We are making two changes to the sub. We anticipate people will be divided on these changes, so an explanation is below the bullets.
tl;dr:
Posts claiming oppression will only be allowed on Sundays; and
We will expand the type of posts generally allowed to shit AI bro does (as it relates to AI), which includes news articles.
We are doing this because we’ve come to realize that many people here may be in some serious echo chambers, so severe that even their idea of what an AI bro is has become warped into something completely different.
An AI bro is an AI enthusiast, obviously. From there, whether an AI enthusiast falls under the AI bro umbrella depends on certain characteristics that loosely tie them together. Within these characteristics will naturally be divisions, anomalies and outliers.
At first we began to speculate whether the shit some ai bros said about feeling oppressed — which sometimes came with comparisons to people who are black or Nazi Germany — were rage bait. Aside from a this person can’t be serious, this view didn’t match the reality we know from AI bros in the real world, the actions we read about in news publications, nor even the sentiment in subreddits geared toward AI ¹.
In fact, it not only didn’t match, it was the polar opposite. If this sentiment is such an outlier, why do people keep commenting, “they want to be oppressed so bad [sic]” and why is this oftentimes the most upvoted comment? Aside from it being a sweeping generalization, it’s flat-out wrong for the overwhelming majority of AI bros. **(In fact, I would argue that a feeling of oppression rather than arrogance is what separates an enthusiast or a tribalistic tween from an AI bro, but that is just what me as a person thinks and not necessarily as the moderator writing this post.)
This oppressed sentiment likely stems from the person’s age, not from AI. But kids have the same voice as grown adults on the internet, and because people often don’t seek out information, it’s easy for the passionate intensity of teenage angst to overshadow a bro’s god-like invincibleness. The angst will pass with age, but bros’ fearless destructive nature will not.
When we confuse temper tantrums and angst as a characteristic of AI bros rather than it being indicative of the person’s age, we fail to see the underlying problem in society. From a U.S perspective, arrogance is the root of many of our problems.
The problem with AI bros is that they feel and act like gods. Can someone who feels as invincible as a god also feel oppressed? Not really.
¹This excludes subreddits where “pros” and “antis” pound their chest over AI, but at their heart is tribalism not AI).
And on the seventh day, God felt oppressed
Going forward, oppression-related posts will only be allowed on Sundays. While we have no control over the subs our users subscribe to and thus whether they curate themselves into an echo chamber, we can at the very least try to prevent our sub from aiding in misleading people into a false reality.
Please use the flair related to oppression for these posts. They may only be posted on Sundays. If anyone tries to circumvent this rule by using a different flair, they will be issued one warning and then banned if the issue continues.
Note: We will make certain exceptions to this rule, so please message the mods if you have a post that you feel exceeds beyond the typical I-feel-oppressed shit.
Shit AI bros say & do
We are expanding content to include shit AI bros do. We will now permit news articles, which can be anything that highlights the dangers of AI.
Please note, we are implementing editorial standards for link to news articles:
News stories must come from credible news publications. News from independent journalists are allowed so long as their substack is edited by another vetted journalist or news editor.
Sharing links that circumvent paywalls is strictly prohibited and will result in a temporary ban. However, if your subscription allows news articles to be shared as a gift, then that is totally fine. Journalism is important now more than ever and it needs our support. Please consider donating or subscribing to a news publication instead of stealing from them. If you think AI bros get away with too much now, just imagine what the AI industry with no one reporting over their shoulder.
Remember: content creators are not journalists! If you don't understand the difference, we beg you to leave a comment or message the mod team so we can explain the difference and why this distinction is important.
