Comment by xg15

2 days ago

> “The future is not yet finished. It is now your turn to shape it.”

This sounds cynical if there is a kinglike president, surrounded by a small clique of tech billionaires who all are becoming increasingly open about the kind of future they want to realise.

It's also one of my major issues I have with how this is being introduced into many enterprises, including the company I work for:

"Here's AI. Figure out how we can make money from it. We're adding it to your performance reviews"

Basically, here's a solution. Find problems for it.

  • Yeah, I also see this occurring.

    It's just wildly unprofessional from management, in no particular order my frustrations are:

    1. A majority of planning documents from management have become LLM output, which no longer actually matches the desired/required work (but it sure looks nice if you don't have to read all of it).

    2. Management undertones are pretty clearly: "Figure out how to use AI to replace yourself."

    3. The visibility of leaderboards that promote spend with no relationship to output - ex: employees who spend the most tokens are rewarded, even when there's no equivalent boost in productivity.

    ---

    My take is that AI is actually a managerial crucible - aka, a great filter for companies with poor management practices and processes.

    Company management needs to shift in response to AI more than engineering, and I don't think most are prepared.

  • > Basically, here's a solution. Find problems for it.

    Same where I work, and I suppose everywhere. It's upsetting, and there's no way of politely voicing concerns about this without looking like a luddite... which is obviously bad for you and your job security.

I think this is a major reason behind the backlash against AI. In the past, people celebrated tech billionaires because there was a widespread belief that, someday, they might join their ranks. But wealth inequality may have now reached a point where that illusion no longer works.

  • I think it’s that the current crop of tech billionaires are tone deaf douche bags working against the common good.

    • You do not amass those levels of wealth without being a tone deaf douche bag in the first place.