Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

fast.ai

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 221 posts

Re: My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

#81

Post by icedchai »

happytoexplain wrote: post #64
CSMastermind wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No saying you're wrong but how is it making their lives worse? Most people know use AI for basic applications and seem to enjoy it while the people I know who hate it all seem to be idelogically motivated (seemingly this is a cause de célèbre on the left right now?)

What AI has done to my job as a software developer is make my personal output higher while taking away almost every ounce of enjoyment, interest, and passion I had for the job. Overnight I went from loving my job to hating my job as much as everybody I know outside of tech hates their jobs. I won't even get into what it has done to the already-awful experience of working with low-quality contractors.

"You're absolutely right!"

Seriously, I couldn't have said it better myself.

Re: My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

#82

Post by jambalaya8 »

vincecarterskne wrote: post #74
solid_fuel wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are perfectly welcome to blame it on capitalism, and you're not entirely wrong, but before LLMs machines couldn't fill these roles at all - so LLMs are the enabling technology here that is being used to justify the cuts.

sure but capitalism is ultimately the driving force to making more profit at the expense of making things ultimately shittier? capitalism has inherently always done this, this is not a new concept, I don't understand why everyone acts like it's so different when it comes to AI. AI is a tool that's useful for some things, not so good at other things.

i think it is more correct to call it hypercapitalism at this point (and a particularly sociopathic variety of it); as a "response", the "other side" has created their own bizarre oppositional belief system. neither are healthy, both lead to bad things.

Re: My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

#83

Post by solid_fuel »

vincecarterskne wrote: post #74
solid_fuel wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are perfectly welcome to blame it on capitalism, and you're not entirely wrong, but before LLMs machines couldn't fill these roles at all - so LLMs are the enabling technology here that is being used to justify the cuts.

sure but capitalism is ultimately the driving force to making more profit at the expense of making things ultimately shittier? capitalism has inherently always done this, this is not a new concept, I don't understand why everyone acts like it's so different when it comes to AI. AI is a tool that's useful for some things, not so good at other things.

Again - we’re on a discussion thread about why people don’t like AI right now.

Yes, the root problem is generally enshittification and capitalism, but AI is the tool that is being used the most for this enshittification now, so it is completely understandable that people are pissed off at AI.

In a vacuum, LLMs and AI are cool. In practice, in the real world today, they are being used to make most peoples lives worse, while funneling a ton of money to ~25 people.

Re: My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

#84

Post by Legend2440 »

crmd wrote: post #18

Ordinary people were generally marvelous of the electric motor because it was obvious how it would make life better. Their great grandchildren, with the same common sense, are extremely cynical about LLMs and other knowledge work robots. What changed?

I don't think your premise is true. Remember John Henry, worried that the steam engine would put him out of a job drilling holes in rocks?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_(folklore)

Ludditism has a long history, and they made the exact same arguments about job loss in the 1800s as today.

Re: My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

#85

Post by throwaway789898 »

jrockway wrote: post #25

Relatable. AI is something I only bring up to the most trusted of trusted friends. Politics is more approachable these days. I think a lot of people have formed opinions without having used it, and honestly, they probably can't afford to use it. I use Claude a lot at work because it's something my employer provides, and I'm always impressed with the results. It saves a lot of time and lets me get more done. But it ai…

>I don't find it logical that people are mad we helped invent the turbo whip 9000. Don't they know whips have always existed??

You're so right

Re: My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

#86

Post by jambalaya8 »

japhyr wrote: post #2

Of course everyone hates AI. For most people, it's actively making their lives worse, not better. AI is a really effective technology when used with restraint, in appropriate places. But it's rarely being used with restraint, and it's being inserted just about everywhere. If you're trying to work in AI on a product related to education, you've got a really high bar to clear to prove that you're actually helping stude…

fwiw I enjoy AI. but it is extraordinarily dangerous and does not belong in the hands of most people, and definitely not in the hands of most companies. it is a munition.

Re: My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

#87

Post by toomuchtodo »

jambalaya8 wrote: post #86
japhyr wrote: post #2

Of course everyone hates AI. For most people, it's actively making their lives worse, not better. AI is a really effective technology when used with restraint, in appropriate places. But it's rarely being used with restraint, and it's being inserted just about everywhere. If you're trying to work in AI on a product related to education, you've got a really high bar to clear to prove that you're actually helping stude…

fwiw I enjoy AI. but it is extraordinarily dangerous and does not belong in the hands of most people, and definitely not in the hands of most companies. it is a munition.

If considered a munition, it certainly belongs in the hands of citizens to defend themselves against corporations and governments.

Re: My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

#88

Post by winocm »

mintplant wrote: post #10
CSMastermind wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No saying you're wrong but how is it making their lives worse? Most people know use AI for basic applications and seem to enjoy it while the people I know who hate it all seem to be idelogically motivated (seemingly this is a cause de célèbre on the left right now?)

My partner cried the other day because her long-planned PC upgrade is now an order of magnitude more expensive than she budgeted for pre-AI-boom.

Same.

Re: My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

#89

Post by nomel »

dlubarov wrote: post #62
mintplant wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partner cried the other day because her long-planned PC upgrade is now an order of magnitude more expensive than she budgeted for pre-AI-boom.

I don't love this either, but at least it's a short-term economic quirk. At some point fabs will figure out what the long-term demand looks like and scale up production accordingly.

> it's a short-term economic quirk

Not with the memory cartel that exists right now. They're more than happy to keep things exactly as they are, with lawsuits flying [1].

[1] https://www.rainintelligence.com/blog/dram-price-fixing-laws...

Re: My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

#90

Post by jltsiren »

yogthos wrote: post #45
japhyr wrote: post #2

Of course everyone hates AI. For most people, it's actively making their lives worse, not better. AI is a really effective technology when used with restraint, in appropriate places. But it's rarely being used with restraint, and it's being inserted just about everywhere. If you're trying to work in AI on a product related to education, you've got a really high bar to clear to prove that you're actually helping stude…

What I find interesting is the contrast between the West and China here. Most people in the West expect that AI will make their lives worse in some way. Meanwhile, 84% of Chinese are excited about this tech, and expect that it will be used to make their lives better. it's a really vivid contrast between the way new technology becomes integrated into each type of society. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-0…

The same probably holds without AI. China is still in the stage of development, where people reasonably expect that the future will be better. The West has not really been optimistic about the future since the 90s. There is always something around the corner threatening to make the future worse. Maybe it's the economy, maybe it's climate change, maybe immigration, or terrorism, or war, or whatever.
Post reply on HN