There’s so much narrative around current society how AI is terrible for taking jobs away.
That’s the entire point! That’s good! We’re supposed to not need to do anything anymore with advancing technology.
The problem isn’t that technology takes jobs away, the problem is that the savings are converted into more profit for the ultra rich, while it should be converted into having to work less for everyone.
Nobody is against not having to work. People are against not having work in a world where you need work to survive.
There are a lot of people that are against not having to work. All people that own capital, which is not only the super rich. They might not want to work themselves, but they definitely want it to be generally the case that people should have to work to survive. And many people without capital that are brainwashed by these kinds of people, also want it to be necessary.
Exactly this. There was a meme (or maybe many) rolling around long ago about how the intention was not to have humans do all the jobs and AI do all the art: quite the opposite.
This is related to the growth in productivity we have seen across industries for the last 50 years. It is through the roof, but wages are lower per unit production and aren’t showing any signs of ending their stagnation.
The problem there is the same with all this new tech enhancing lives and production, while people still have to work as much as before, if not more: the gains, monetary or otherwise, are being pocketed by someone else.
It’s like wage theft, but “better”: it’s progress theft.
Yup, in a right and just world, the government(s) would be rolling out UBI right now as people lose jobs to automation and have skill retraining programs at the ready
Outside of academia, new technology is only developed to replace jobs, or to sell commodities. A business always has incentive to do away with workers when a machine can do their job cheaper. And those machines, aren’t designed to make the workers jobs easier. If regulations force safety on companies it can protect workers that way, but only to the bare minimum. If anything, machines have wrecked our bodies and minds. I’m not even convinced that commodity consumption isnt a way to shackle workers to even more machines.
while it should be converted into having to work less for everyone.
Who says it should do that? When have advancements ever done that? The wealthy created the tool, and they say it should be used for unimaginable power and profits.
If CEOs legally must do what benefits the shareholders, than cutting millions in employment costs by swapping CEOs with AI is now their legal obligation
(Probably won’t happen, but I can dream!)
Can’t happen. CEOs need to take the fall when the company is caught doing real shady shit, it’s why they get paid so much AND have golden parachutes to boot.
Soon as you replace the CEO with AI, the question rises: when the company is, for example, caught accidentally making people less alive than desired in order to make profits better, who’s at fault? The AI company? They wouldn’t take that blow to their image. Has to be an individual.
I’m not trying to say CEOs are innocent snowflakes. I’m saying they’re expected to be ruthless bloodsuckers and when the time comes, they protect the board by getting fired. Then the board chooses a new ruthless bloodsucker.
CEOs need to take the fall when the company is caught doing real shady shit
When? Only fall they take is from the bullet in their back
They get “fired”. Then everyone washes their hands of them and the exact same bullshit can continue under the next CEO because profit comes first.
Or when the current CEO wants to do some shady shit, they resign and they bring in someone just to take the fall. Then the “good” CEO comes back.
That’s another way to do it, yeah
And that first CEO becomes a CEO or board member for another company. And round it goes.
AI makes the perfect scapegoat though! You can “fire” an AI model and “hire” a new one almost instantly.
“Oh that quarterly loss was due to bad call made by ChatGPT, but don’t worry we switched to Claude now!”
People will always want a human to put the blame on, ideally a single one. If it’s an AI model, it’s suddenly going to be Sam Altman’s fault that Johnson and Johnson poisoned people. Doubt he wants that - though the JJ board would certainly love the idea.
Bingo. You would be a fool to sign up for some of those positions without a golden parachute.
“So you can make me do stupid shit and then fire me for doing that stupid shit? Imma need some padding.”
Absolutely untrue. The CEO has a fiduciary duty, not a “line always goes up” duty. They are expected to act in the best interests of the company. In other words, they won’t see legal issues unless they pull something in-your-face malicious.
My last CEO announced to the board, two years in a row, that we would purposefully be losing money to build our staff and products. They applauded.
TIL
The ”line always goes up " duty often comes from a hostile board, and often after a CEO shake up or a board reelection.
A coin flip could do his job roughly as well as the average CEO, probably slightly better
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, worth $3B.
https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Siemiatkowski
This article is him bragging btw, he loves to talk about how he replaced 700 employees with AI.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=m3niSE-8ZvE
He’s also personally involved in union busting in Sweden.
https://www.arbetsvarlden.se/all-on-the-unionen-board-gone-from-klarna-cleared/
He also wrote on Musk’s social media today that he wants to tear up money laundering regulations on his loan shark company:
https://www.realtid.se/bank-fintech/klarna-om-rekordboterna-meningslost-att-overklaga/
I really don’t fucking feel bad for him.
He’ll still get full pay, stock options, golden parachutes…
…without those bothersome quarterly “meetings”…
Klarna is evil
Tell people what they wanna hear, and min-max a handful of variables while ignoring any context or consequences?
Dodge accountability through opaque decision-making processes?
Yeah, a lot of these skills are lining up.
Good. I would think AI could handle scheduling & project management more efficiently & effectively than the greedy rats that CEOs tend to be.
we’re very sorry our violation of slavery laws became public knowledge but we’ve fired the computer software responsible so there’s no need for further outrage or any sort of punishment …
they will still need a person to take the fall if shit goes sideways for the foreseeable future.
