Andrew Radev
Oh no, the AI rollout would have totally worked so well if it wasn't for those Damn Kids sabotaging it. They do it out of fear, you see, because the AI companies' random text generators are so good at, like, jobs and such.
Apr 11 at 9:51amWeb
Show threadAndrew Radev1d ago

Seems like there's a concentrated push to find someone, anyone, to blame for the complete flop of AI: https://2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/and-i-would-have-gotten-away-with-it-too-if-it-werent-for-those-pesky-kids/

> [...] companies are responding to this failed revolution (that is, to the lack of interest, lack of demand) by ramming the "AI" down our throats whether we like it or not. Students didn't want to use Khanmigo, the Chalkbeat article explains. So "now Khanmigo is incorporated directly as a way students can get advice as they’re working through specific problems. A spokesperson said the organization made this change because 'students were not seeking out Khanmigo’s help as much as we had hoped.'" Don't want it? Too bad. It's part of the curricular infrastructure now, suckers.

And I Would Have Gotten Away With It Too If It Weren't For Those Pesky Kids

I realize that you just received an email from me yesterday, and that it's far too soon for more Audrey in your inbox, but I'd feel a bit negligent if I didn't send out my weekly round-up of ed-tech (sigh, "AI") news. Mostly, I need to draw your attention to

Second Breakfast
Show threadDrYak1d ago
@AndrewRadev Yes, exactly : As if AI needed any active intervention, be it by GenZers or anyone else, to sabotage itself...
Show threadThe Frog1d ago

@AndrewRadev

Students A: I'm going to university to develop a high level of expertise because I LOVE this subject.
Student B: I don't necessarily love this subject, but the expertise is invaluable in a competitive job market.
Professor: Welcome to University, the place where you develop your thinking skills.

AI peddlers: Hey, we got this tool that can do your assignments for you, much better than you in fact. And will also take your job after, so you'll be unemployed when you graduate anyway.

Show threadDogiedog641d ago

@AndrewRadev

Rapist technology.

Show threadEpic Null23h ago
@AndrewRadev Maybe we could help by learning to make extremely inefficient requests? If AI companies are adding their software forcefully and unhelpfully into shit, perhaps it would be appropriate to know how to make that an expensive mistake?
Show threadfuzzyfuzzyfungus22h ago
@AndrewRadev There's something repulsive, but morbidly fascinating, about how ed-tech is sort of a mirror-mirror version of social media. In both cases the UX is garbage because the user isn't the real customer, and in both cases there's an awfully fine line between 'business model' and 'large and ill-designed experiment on children that would give an IRB cold feet had you asked one, not that you did'.
Show threadElvis Prestwick1d ago
@AndrewRadev They're probably pushing avocado toast into the AI
Show threadTheoWasHere1d ago
@stx @AndrewRadev
Hello, as an older gen Z I have to inform you, that avocado toasts belong to the millennials. The avocado toasts are millennials property and we do not claim it.
Show threadcontrasocial1d ago

@theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev

We began the collapse of capitalism by not buying napkins and doorbells, now it is your time to finish the job by not using the wrong answer machine to write your PhD thesis.

Show threadderptron23h ago

@theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev Interesting. I would have put that squarely on the boomers.

I'm Gen X though. I don't give a shit.

Show threadBryan Redeagle 23h ago
@crazyeddie @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev They're absolutely right. As a millennial with Gen Z kids, Gen Z likes neither avocado nor toast. They subsist solely on brand recognition and calling the music of my youth "oldies".
Show threadJared White (ResistanceNet ✊)22h ago

@bryanredeagle @crazyeddie @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev When I talk about 80s hits with my kids, I call them "the classics"

🫥

Show threaddragonfrog21h ago

@jaredwhite @bryanredeagle @crazyeddie @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev I'm good with the music of the 80s being "oldies" now. In the 80s the music of the 40s was oldies.

I get miffed when music from the 2000s is retro.

