The AI backlash is only getting started • Hacker News Board

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#31

Post by strken » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:40 PM UTC

throwfaraway135 wrote: post #3

eventinbox wrote: post #2

people conflate "AI is overhyped" with "AI is useless" and neither is quite right. the backlash is mostly against the hype cycle not the tech itself. give it 2 years

AI is already too useful to discard, we could automate 90% bureaucracy and government jobs and no one would feel the difference. But of course fear/angst/rage sells.

I'm starting to think that when non-experts believe a job will be easy to automate with AI, it usually has hidden elements which they don't understand and which make automating it almost impossible.

Meanwhile, there are all these intellectual jobs which are hard for humans to do, so we assume they're just hard in general. Look closer, though, and many don't involve human social interaction, only require a small amount of good taste, and don't have any physical component.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#32

Post by mritchie712 » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:40 PM UTC

eventinbox wrote: post #2

people conflate "AI is overhyped" with "AI is useless" and neither is quite right. the backlash is mostly against the hype cycle not the tech itself. give it 2 years

There's another "they took our jobs" group that doesn't fit into "AI is overhyped" or "AI is useless".

They see that AI is capable and fear it.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#33

Post by simianwords » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC

therobots927 wrote: post #6

eventinbox wrote: post #2

people conflate "AI is overhyped" with "AI is useless" and neither is quite right. the backlash is mostly against the hype cycle not the tech itself. give it 2 years

I think a lot of it is actually the tech for a lot of reasons: 0. No one wants a datacenter in their backyard or hooked up to the grid while the electricity burden is carried by households. People are afraid of losing their property values and being unable to move away if a DC is built nearby - effectively being trapped there. People in Memphis are breathing in gas fumes from the XAI datacenter there. There are conce…

This is being downvoted but it’s true and it’s obvious. Do people really think the backlash is against stock valuation? Thats insane and shows no theory of mind lol.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#34

Post by doctorwho42 » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC

frankie_t wrote: post #15

eventinbox wrote: post #2

people conflate "AI is overhyped" with "AI is useless" and neither is quite right. the backlash is mostly against the hype cycle not the tech itself. give it 2 years

I think AI backlash has less to do with the tech itself and more with its broader impact on society in the current system, if it delivers a quarter of its promises. Those doing the backlashing feel that they are going to lose much more than they are going to gain.

If it delivers a quarter of its promises, we enter the likes of the great depression. But instead of everyone feeling the squeeze, you will have literal breakdowns in society because our media-corps have been using the social lives of the wealthy as a distraction for so long...

"Let them eat cake...", I wonder what the 'taken out of context' trigger will be this time around

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#35

Post by gruez » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC

dippogriff wrote: post #20

If the labs weren't so aggressive with building datacenters in people's backyards, this could've been a different story. People don't like it when pipelines are built in their backyard either.

From TFA:

>The buildings summon a vitriol well beyond conventional nimbyism. More Americans say they would be happy with a nuclear reactor next door than a data centre. Even plans to build one in the Utah desert have met with passionate opposition.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#36

Post by treis » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC

adamddev1 wrote: post #13

throwfaraway135 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI is already too useful to discard, we could automate 90% bureaucracy and government jobs and no one would feel the difference. But of course fear/angst/rage sells.

People absolutely would feel the difference if AI models started making 90% of the decisions. You were just denied an application because some LLM decided you fit a certain statistical pattern. Where did the LLM go wrong? What were the steps taken to make that decision? Who can you appeal to? Nobody. AI bureaucracy would just keep chugging along, making decisions based on prejudices and patterns it finds but doesn't…

What do you think the government is like today? At least with LLMs you'd get your incorrect answer quickly and cheaply.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#37

Post by baron816 » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC

dippogriff wrote: post #20

If the labs weren't so aggressive with building datacenters in people's backyards, this could've been a different story. People don't like it when pipelines are built in their backyard either.

Are they built in people’s backyards? There’s a famous case in Northern Virginia that has admitted they messed up zoning which gets cited in every story to make it look like they’re all built in people’s backyards, but the vast majority of them are in industrial zones.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#38

Post by layer8 » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC

Despite the headline, the article is largely AI-positive.

> To that end, here are four pointers for politicians and AI companies looking for policies.

Extrapolating from the past, none of these are particularly likely to happen, however.

Another notable aspect is that, unlike many other societal issues, the backlash against AI is decidedly bipartisan.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#39

Post by davidpapermill » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC

frankie_t wrote: post #15

eventinbox wrote: post #2

people conflate "AI is overhyped" with "AI is useless" and neither is quite right. the backlash is mostly against the hype cycle not the tech itself. give it 2 years

I think AI backlash has less to do with the tech itself and more with its broader impact on society in the current system, if it delivers a quarter of its promises. Those doing the backlashing feel that they are going to lose much more than they are going to gain.

AI also has the misfortune of coinciding with a very difficult period for young people, including limited job opportunities: the financial crash, COVID, Brexit, the political polarisation in the western world.

In some sense it's probably acting as a lightning rod for resentment, and that resentment is combined with marketing spiel from the model companies alongside well-placed concern over the impact of AI on employment.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#40

Post by vitorfblima » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #29

vitorfblima wrote: post #19

The untold promise of IA is to replace labor. That's probably the only reason why some people are willing to spend trillions of dollars in pursuing this technology. Mere tools would never justify this kind of investment. It's no surprise that people are getting angry, even though many are using AI in their everyday life.

>The untold promise of [tractors] is to replace labor. [...] Mere tools would never justify this kind of investment. How's this any different than say, tractors, or the mechanical loom? After all, agricultural employment went from 90% in the past to 1% today.

We're talking about ALL labor.