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Tell HN: Y Combinator backing AI company to abuse factory workers

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Re: Tell HN: Y Combinator backing AI company to abuse factory workers

#61

Post by friendly_chap »

infecto wrote: post #56

The only thing truly embarrassing is that nobody at YC advised them that this ad is 1) terribly amateur and 2) has the chance to look extremely bad. Did not advise and in fact published to their feed. Weird optics, I am not familiar with what I presume to be Indian factories, other than the wild lack of safety (thanks youtube) but I cannot see how this video does anything positive. As for the product itself I don't t…

If anyone is reading from YC, I'm happy to review their submissions, I was perhaps the first who raised concerns and was on top of the thread with my comment.

(See this post I made on LinkedIn about this: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/crufter_today-y-combinator-de...)

Re: Tell HN: Y Combinator backing AI company to abuse factory workers

#62

Post by mattmaroon »

infecto wrote: post #56

The only thing truly embarrassing is that nobody at YC advised them that this ad is 1) terribly amateur and 2) has the chance to look extremely bad. Did not advise and in fact published to their feed. Weird optics, I am not familiar with what I presume to be Indian factories, other than the wild lack of safety (thanks youtube) but I cannot see how this video does anything positive. As for the product itself I don't t…

Believe it or not, founders don't run every single thing they do by the YC partners!

Re: Tell HN: Y Combinator backing AI company to abuse factory workers

#63

Post by lm28469 »

philipjoubert wrote: post #35

As someone who grew up in a 3rd world country and whose mother owned a clothing factory, this product seems...fine? The response is an indication of how little people know about how their t-shirts and shoes are made.

Ah ok, my bad then, it's a perfect product and we shouldn't change anything at all then. Let's continue to treat humans as machines, especially in 3rd world countries, who cares right ? Even they say it's fine.

Re: Tell HN: Y Combinator backing AI company to abuse factory workers

#64

Post by lame-lexem »

klkvsk wrote: post #28

Software can not abuse workers. Managers can, with our without software. We've had automated KPI measuring tools since punch clocks. Nowadays it's OK in some companies to install remote access software to monitor employees' screens. It's nothing new. It's just collecting data. Question is, what will bosses do with this data, will they abuse or develop. I have no hate towards those guys. No love also. It's just busine…

The famous it's ok if it's done with algorithm.

Re: Tell HN: Y Combinator backing AI company to abuse factory workers

#65

Post by bargainbin »

2099miles wrote: post #10

Tbh this isn’t that crazy. If you hire someone to do their job outputting 10 items per hour and that number is reasonable because a bunch of other workers you hired for the same job are doing it and 1 guy hits 1 per hour then that guys shouldn’t be doing that job. The outrage should be focused on the absolute meme of their ad video cuz they were like “lets literally have a convo with an individual but refer to them a…

So you’d be ok with this AI being applied to other industries? Maybe lines of code?

Re: Tell HN: Y Combinator backing AI company to abuse factory workers

#66

Post by lm28469 »

dauertewigkeit wrote: post #5

I find the marketing interesting considering that this product already exists in other continents ... and it is NOT deployed in factories. It is deployed in office settings. If this our future? Lots of video evidence: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=+Using+AI+to+mo... Expect dishonest marketing by those aspiring to build these surveillance and anti-freedom systems in our western countries.

That's why we fight for social and worker's rights, try to pull that shit in germany

But for that you need strong unions and I heard it basically is communism, and I heard communism basically is hell on earth, I guess it makes whatever this software is doing heaven

Re: Tell HN: Y Combinator backing AI company to abuse factory workers

#67

Post by lm28469 »

Suzuran wrote: post #18
oulipo wrote: post #3

This kind of product is really shameful, and peak capitalism... looking at people as mere robots to serve your, disgusting

Nobody looks at people as robots. Robots are cheaper, do not require food or sleep, and do not have to be murdered when they attempt to unionize. Robots are far superior.

Hm, how do you explain that humans are still working in factories all around the world then ?

Re: Tell HN: Y Combinator backing AI company to abuse factory workers

#68

Post by kundi »

It’s not the only company with low morale that YC is sponsoring. There have been a dozens of copycats shamelessly copying other products, some of them open source.

It is disappointing to see YC going to new levels of bottom without any proper accountability, just greed.

Re: Tell HN: Y Combinator backing AI company to abuse factory workers

#69

Post by latexr »

klkvsk wrote: post #28

Software can not abuse workers. Managers can, with our without software. We've had automated KPI measuring tools since punch clocks. Nowadays it's OK in some companies to install remote access software to monitor employees' screens. It's nothing new. It's just collecting data. Question is, what will bosses do with this data, will they abuse or develop. I have no hate towards those guys. No love also. It's just busine…

> Software can not abuse workers. Managers can, with our without software.

And guns cannot kill people. Other people can, with or without guns. It shouldn’t be hard to understand tools facilitate the task you’re using them for.

> Nowadays it's OK in some companies to install remote access software to monitor employees' screens.

No, it is not OK. It is done, but that doesn’t mean it is right or ethical.

> It's nothing new.

That’s not an excuse to not do better and revise practices.

> It's just business.

See the Nuremberg defence.

Re: Tell HN: Y Combinator backing AI company to abuse factory workers

#70

Post by tuukkah »

oefrha wrote: post #19

Brought to you by the VC famous for InstallMonetizer? Make no mistake, it’ll basically back anything that makes money, there’s no moral high ground. And like it or not, this kind of AI (or should I say A-eye) is here to stay.

Did YC fund (or otherwise back) InstallMonetizer? The way I understood it, they applied to YC with a different idea and worked on IM earlier/on the side/later. (In which case, the controversy was more whether YC works with people who make things like InstallMonetizer.)
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