Show threadBryan Redeagle 21h ago
@dragonfrog @jaredwhite @crazyeddie @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev My daughter turned on Akon and called it an oldie.
Show threaddragonfrog21h ago
@bryanredeagle @jaredwhite @crazyeddie @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev
Show threadthefathippy16h ago

@dragonfrog

Nah. In the early 70s, the hits of the 50s were oldies. Hell, American Graffiti was a 1973 movie set in 1962, repopularising 50s rock n roll oldies.

Humans only have to blink & *our* music has become oldies. 🤷‍♂️

@jaredwhite @bryanredeagle @crazyeddie @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev

Show threaddragonfrog15h ago
@thefathippy @jaredwhite @bryanredeagle @crazyeddie @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev how can you attack me with such accurate observations?
Show threadderptron22h ago

@bryanredeagle @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev

Did you forget to say you really like chowing down on avocado toast or something?

That would have been evidence the other person is correct...not definitive mind you since you could be an aberration.

Show threadBryan Redeagle 22h ago
@crazyeddie @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev You're right. You're right. It's the only thing I eat. Which is why I can't afford houses, cars, jewelry, restaurants, and all the other industries that my generation has destroyed. Leaving nothing but smoke and gauc in my wake.
Show threadderptron22h ago

@bryanredeagle @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev I guess it IS you fuckers then.

GenX got screwed from both ends, especially those of us who didn't poop out a fuck ton of avacado eating brats.

Show threadDarwin Woodka21h ago

@bryanredeagle @crazyeddie @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev

My millennials often preferred listening to our boomer music. Me I'm old and tired of over 50 years of hip hop and rap...

Show threadRafael22h ago

@crazyeddie @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev

I am Gen M(mastodon) 

Show threadAmro has been22h ago
@theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev
I'm gen X and I say thank you. Let me and my avocado toast be! Millennials can go and claim quinoa for all I care. It's the lentils of the two thousands
Show threadIris Young (he/they/she) (PhD)21h ago
@amro @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev no, it's millennials' and we will not yield it to gen X either. Rude. Go eat some quinoa yourself.
Show threadJosh 21h ago
@iris @amro @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev Gen X can have carob. 🥑
Show threadDarwin Woodka21h ago

@amro @theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev

quinoa sucks almost as bad as acai and kale

Show threadSean Lynch22h ago

@theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev

Gen X - Z are definitely more poptarts and cereal over Avocado toast

Show threadKevin Granade22h ago
@theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev avacado toast is amazing, I'll have that if you're not eating it.
Bit pricey for stuffing into computers though.
Show threadnormy foxyoreos17h ago
@theowashere @stx @AndrewRadev NYT tomorrow: why the hell isn't GenZ eating avocado toast? What this means for struggling investors.
Show threadAlexander Goeres 𒀯1d ago
@Andrew Radev yeah, ai rollout failed because of ... sabotage .. or such. sure, t'was sabotage. could only have been sabotage. those damn genzers
Show threadSeiðr1d ago
@AndrewRadev The kids are all right
Show threadTC Won't Give In To Lies1d ago

@AndrewRadev

Modern day Luddites, breaking the machines.

Show threadEh?!?1d ago

@TCatInReality @AndrewRadev
Kids, these days, have it all too simple: they do not even need to break the machines, the machines are already doing it themselves.

Come to think of it: THAT'S the real job that AI is stealing from us: SABOTAGING AI!

Show threadCowboy Who?1d ago

Hence the word: Sabotage
https://youtu.be/cKLIivrA3g0

@AndrewRadev

Valeris - Sabot

YouTube
Show threadcommonst1d ago
@AndrewRadev it's definitely only Gen Z doing it. Cough. Yeah. Cough. Bad kids. So afraid of change. Not like us old timers. Cough.
Show threadStoneface Vimes1d ago
@AndrewRadev
Show threadsaxnot1d ago

@AndrewRadev last time I checked all major models failed at least 96 % of jobs.
This performance is only possible when you always use all models and pick the best results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3kaLM8Oj4o

AI Fails at 96% of Jobs (New Study)

