mips_avatarEveryone in Seattle hates AI
https://jonready.com/blog/posts/everyone-in-seattle-hates-ai.html
Anecdotally, lots of people in SF tech hate AI too. _Most_ people out of tech do.
But, enough of the people in tech have their future tied to AI that there are lot of vocal boosters.
But, enough of the people in tech have their future tied to AI that there are lot of vocal boosters.
It is not at all my experience working in local government (that is, in close contact with everybody else paying attention to local government) that non-tech people hate AI. It seems rather the opposite.
I don't doubt that many love it. I'm just going based on SF non-tech people I know, who largely see it as the thing vaguely mentioned on every billboard and bus stop, the chatbot every tech company seems to be trying to wedge into every app, and the thing that makes misleading content on social media and enables cheating on school projects. But, sometimes it is good at summarizing videos and such. I probably have a biased sample of people who don't really try to make productive use of AI.
Frankly, tech deserves its bad reputation in SF (and worldwide, really).
One look at the dystopian billboards bragging about trying to replace humans with AI should make any sane human angry at what tech has done. Or the rising rents due to an influx of people working on mostly useless AI startups, 90% of which won't be around in 5 years. Or even how poorly many in tech behave in public and how poorly they treat service workers. That's just the tip of the iceberg, and just in SF alone.
I say all this as someone living in SF and working in tech. As a whole, we've brought the hate upon ourselves, and we deserve it.