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Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

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Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#151

Post by hooverd »

ghaff wrote: post #44
gnufied wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same goes for almost all grocery shops here - Publix, Kroger, target etc replacing checkout with self-checkout kiosks completely. I absolute hate using self-checkout for non-packaged groceries items. Especially if I have lots of stuff. Freaking "unintended item in baggage area". Not to mention, I feel like Publix etc in particular employed lots of folks with disability. It warmed my heart to talk to them. I don't kno…

Grocery stores and others absolutely still need cashier checkout. If I have a handful of items I can barcode swipe and even a couple pieces of produce that's fine. But they simply aren't designed for a full shopping cart which includes a ton of non-barcoded items. Ditto with home repair stores. Scan a new smoke detector? Sure. Check out a bunch of lumber etc. That would be no. In my experience, most stores are findin…

Self checkout shoppers should be timed just like cashiers. I swear everyone else using the self chicken are moving in slow motion.

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#152

Post by digdugdirk »

yreg wrote: post #149
jarjoura wrote: post #134

If the promise of AI means I can do 1/2 the amount of work and maintain my high quality life, then I'm all for it. However, every advancement that has come in the last 100 years that improved efficiency has only meant we're pushed to work more and do more. So I am now expected to do 2x the work. If you're really dreaming for AI that can wipe-out entire classes of decent middle-class jobs in one big swing, don't forge…

The mean quality of life is sky high compared to 100 years ago and it is such thanks to the advancement made.

The mean quality of life is irrelevant if the mode quality of life is only a tenth of that.

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#153

Post by ghaff »

rcme wrote: post #112
ghaff wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have great options where I live and both my nearby grocery stores are pretty good with cashier checkout. I have a car so shopping for larger orders isn't really an issue.

Do you have a Whole Foods? For basically the same amount of time it takes to make your grocery list, you can have your groceries delivered. This saves the shopping time and the driving time.

I don't think close enough to deliver unless it's changed--about 40 minutes away. And I can't/wouldn't want to do a complete grocery shopping at Whole Foods anyway.

Used Peapod once upon a time when I was on crutches for months and dropped it as soon as I could walk again.

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#154

Post by yreg »

nvr219 wrote: post #61
BigBalli wrote: post #56

I don't understand why everyone (excluding people who were replaced) is so "outraged".

As a customer: because the quality of service I get from a robot is much worse than the quality of service I get from a human being, in general.

Have you as a customer interacted with LLM that replaced a human role?

I don't think experience with pre-LLM chatbots is relevant here.

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#155

Post by almost_usual »

yreg wrote: post #149
jarjoura wrote: post #134

If the promise of AI means I can do 1/2 the amount of work and maintain my high quality life, then I'm all for it. However, every advancement that has come in the last 100 years that improved efficiency has only meant we're pushed to work more and do more. So I am now expected to do 2x the work. If you're really dreaming for AI that can wipe-out entire classes of decent middle-class jobs in one big swing, don't forge…

The mean quality of life is sky high compared to 100 years ago and it is such thanks to the advancement made.

And as the Earth burns away and we choke on the smoke we rejoice as we have our AI entertainment and we can go quietly into the night.

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#156

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

ghaff wrote: post #2

There's been a pretty steady trend towards automation, chatbots, self-service, etc. replacing getting an empowered human on the line. Given labor costs and labor shortages, expect even more. Had an airline thing that the website (and app) wouldn't let me complete online. Spent ages on hold but then was able to get hold of their premium account number and was fixed right away. (Of course, would actually have preferred…

> Of course, would actually have preferred if I could have just completed the change online.

It's so interesting to me how generational this is, and how it changed so quickly.

I used to work in something tangentially related to real estate. The sellers/landlords tended to all be older (50+, this was about 10 years ago), while the renters/some buyers tended to be millennials and younger. The older folks went apoplectic when we tried to move more communication onto our online platform: "I always talk to every potential renter on the phone. I feel I can discern a lot about someone from a phone call." Meanwhile, younger folks generally despised having to talk to someone on the phone - if they couldn't complete the whole transaction online they were much more likely to bail.

Not making a judgment about either approach, really just thought it was interesting how stark the divide was and how it changed so quickly.

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#157

Post by ghaff »

alluro2 wrote: post #138
phpisthebest wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I resisted using online ordering at Kroger for a long time, then in 2021 I started using the mobile app, and just picking up my groceries... now I have not be inside a Kroger in almost 2 years and have no plans on going back in. The Kroger App is great, and having them bring the stuff out, load me up, and I drive away... even if they actually go back to charging $5 for the service I am paying. >>I don't know what hum…

I'm yet to see prices going down, or at least not going up at the same pace as everywhere else, because a supermarket chain implemented self-checkout. I don't think anyone buys (pun intended) the argument of self-checkout being there to enable lower prices for consumers.

Around where I live, Market Basket AFAIK has no self-checkout and probably the cheapest prices of any of the local chains.

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#158

Post by the_only_law »

krainboltgreene wrote: post #77
BigBalli wrote: post #56

I don't understand why everyone (excluding people who were replaced) is so "outraged".

Because people want to work and there's money to pay them to work and the "AI" shit is dramatically worse. This is a net negative for everyone except the shareholders and even then that's only in the short term! If you saw someone shooting up in an alley with a smile on their face, you wouldn't be upset with others who are concerned with that person's future. Why do you care here?

> Why do you care here?

It’s a disingenuous question to stroke the ego of the GP and deride those “outraged”. Either that or GP is just dumb. If they were truly interested in why people are outraged, they simply could have read the numerous comments before theirs (regardless of whether they agree the concerns in those comments are valid or not, it would answer the stated question)

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#159

Post by phpisthebest »

jonwest wrote: post #136
phpisthebest wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I resisted using online ordering at Kroger for a long time, then in 2021 I started using the mobile app, and just picking up my groceries... now I have not be inside a Kroger in almost 2 years and have no plans on going back in. The Kroger App is great, and having them bring the stuff out, load me up, and I drive away... even if they actually go back to charging $5 for the service I am paying. >>I don't know what hum…

I feel like the lowest earning employees on the totem pole is a bit of an easy scapegoat for high costs when executives make an exponential amount in comparison. I understand that if they weren’t in grocery they could be making similar amounts in another industry—my argument is more that the disparity between employee and executive is too great, regardless of industry.

the lowest earning employees are the lowest earning because those are the jobs for which the widest number of people in society can fill,

this often makes them very "easy" not maybe in physical effort but in their repeatability, and their formulaic process making them a prime target for automation.

this is completely separate discussion and disconnected completely from the increase in executive pay. Which is largely driven by the increasing size of companies. I may have the time frame wrong but something like 50 years ago the top 5 companies of any market segment controlled 20% of the market, today the top 5 companies of any market segment control's 80% of the market. This consolidation of markets is a few very large companies has driven executive pay. The other big component of that is the Institutional Investor, if you look at the raise of investment from Funds like 401K's and IRA's etc where most companies are owned by funds of funds of funds instead of people, founders, etc you also see the extreme raise of executive pay

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#160

Post by [deleted] »

bdangubic wrote: post #119
gnufied wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same goes for almost all grocery shops here - Publix, Kroger, target etc replacing checkout with self-checkout kiosks completely. I absolute hate using self-checkout for non-packaged groceries items. Especially if I have lots of stuff. Freaking "unintended item in baggage area". Not to mention, I feel like Publix etc in particular employed lots of folks with disability. It warmed my heart to talk to them. I don't kno…

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