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

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

#31

Post by Sohcahtoa82 » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 10:14 PM UTC

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,…

I will never understand some smart appliances.

Like...a smart TV so you don't need a second device to play your streaming services? I kinda understand, though I think it's a silly move. If my Fire TV stick gets deprecated, I can buy a new one for under $50. If my TV itself gets deprecated, I'm spending $1500+ for a new one. But like...the number of people who have their heads in the sand when it comes to pervasive ads being injected by their TV is appalling.

But why does anybody need a smart washer (either clothes or dishes)? I need to be physically there to load it. There's literally nothing to be gained by having an app. Sure, sometimes I want a delayed start for whatever reason, but literally every washer already has that function without an app.

I don't even see the purpose of WiFi-connected light bulbs. The only time I'm turning a light on or off is when I'm entering or leaving the room, in which case I'm passing by the light switch anyways.

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

#32

Post by Sohcahtoa82 » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 10:15 PM UTC

galleywest200 wrote: post #24

qsxfthnkp2322 wrote: post #17

Take the money while it’s still there.

Nah, he turned down alcohol ads in the past too. Id rather he retain his legitimacy and morals.

He has a career that's spanned over 45 years and has managed to avoid controversy.

The man's a saint.

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

#33

Post by somat » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 10:22 PM UTC

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.

Generated content has a real duality to it. I would describe it as It feels great to use. It feels terrible to have it used on you.

Very few people appear happy to receive generated content. It is fun to make however.

We as a society will probably figure this out(and look back fondly on the days of real handcrafted artisanal writing) but for now there is a lot of tension between the two sides.

I know I loose all interest in a thing when I learn it is generated.

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

#34

Post by tanseydavid » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 11:02 PM UTC

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.

Are the "enthusiasts" that you speak of enamored by something like a WIFI-enabled clothes washer?

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

#35

Post by tanseydavid » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 11:04 PM UTC

altairprime wrote: post #18

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,…

Please don’t be sweepingly dismissive of people by framing like this. Printers lack mobility and firearms would only activate their defensive ink cloud reflexes, as every expert office IT worker knows (including you!). So the group B you’re describing is being portrayed as both excessively paranoid and blatantly incompetent in order to dismiss the views of tech experts that reject A.I. and support your own claim that…

Office Space: Laser Printer murder scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjsSr3z5nVk

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

#36

Post by buggy6257 » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 11:09 PM UTC

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,…

My favorite response to this was a fellow dev who immediately replied “you let your printer near a GUN?!”

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

#37

Post by HedonicEscal8r » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 11:48 PM UTC

jfengel wrote: post #9

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 had noted a few weeks ago that Hacker News used a font without serifs, causing confusion. I'm not sure when they changed that, but there are now serifs on the capital I and lower case "l". This headline is much less confusing for the change. Thanks.

It depends on browser defaults. On Brave and Chrome, I don't see serifs, and on Firefox I do.

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

#38

Post by ButlerianJihad » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:56 AM UTC

HedonicEscal8r wrote: post #37

jfengel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had noted a few weeks ago that Hacker News used a font without serifs, causing confusion. I'm not sure when they changed that, but there are now serifs on the capital I and lower case "l". This headline is much less confusing for the change. Thanks.

It depends on browser defaults. On Brave and Chrome, I don't see serifs, and on Firefox I do.

On HN you have a choice and browser styling. In many social media mobile apps, you really don't. It's their style or the highway.

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

#39

Post by spacechild1 » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 3:18 AM UTC

HedonicEscal8r wrote: post #37

jfengel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had noted a few weeks ago that Hacker News used a font without serifs, causing confusion. I'm not sure when they changed that, but there are now serifs on the capital I and lower case "l". This headline is much less confusing for the change. Thanks.

It depends on browser defaults. On Brave and Chrome, I don't see serifs, and on Firefox I do.

I'm on Firefox and I don't see serifs. Might be OS dependent as well.

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

#40

Post by techcode » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 4:26 AM UTC

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #31

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,…

I will never understand some smart appliances. Like...a smart TV so you don't need a second device to play your streaming services? I kinda understand, though I think it's a silly move. If my Fire TV stick gets deprecated, I can buy a new one for under $50. If my TV itself gets deprecated, I'm spending $1500+ for a new one. But like...the number of people who have their heads in the sand when it comes to pervasive ad…

While I agree with you on ideally having a dumb TV - being able to install TailScale on your TV and then using your exit node in another country (to watch that other countries local IPTV) is a really nice convenience. And you can no longer buy a dumb TV, at least not in typical living room sizes.

The dishwashing machine being able to notify you ahead of time that you're low (but not already out) of softening salt or rinse aid liquid is also convenient - but indeed also solvable with display on the machine itself.

But the automation like lights, or blinds/shutters... Being able to open/close shutters from your bed (or automatically in the morning as part of waking you up), or turn on/off lights based on motion/presence detection - is actually useful.

Of course you shouldn't need Internet to operate it. And many people use Home Assistant exactly because they don't want their "smart devices" to talk to the cloud.