Dread Pirate (Tom) Roberts

Fucking Alan Kohler... the ABC does the public a disservice by printing his garbage.

"It isn't just that AI could take your job, or put millions of people on welfare, or give us infinite free software, or whatever. It's that for the first time in all of recorded history, humans no longer are — or soon no longer will be — the most intelligent beings on this planet, in any meaningful functional sense of the word." (Alan quoting some guy Noah Smith)

"any meaningful functional sense"

... someone show Alan the carwash video.

#AI #AlanKohler

Mar 1 at 9:38pmWeb
Show threadDread Pirate (Tom) RobertsMar 3

Following on from my 'Fucking Alan Kohler' post, in which I accused the ABC of printing uncritical regurgitation of tech bro CEO hype...

Here The Guardian at least managed to turn a critical eye on CEOs claiming AI is replacing their staff.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/03/jack-dorsey-block-ai-worker-jobs

(It's hardly Ed Zitron levels of scathing condescension, but at least it's an attempt at analysis from the mainstream news sites)

#ai

Can AI do 40% of your job? Block’s Jack Dorsey thinks so

Jack Dorsey to cut 4,000 workers at Block amid AI advances – but specters such as weak crypto market haunt company

The Guardian
Show threadsortius Mar 1
@troberts He's always been a neoliberal wankpuffin, but this is just getting ridiculous
Show threadAdam KentMar 1
@troberts The humanoid robots are coming to terk err jerbs
Show threadPaulMar 1

@troberts I don't think it's necessarily the end of the world as we know it but there are big changes on the way

Sadly being rushed before the technology is ready

Show threadDread Pirate (Tom) RobertsMar 1

@HardBeingGreen The economics of the companies providing the AI models are deeply flawed.

I think there is a high chance of a market correction around the end of the year.

There's no chance of a super-intelligence anytime soon, and what we've seen so far will collapse because it's not profitable at all.

Show threadPaulMar 1

@troberts definitely, I think some AI companies will fold and others will be taken over with the power becoming more concentrated

I can't imagine AI will become more intelligent than humans but it doesn't need to be

It will be better, or just as good, as humans at doing repetitive tasks. It will definitely make mistakes but it will save time and cost jobs in some fields

On the bright side, it will free up some people to do the work AI will never do better e.g. teaching, nursing, aged care, childcare, cooking, some trades etc

Show threadCyMar 1
They're already replacing teachers, nurses, aged care, childcare and cooking (yes cooking) with AI. It's bad at all those things, and they don't care. Because you believe it could be a good thing, and so they'll milk you for a rube until you're at their feet in chains.

Besides, computers are already better at humans at doing repetitive tasks. You don't need giant complexes of behavior manipulation data, only the watch that used to be on your wrist.

CC: @[email protected]
Show threadChookMother 🇦🇺🦘Mar 1
@troberts I really appreciate his articles. His area of expertise is finance and the economy and he gives it a real-life context. There are different predictions about where the surge in AI deployment is heading. Nobody knows for certain.
Show threadDread Pirate (Tom) RobertsMar 1

@anne_twain No body knows "for certain".

But the ABC shouldn't have Alan regularly saying all the white collar jobs in the world will be replaced, because he doesn't know that either.

It's not journalism if it's just repeating the over-blown claims of American Tech CEOs week after week.

Show threadChookMother 🇦🇺🦘Mar 1
@troberts "Opinion" articles make up a large part of the news. You just happen to disagree with this opinion. But, respectfully, I can't see that your opinion is more valid. As I said, we don't know which direction things are going to go. I don't understand why people try to be soothsayers.
Show threadDavid CoombeMar 1
@troberts I generally find #AlanKohler informative, quirky and entertaining on economics. But find him enthusiastically ignorant on AI. Unfortunately people will trust him on AI as they have trusted him on economics. At least today he admitted “the technology is way above my pay grade”. #AUSEcon