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CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs

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Re: CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs

#41

Post by oytis »

Henchman21 wrote: post #29
willio58 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CEOs do get there with lots of politics in almost all cases. It’s all about who’s ass you kiss and who’s ass you don’t and if you’re lucky with timing things might just fall into place. I think it’s exceedingly rare that a CEO is actually competent at their job. In most cases it’s the labor class propping the company up, and in some cases the workers are doing so against the wishes of the CEO. Not that executives wan…

You’re making the case for worker-owned cooperatives. Love it — we need more of them!

In software I can imagine a worker-owned consultancy, but not a product company. It would imply staying in one place working on one product for your whole life, which doesn't sound inspiring

Re: CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs

#42

Post by chopete3 »

>> Yes, the tools are powerful, but a CEO who thinks they replace the work of employees is simply a bad CEO.

This is a broad generalization of employees. There will be some "routine tasks" that can be done by AI, now that is a lot more powerful.

There won't be as many employees needed for routine work - for example L1 and L2 support work. For example, many companies had ML engineers building models for various models. Companies can get that off the shelf from AI companies. They don't need a big team of model builders now.

Re: CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs

#43

Post by thewebguyd »

jmyeet wrote: post #23

The primary product of AI is labor displacement and consequently wage supression. This is what OpenAI and Anthropic are really selling. It didn't start with AI but AI is accelerating it. This is what layoffs have been about since the pandemic. People in fear of losing their jobs do extra unpaid work and aren't asking for raises. The theoretical potential of AI gives companies the excuse to fire more people. The inves…

> Also, who is going to buy anything when nobody has any money?

This assumes that a mass consumer economy is necessary, when it isn't. Mass consumption is relatively new, for most of history economies functioned with just a small consuming elite and large underclass that consumed very little. We are already approaching that again in the states given that the top 10% of earners are already responsible for nearly half of all consumer spending.

There's a floor even in a mostly automated economy where some services are resistant to automation simply because the human element is the product. Luxury hospitality, personal care, etc. That billionaire is going to want a human masseuse, not a robot.

A highly automated economy could stabilize like this with a small elite population consuming luxury goods & services, served by a low-wage economic underclass human workforce.

Its certainly not a pleasant society, but its also not unsustainable given enough oppression or pacification (bread and circuses anyone?)

Re: CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs

#45

Post by aplomb1026 »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #39

Reminds me of the old joke "90% of the code is 90% of the work. The last 10% of the code is the other 90% of the work." I have spent almost my entire adult life (since 1986) shipping products. One of the very first things that I learned, was that "shipping" > "designing". There's so much work in delivering products that will carry your brand, and then must be supported. I liken it to having children. Conceiving them…

[flagged]

Re: CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs

#47

Post by pknomad »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #39

Reminds me of the old joke "90% of the code is 90% of the work. The last 10% of the code is the other 90% of the work." I have spent almost my entire adult life (since 1986) shipping products. One of the very first things that I learned, was that "shipping" > "designing". There's so much work in delivering products that will carry your brand, and then must be supported. I liken it to having children. Conceiving them…

I like this analogy; raising children well like delivering products well pays dividends. They’re less likely to cause problems and if they do, they tend to be smaller in scope.

Re: CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs

#48

Post by AnimalMuppet »

Henchman21 wrote: post #29
willio58 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CEOs do get there with lots of politics in almost all cases. It’s all about who’s ass you kiss and who’s ass you don’t and if you’re lucky with timing things might just fall into place. I think it’s exceedingly rare that a CEO is actually competent at their job. In most cases it’s the labor class propping the company up, and in some cases the workers are doing so against the wishes of the CEO. Not that executives wan…

You’re making the case for worker-owned cooperatives. Love it — we need more of them!

Maybe, but not necessarily for this reason. Even in a worker-owned coop, someone sets the overall direction. And how is that person going to be selected? It's still going to be largely politics.

Re: CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs

#49

Post by dragonwriter »

oytis wrote: post #41
Henchman21 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re making the case for worker-owned cooperatives. Love it — we need more of them!

In software I can imagine a worker-owned consultancy, but not a product company. It would imply staying in one place working on one product for your whole life, which doesn't sound inspiring

A company need not be a single product, and working in a worker-owned cooperative need not be a lifetime commitment to a single firm (though cooperatives ideally will have less turnover than firms owned by capital separated from labor.)

Re: CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs

#50

Post by noncoml »

It's our fault for stupidly naming everything AI:

A* search -> AI

Backtracking -> AI

Neural Networks -> AI

Fuzzy Logic -> AI

Genetic Algorithm -> AI

Deep Learning -> AI

Generative "AI" -> AI

Similar to Tesla naming it's driver assistant "auto-pilot" in 2015 and your average Joe thought he would be able to sleep while the car would drive him to work.

The CEO just hear AI and think of AGI. They expect Skynet.

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