YouTube
Show threadConny Nasch1d ago
@saxnot @AndrewRadev I enjoyed watching the video, it explains a lot as to why I have avoided actually using AI. I am not anti-AI, but just only enjoy it's print on the computational part of using my PC, not questioning it as it continually suggests. Though the continual *aid* is very irritating in some apps, which I then ignore as much as possible.
Show threadRudy Paul1d ago
@connynasch @saxnot @AndrewRadev That makes a lot of sense. Using AI for the heavy computational lifting is great, but having it constantly chime in with suggestions can definitely break your focus. I’m the same way I prefer my PC to be a tool I control, not something that’s constantly 'guessing' what I want. Glad the video cleared things up for you!
Show threadsaxnot1d ago
@rudy_paul200 @connynasch @AndrewRadev i will answer later y'all
bit drowning in notifications over here
Show threadCress1d ago

@AndrewRadev

It cannot be right that the money a company saves through this tech is then "picked up" by the state (and thus our taxes) in unemployment and social protections.

We all are going to be affected to a greater or lesser degree by this, there needs to be new legislation to protect sacked workers and tax payers. This needs to be a very expensive decision for employers.

Show threadMolly in Missouri1d ago
@CressSalad @AndrewRadev meh, employers. Capitalists can't Do anything without our assistance. And no one should willingly assist their abusor in doing abuse. We got thois, as soon as enough of us notice and act accordingly.
Show threadCress36m ago

@whatzaname @AndrewRadev

So in Europe, which is where I can speak for, we see mass layoff happening for multiple resons

If its adjusting to market forces, well we see the social protections trying to reflect that

But with AI mass job replacements its much deeper

Imagine for example you are 10 years from retirement and your lifelong skillset is thrown in the trash

OK thats maybe going to happen anyway, but dont let the tax payers pay for costs of unemployment for the employers gain!

Show threadFredrik Graver1d ago
@AndrewRadev @aral Those meddeling kids!
Show threadStarkRG1d ago
@AndrewRadev What do you want to bet that the "sabotage" was mostly just people refusing to use an obviously useless and frustrating toy to perform their supposedly important everyday tasks.
Show threadStarkRG1d ago
@AndrewRadev Same energy: upstart gen z chefs are sabotaging their kitchen's Easy-Bake Oven rollout. Except easy-bake ovens actually do accomplish their task to a reasonable level of correctness way more than the 90% of the time that LLMs supposedly succeed.
Show threadSimon Roy Hughes 🧌 ⬋⬋⬋23h ago

@StarkRG @AndrewRadev

Well, who’d’a’thunkit?

“Some employees report outright refusing to use AI tools.”

https://archive.is/RX0be

Show threadGhostrunner1d ago

@AndrewRadev funny story. Started using <company mandated genai> to 'summarize my email and chat messages from yesterday until today' - seemed to be working pretty well. saved me 30 minutes of obsessive email and chat scouring. I still glance at the messages myself, but no longer to the same level of diligence I had been for the last decade since becoming a senior specialist.

Fast forward to friday, where its feedback was 'you are OOO today (i was not) and that the deployment to integration QA was a resounding success (it had failed)' i had a laugh, perused messages, nothing jumped out, went on with my day.

10am the Domain Architect pings me asking how the P0 raised from yesterday is coming along.

Not only had Jira not updated to include the defect raised, it went entirely missed by both gen AI as well as my cursory review of the over 500 messages I received from the previous day.

Luckily my QA was diligent and had already started the recreation, and intellisense with call heirarchy allowed me to quickly and efficiently resolve the issue, but holy fuck folks, that was almost my 21 year career.

so yeah. #genAI is going fucking great.

Show threadDuckbilled Plattypus.1d ago

@ghostrunner

I have no idea what you just meant, as a Boomer dinosaur, but this shows me both how much and how little work has changed: 1. I don't understand the tech at all 2. Incompetence upstream and shifting blame downstream remains in full effect but now done by robot.
Sincerely,
"OK, Boomer"

@AndrewRadev

Show threadGhostrunner1d ago

@pattykimura @AndrewRadev arguably much much worse, in that the very methods of getting the "critical bodies on the problem" has been compromised. There is no way to get past the machines we have put before us without a phone call.

