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Why Does Everyone Hate AI?

paulkrugman.substack.com

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Re: Why Does Everyone Hate AI?

#71

Post by AnimalMuppet »

steve1977 wrote: post #16
esperent wrote: post #4

An alternative theory: people care deeply about art, and the people who make it: artists, musicians, writers. This is a large part of what gives out society meaning, and even for people who don't think deeply about it, we intuitively understand that these artists (outside of a lucky few) get very little back compared to the effort and passion they put in, and the value they add to society. And suddenly, here come all…

Also, art is about emotion and empathy. AI does not feel. It can imitate feelings, it can say "I'm sorry" but it won't feel sorry. And I think this is also reflected in a lot of AI-generated art. Yes, it is fascinating to a degree and it "looks" like art, but it doesn't "feel" like art. It's heartless. It's soulless. And I say that as someone who doesn't even believe in a soul.

Yeah. There's nobody there. I can't hear a human voice when I read it. It talks like a corporation, not like a human.

Re: Why Does Everyone Hate AI?

#72

Post by thedevilslawyer »

pjc50 wrote: post #65
leviliebvin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Within software too.

Software quality assurance can be automated in a way that artistic and textual quality can't. That doesn't give you good taste , but .. for yer basic line of business or enterprise app, expectations were already low, and most websites have user-hostile design written into the requirements, so the damage isn't too bad. I do think we've yet to see what the worst case for government contractor software project + vibe co…

Interesting thought. So maybe this answers the question of whether coding is art or science.

Re: Why Does Everyone Hate AI?

#73

Post by conductr »

JimDabell wrote: post #34
jplusequalt wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN is a poor representation of the average American.

And the average American is a poor representation of everyone. The title reads “Why does everyone hate AI?” but repeatedly references surveys of Americans, not “everyone”. Americans are outliers; the rest of the world has a much more favourable view of AI. > AI optimism surges in Asia, unlike in the U.S. — https://restofworld.org/2026/ai-optimism-asia/ > U.S. Workers Are More Wary of AI Than Their Global Peers. — htt…

US is heavy in knowledge work and has expensive labor. So AI is posed to move employment out of US and drive employment in Asia where AI manufacturing happens.

Also from your last link;

> The pessimism isn’t uniquely American. Consistent with international Ipsos polling from 2025, the U.S. sits alongside other countries in the Anglosphere – such as Canada, Australia, and Great Britain – in being more nervous and less excited about the technology.

> Put simply, AI is built on weak social pillars. Despite growing adoption, many feel that AI poses a risk not only to their jobs, but to humanity as a whole. Amid a backdrop of widespread systemic distrust, the technology feeds into Americans’ belief that the economy is “rigged for the rich and powerful.”

> Until Americans feel the upsides of AI clearly outweigh the downsides, views of AI will likely remain negative. If AI is here to stay, so too is the backlash.

I think that last piece is the key part. AI hasn’t significantly improved anything for the average American. It only poses large structural risks. So, what’s to like about AI unless you’re in Asia and stand to gain from it?

Re: Why Does Everyone Hate AI?

#74

Post by stanac »

somewhereoutth wrote: post #8

I went to look for a new phone about 6 months ago - everything was AI this, AI that, all the display stands made a big deal about AI (to the extent I considered a 2024 phone because no AI). In the end I didn't buy at that point. Just last week finally I had to buy a new phone, and so I went shopping again - this time no AI was mentioned anywhere . Not online, not on the stands in the shops, nowhere. The silence speak…

> Just last week finally I had to buy a new phone ... this time no AI was mentioned anywhere

It's not surprising given that "Sixty percent of US consumers say ‘AI’ in brand messaging is a turnoff, survey finds"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48569278

Re: Why Does Everyone Hate AI?

#75

Post by andai »

donatj wrote: post #23
leviliebvin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Within software too.

At AIs absolute best (rarely) it builds software like a very competent 9-5er. It's fine, it works, it's largely inoffensive. It never does anything interesting or inspired. It never gets halfway into building something and then questions the entire premise of your app. It's automated milquetoast.

> It never does anything interesting or inspired.

I asked Sonnet to port an old game I wrote in college to HTML5.

It threw out the audio and graphics system, made it a single HTML file with no dependencies, no assets, everything dynamically generated, added new backgrounds, and new music.

I just asked it for a port, so I was like wtf, though some of the choices it made were better than the original ones.

Would be nice if that "initiative" could be turned on or off on demand though. I haven't tested that. (Some guy told me "if you want creativity, use Claude. To turn the behavior off, use a different model!")

Re: Why Does Everyone Hate AI?

#76

Post by andai »

everdrive wrote: post #54

- Everyone says it's going to take my job. Are they correct? I don't know, but I'm not excited to roll the dice. - It's pricing out consumer computing. - It's the final nail in the coffin for the free internet in multiple ways: - Websites are blocking anyone with a non-standard browser to attempt to clamp down on bot scraping. - The web is moving towards denonymization, in part to combat bot traffic. - Websites and f…

Knowledge, will and money now compound even faster than before.

Re: Why Does Everyone Hate AI?

#77

Post by andai »

I've been thinking about this. A few years hence (especially when robotics takes off) it may not be safe to tell people you're an AI researcher, if the average person's family has been made destitute by automation.

I think that's what a lot of people are expecting. Several people told me unironically they're becoming plumbers to try and delay the worst. (I think blue collar has a decade or so after white collar.)

They'll probably roll out UBI or a fake jobs program before things get really ugly, but I think the social and psychological adjustment will be more difficult than the economic one. (We already figured out how to send everyone free money.)

Re: Why Does Everyone Hate AI?

#78

Post by jerkstate »

danlugo92 wrote: post #38
leviliebvin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Within software too.

We must be using different AI. Ever since Claude Opus 4.7 it's been helping me greatly ship around 3x to 5x faster, and it's good code if I tell it to follow my existing code's structures. Otherwise you have to create .md guideline files and it works. It's not perfect, but again, 3x to 5x (!!!)

It’s time for people who understand how to use AI to stop trying to convince people who don’t. Let them churn their own butter, weave their own clothes, and type out their programs one character at a time. It’s what they want.

Re: Why Does Everyone Hate AI?

#79

Post by verdverm »

voidUpdate wrote: post #3

Given the amount of people on HN happily using LLMs for their everyday work and extolling the virtues of LLMs, "everyone" might be a bit excessive

The same Pew poll had some interesting data points Krugman left out

- The first data point Pew presents is ~50% of Americans use Ai chat bots

- The second data point shows 25% of those using it is for fun and entertainment (1:8 overall)

- 1/4 of Americans use it daily

Krugman lost me when he said "Ai is dishonest" as if it has intent. He makes too much rage bait these days.

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