Over the last 4ish months, the greater Reddit community has shifted from "AI is all fake and going away" towards "We're all going to have no jobs". It's in a direction I have been hoping to see for a long time - so what caused it?
This Reddit post discusses a perceived shift in the Reddit community's attitude towards AI over recent months, from skepticism about AI's capabilities to fear of job automation. The author speculates on the reasons behind this change and invites discussion.
I don't know if anyone else has noticed this. I regularly scan conversations about AI on Reddit, and have for a long time - as a way to get a general pulse on the relationship people on Reddit (who represent a particular set of demographics, generally progressive). One of my biggest frustrations, is this pattern I've noticed where people seem to refuse to entertain the idea that models are at all capable. Whenever I see it, I try to interrogate the person to understand the reason why - and when I've been lucky enough to get into discussions about it, they usually fall into the same few categories (although this is definitely not exhaustive!): \- Acknowledging that AI is capable, is essentially endorsing it, and all the weird things that come downstream of that line of thought. \- Really and truly not knowing, maybe intentionally avoiding learning about, the most recent advancements and the science. \- believing that we have maybe somewhat capable models, but we have hit a wall \- an assortment of what seem like mental health breakdowns \- The idea that the financial stresses of the AI build out will lead to a crash of some kind, slowing down or halting progress In general, these represent a bunch of the skeptical views and positions, but definitely not all of them - I'm sure there are some I'm missing, and if you think it's relevant please introduce them! Regardless, collectively these positions converged on some idea that the AI progress we have been seeing, would in some way burn out and go away, to different degrees of "away". This was I think the majority view. However now, especially in the last 2 months I think, the view has dramatically shifted. These voices still exist, but they are collapsing. The ones who are surviving have the "AI is a useful tool, and will likely stay around even after a crash" - mantra, they use for their own predictions... But more and more people are just entertaining the idea that maybe the current AI buildout is actually a reflection of some significant change that is coming, something that maybe is existential. I think the most prominent fear from this train of thought, is that billionaires/the wealthy class will use this technology to essentially Elysium us (I kind of hate this movie because of its nonsense contrived villains/scenarios in the plot, but I think it captures the fear well). I'm not really trying to talk about their fear, but! I think their fear has to acknowledge AI capability, one that will continue to progress, at least to some degree. I think plenty are still not sold on some of the more ASI/out there predictions, but at the last, white collar automation and even blue collar - some of the newest robotics videos are getting impressive - seem to be much more accepted. So what do people think? What happened to cause this change? Am I imagining it? Anyone else notice it? Anyone feel like they are a part of the shift, in how they see AI and want to share with us why? It's something I am sincerely curious about!
A reflection on how AI is increasingly embedded in every platform and tool, and how public sentiment on Reddit and elsewhere is growing tired of obviously AI-generated content, even as people continue using it for convenience.
This article explores whether public skepticism toward AI is primarily driven by fears of job displacement, suggesting that attitudes might shift if AI posed no threat to livelihoods.
The post questions how long anti-AI rhetoric will persist before people are forced to accept AI's inevitability, wondering if it's primarily a Reddit phenomenon or widespread.
Séb Krier shares evolving thoughts on AI adoption and job automation, noting less worry about incurious people and more concern about overestimating the speed of job displacement.
A tweet observes that sentiment toward AI has turned very negative recently, especially among developers, as concerns grow that companies are using AI to justify replacing human workers.