble is about - they don't want to augment or improve human capability or even efficiency, they want automated slaves to do their bidding 24/7/365, and screw the actual human workers. Having a workforce that won't talk back and demand rights is more valuable to them than hitching their wagons to the providers of those tools.

It has never been about long-term efficiency or sustainability. It has always been about short-term, quarter-to-quarter profit and being able to get out with their money before that rent really comes due.