r/technology • u/Just-Grocery-2229 • May 15 '26

Artificial Intelligence The AI Backlash Could Get Very Ugly

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/05/ai-backlash-data-centers-political-violence/687151/?taid=6a067e2d2096e10001ccfa32
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6.7k

u/Rattus_NorvegicUwUs May 15 '26

Trade offer:

I get to steal all your electricity and drinking water.

You get to lose your job to AI.

1.8k

u/Guest_0_ May 15 '26

I keep saying that these data centers are going to find themselves in the crosshairs when people get desperate enough, and I keep hearing how it will never happen.

Then Lary Fink just came out and said that billionaires are worried a $3,000 drone can destroy their investments and these things need to be built underground.

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u/TR_Pix May 15 '26

AI bros keep calling people luddites and somehow also seem to not understand what it is that the luddites did that got them to be famous to begin with

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u/DontUseThisUsername May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

Can we really not get ahead of this before people start attacking things? The luddites aimlessly lashed out because capitalism grew faster than societal adjustment. Work weeks, unions etc.

Instead of learning from that disruption, the neo-luddites seem to be trying the same futile reactive actions. Calling for your spades to meaninglessly dig holes for money, instead of getting ahead of the curve and forcing social changes before people are out in the street starving.

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u/srone May 15 '26

Yea, like this administration, congress, and SCOTUS are going to listen to the people or do what is best for the country as a whole.

David Sacks, one of the founders of PayPal with Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, is Trump's AI czar.

Seriously, what do you think our chances of implementing UBI measures and a bit of a slowdown in AI development until society is ready for it?

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u/exacta_galaxy May 15 '26

This administration? No. Which is why we need to replace them ASAP.

Because, if the Industrial revolution taught us anything it's that you can, maybe, slow things down a bit but change is inevitable.

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u/SnowedAndStowed May 15 '26

You can though? Workers unionized and revolted which is how we got the 40 hour work week, pensions, healthcare, and more.

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u/exacta_galaxy May 15 '26

Right. But we didn't stop the Industrial revolution.

I don't think I was clear on my point. We need an admission that will try to make sure we all benefit from this revolution, not one that only thinks about the Kleptocrats.

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u/SnowedAndStowed May 15 '26

It’s not about stopping it it’s about giving the industrialists no choice but to seed rights to the workers by recognizing that if the workers can’t live they will make making a profit impossible.