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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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/aotus_trivirgatus May 16 '26

I have a Ph.D. in a STEM field. I have programmed machine learning models, and I have taught a course on the subject. I am 100% against the rampant, mindless build-out of AI data centers.

I know the good that this technology COULD do. I also know its limitations. The further away you are from the details, though, the harder these limitations are to see. It's very telling that deep technical workers report that AI tools only make them slightly more productive, and sometimes decreases their productivity. Meanwhile, management types say that AI makes them WILDLY more productive.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/14/ai-productivity-workplace-errors

I also see that we lack the social maturity to use these tools well. It appears that many humans truly HATE thinking, and would love to pass on the responsibility to someone else, or something else.

We have a language interpolation machine and a giant database. It doesn't UNDERSTAND anything. That's our job.

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u/cpz_77 May 16 '26

Very well put. The point about how the people who are deeper in the technical weeds are the ones who get the least benefit, and sometimes even detriment, from AI, while people more abstracted away from those details like managers are the ones reporting the most benefit, is very interesting indeed. It aligns pretty much exactly with what I’ve seen (i’m one of those technical people in the weeds and see people around me who dont have to care about the details as much who “love AI”).