The AI industry is discovering that the public hates it • Hacker News Board

Re: The AI industry is discovering that the public hates it

#21

Post by MBCook » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:35 PM UTC

Legend2440 wrote: post #5

I am very concerned by the rise of political violence in the US, and I especially don't like how much support it gets on social media. Burning down a warehouse or shooting a politician does not make you a hero.

I’d say such things are very rare when people feel in control and have a voice in how their life goes. We didn’t see it for decades in the US.

Re: The AI industry is discovering that the public hates it

#22

Post by teaearlgraycold » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:35 PM UTC

Legend2440 wrote: post #5

I am very concerned by the rise of political violence in the US, and I especially don't like how much support it gets on social media. Burning down a warehouse or shooting a politician does not make you a hero.

Especially consider how many fellow workers Paper Mario could have killed with his arson. But smart people tend to realize they can do more with their lives by not being violent.

Re: The AI industry is discovering that the public hates it

#23

Post by operatingthetan » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:35 PM UTC

Legend2440 wrote: post #6

atomicnumber3 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, the hate against vaccines makes me sad.

GMOs too. Completely unjustified backlash for a technology with incredible potential.

The main selling pitch for vaccines and GMOs was not "this will take your livelihood!"

Re: The AI industry is discovering that the public hates it

#24

Post by GOD_Over_Djinn » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

Legend2440 wrote: post #5

I am very concerned by the rise of political violence in the US, and I especially don't like how much support it gets on social media. Burning down a warehouse or shooting a politician does not make you a hero.

I think it’s interesting that you choose to focus on this part of the situation. To me, it’s far more relevant that the general public has little, if any, recourse through legal means such as voting. This is what makes political violence inevitable, and some would say, fully justified.

Re: The AI industry is discovering that the public hates it

#25

Post by Ekaros » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

MBCook wrote: post #16

Are they? I heard a presentation from some pro-AI people on Friday to the large company I work at. They said they surveyed people at an AI conference and 93% of people were excited about it. This was said with a straight face like “people love puppies!”. No self awareness at all.

I wonder what result you would get if you run survey about do people love dogs at dog show...

Also, looking at current market situation how many people would be willing to say to their bosses or even publicly that they think AI is quite a lot of bullshit.

Re: The AI industry is discovering that the public hates it

#26

Post by contingencies » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

gpt5 wrote: post #10

Legend2440 wrote: post #5

I am very concerned by the rise of political violence in the US, and I especially don't like how much support it gets on social media. Burning down a warehouse or shooting a politician does not make you a hero.

Political polarization create tribalism, where people align their view with their tribe, and justify an increasingly more escalatory means to fight the "other side".

Other potential macro-contributing factors may include: breakdown in local community, removal of community forums for discussion, attention economy and tabloid journalism gravitating toward emotional reaction (TikTok) rather than intellectual dialogue (balanced journalism), social media echo chambers, removal of accessible popular education, defunding of public media, unaffordable public access to medicine, credit culture, increasingly unaffordable costs of living and abnormally performative political dioramas. The net result are people, unable to reason about the world around them, drawn in to emotional us-and-them with a dialogue of echo-chamber reinforcement, who decide semi-rationally to "chuck it all in" the second things get out of control financially, psychologically or emotionally. In other words, the modern world has built a perfect breeding ground for recruitment to extremism. Great time to start a cult.

... and in a classic example, apparently the mere mention of concern regarding the rise in US political violence got this thread flagged. Where can you have a discussion anymore?

Re: The AI industry is discovering that the public hates it

#27

Post by cindyllm » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

cineticdaffodil wrote: post #15

Legend2440 wrote: post #5

I am very concerned by the rise of political violence in the US, and I especially don't like how much support it gets on social media. Burning down a warehouse or shooting a politician does not make you a hero.

[flagged]

[dead]

Re: The AI industry is discovering that the public hates it

#28

Post by fluoridation » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

anematode wrote: post #9

navvyeanand wrote: post #2

[flagged]

The mobilizers, in this case, are almost entirely the people leading and deploying AI rather than any anti-AI agitators. When someone hears from these leaders that there will be a white-collar "bloodbath", then sees enshittification in their daily lives from misapplication of the tech, can no longer trust any newly published photo, etc., it's the most rational response.

Don't forget other indirect economic effects, like the RAMpocalypse.

Re: The AI industry is discovering that the public hates it

#29

Post by rtdq » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

MBCook wrote: post #16

Are they? I heard a presentation from some pro-AI people on Friday to the large company I work at. They said they surveyed people at an AI conference and 93% of people were excited about it. This was said with a straight face like “people love puppies!”. No self awareness at all.

Ask anyone who is a gamer what they think of AI. I guarantee you'll get a universally negative reaction because of RAMageddon.

Re: The AI industry is discovering that the public hates it

#30

Post by poly2it » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:37 PM UTC

greggoB wrote: post #8

navvyeanand wrote: post #2

[flagged]

Mobilized by who, and how was that achieved?

Have you been on Reddit recently? Anti-AI sentiment isn't limited to technical communities, but engaged with platform-wide. The hate is the content; apart from the rampant anti-intellectualism there is very little engagement with any material discussing the technologies in and of themselves.