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Weird Al Yankovic Pulled Out of AI Ad Deal: 'I Can't Be the Poster Boy for AI'

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Re: Weird Al Yankovic Pulled Out of AI Ad Deal: 'I Can't Be the Poster Boy for AI'

#21

Post by karahime »

bitwize wrote: post #13
olivierestsage wrote: post #10

Best possible ad for Weird Al. How did we get here? Why am I, a lifelong tech enthusiast, on a tech enthusiast board championing someone for resisting technology? I’ve been on HN for years but it’s starting to feel absurd ever since I’ve been out of sync with the whole AI thing. Thanks for listening to my Ted talk.

There's a meme that goes: Person A: I'm a tech enthusiast! I have the latest smartphone, smartwatch, smart car, smart TV, smart home... all networked together and automated to make my daily life easier. Person B: I work in tech. The last piece of tech I bought is a printer from 2004, and I keep a loaded gun nearby in case it starts acting funny. Once you understand how the sausage is made and what the incentives are,…

This has always been just a meme. Plenty of the people I know who know the most about tech are also very excited about it. Person B in this example is often miserable for a lot of other reasons that have nothing to do with tech, doesn't understand tech as deeply as the meme suggests, and pattern matches cynicism into everything.

Re: Weird Al Yankovic Pulled Out of AI Ad Deal: 'I Can't Be the Poster Boy for AI'

#22

Post by ares623 »

solenoid0937 wrote: post #20
Ar-Curunir wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually this happens after the naysayers have been forcibly evicted from economic and social life

And look at how far we have come. We are all the better off for it, by nearly every objective QoL measurement there is.

I, too, love big brother.

Re: Weird Al Yankovic Pulled Out of AI Ad Deal: 'I Can't Be the Poster Boy for AI'

#25

Post by galleywest200 »

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #11
mjhay wrote: post #6

He’s such a good guy

Genuinely one of the most fun performances I've ever been to, as well! The small venue accentuated Al's insanely huge personality.

He was one of my first concerts. I saw him at the Puyallup Fair in Washington State.

Re: Weird Al Yankovic Pulled Out of AI Ad Deal: 'I Can't Be the Poster Boy for AI'

#26

Post by hdgvhicv »

bitwize wrote: post #13
olivierestsage wrote: post #10

Best possible ad for Weird Al. How did we get here? Why am I, a lifelong tech enthusiast, on a tech enthusiast board championing someone for resisting technology? I’ve been on HN for years but it’s starting to feel absurd ever since I’ve been out of sync with the whole AI thing. Thanks for listening to my Ted talk.

There's a meme that goes: Person A: I'm a tech enthusiast! I have the latest smartphone, smartwatch, smart car, smart TV, smart home... all networked together and automated to make my daily life easier. Person B: I work in tech. The last piece of tech I bought is a printer from 2004, and I keep a loaded gun nearby in case it starts acting funny. Once you understand how the sausage is made and what the incentives are,…

HN is full of people who are far more on the “enthusiast” side than the cynical greybeard side.

Re: Weird Al Yankovic Pulled Out of AI Ad Deal: 'I Can't Be the Poster Boy for AI'

#27

Post by acdha »

solenoid0937 wrote: post #15
ares623 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As is often repeated here, "technology is a force multiplier". AI has been multiplying the wrong things (for the common people) at an amazing rate, while the good things it multiplies have been few, arguable, and lagging behind. Usually to be enthusiastic about new tech, it needs to be the reverse. New tech that multiplies the "good things" first while the wrong things catch up later (see Internet, cars, commercial a…

The general public has never been enthusiastic about new tech until well after the benefits start rolling in and are undeniably obvious. https://pessimistsarchive.org/ AI is no different. People like to think they have some special new insight as to why "it's bad this time!" but the average person has always reacted to change with FUD.

The difference is that previous technology like the internet or later the web had benefits which were obvious much faster. The average person is hearing about AI from their boss saying anyone who doesn’t use it will be laid-off sooner, not from their buddy talking about how much time they saved sending email instead of postal mail or doing their shopping online instead of driving around or mail order. Not everyone instantly jumped on those, either, but the pull was attraction rather than coercion.

Re: Weird Al Yankovic Pulled Out of AI Ad Deal: 'I Can't Be the Poster Boy for AI'

#28

Post by DamnInteresting »

ButlerianJihad wrote: post #7

My personal meme is to occasionally weigh in with a comment about one of his videos being "Al-generated content". It is not my fault if people using sans-serif fonts get mad about it.

I was in my car with my seven-year-old when the Paul Simon song "You Can Call Me Al" started playing. She saw it pop up on the infotainment screen, and wanted to know why anybody would want to be called A.I. (our household has a low opinion of A.I., largely due to the unending firehose of slop aimed at children on YouTube).

Good song though.

Re: Weird Al Yankovic Pulled Out of AI Ad Deal: 'I Can't Be the Poster Boy for AI'

#29

Post by zem »

olivierestsage wrote: post #10

Best possible ad for Weird Al. How did we get here? Why am I, a lifelong tech enthusiast, on a tech enthusiast board championing someone for resisting technology? I’ve been on HN for years but it’s starting to feel absurd ever since I’ve been out of sync with the whole AI thing. Thanks for listening to my Ted talk.

I think cory doctorow had the best lens through which to view the issue: "who does this technology do things for and who does it do them to?"

even tech enthusiasts can see that a major chunk of the populace is increasingly falling on the "to" side, so championing resistance makes a lot of sense.

Re: Weird Al Yankovic Pulled Out of AI Ad Deal: 'I Can't Be the Poster Boy for AI'

#30

Post by Avicebron »

hdgvhicv wrote: post #26
bitwize wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a meme that goes: Person A: I'm a tech enthusiast! I have the latest smartphone, smartwatch, smart car, smart TV, smart home... all networked together and automated to make my daily life easier. Person B: I work in tech. The last piece of tech I bought is a printer from 2004, and I keep a loaded gun nearby in case it starts acting funny. Once you understand how the sausage is made and what the incentives are,…

HN is full of people who are far more on the “enthusiast” side than the cynical greybeard side.

There used to be more of us cynical greybeards.
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