That is a massive degradation of scale, when there are 5 teams of engineers any one of whom may require my input to solve a critical business issue.

Dark times ahead, and by that I mean less sleep and more toil.

Show threadTara L. Campbell1d ago
@AndrewRadev I doubt it's "fear" driving them. Instead, a smarmy "we'll see about that" as they nonchalantly work to tear down the system from the inside.
Show threadPhil Haigh1d ago
@AndrewRadev just using it and stubbornly refusing to correct obvious errors and omissions would be enough in most cases…
Show threadPhil Haigh1d ago

@AndrewRadev I’m not anti AI (small scale, focused, and carefully trained models can do amazing things) but LLMs can’t die quickly enough. The fact that they can’t do what they are being sold for is the least of my concerns. Power, water, ethics, legality of training data, de-skilling of people, eventual need to charge what these things actually cost plus a margin, oh and all future training data is just rehashes of the old data. And anything really new has… no training data at all.

Just a few issues. What’s to go wrong?

Show threadPhil Haigh1d ago
@AndrewRadev I mean as an old school software engineer I’d probably be able to find a lot of work after 2-3 more years of even medium scale LLM use in the industry to “write” software. But that’s only if I want it, because by then I won’t need to work, I’ll be choosing to work.
Show threadLeszek1d ago
@AndrewRadev Have you seen what counts as sabotage according to that silly survey? "Some employees report entering proprietary company information into a public tool or using non-approved tools.". Is it a bad thing? Yes, as bad as shadow IT. I wouldn't count it as sabotaging AI... like you wrote it's a preemptive blame management.
Show thread🇩🇪 🇺🇦 🇨🇦1d ago

@AndrewRadev This is NOT a new thing... similar has happened before. Look for clues to figure out how things worked out then, and may work out now. Don't give up - adjust.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite

Luddite - Wikipedia

Show threadTheo1d ago
@ManyRoads @AndrewRadev Maybe, if instead of "adjusting", people had fought back a little, the world wouldn't have got to this state.
Show thread🇩🇪 🇺🇦 🇨🇦1d ago
@teoman @AndrewRadev Even with that magnificent 20-20 hindsight what would you suggest they should have done that you are doing better with the problems of your generation & time? Honestly, it's easy to be critical- its hard to find effective actions. I'm certain (hopeful?) you are working diligently on solutions. I know my generation failed. I wish everyone greater success than my generation (boomer) has had. We have handed you an unbelievable mess.
Show threadTheo23h ago

@ManyRoads @AndrewRadev

Well the most important thing (in my experience) is to find like-minded people inside the workplace. In the company i work for, management has basically engaged psychological warfare against the employees with messaging such as "if we don't use AI the company goes bust and everyone loses their job, but if we use AI, half of us will get to keep our jobs". This has put insane pressure on the majority of people, because they do not see the gains the company says are possible.

Many of my colleagues know that AI cannot replace our jobs. However, it is hard to openly express that in such a climate. As such, it is important to find other people to support each other and also highlight all the things AI cannot do, because our bosses are literally salivating at the prospect of being able to fire people with any excuse (a few years ago they fired half a department and had to promptly re-hire them after a few months).

This makes it easier to organise collective action in the future and bring matters up with the union. In addition, we can be a counterweight to the colleagues who try to impress the bosses with bold claims and statements.

Finally, it is important to remember that every struggle that was fought, seemed impossible at the time. When striking workers or black people were being shot by the police fighting for their rights, they knew their chances of success were slim. And for the successes we have there were many, many failures that ended with massacres. But they still fought. If we don't even fight, we have already lost.

Show thread🇩🇪 🇺🇦 🇨🇦21h ago

@teoman @AndrewRadev I publish a lot of material. It's all free- open source. There may be something in the 800+ pages that you and your colleagues find interesting. The best entry point is here:

https://treemagic.org

I wish you and your 'friends' great success.

TreeMagic: The Hub for eirenicon Research