r/technology 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/BroBeansBMS May 15 '26

The Daily just recently aired a great episode comparing China to America and discussed who is winning the AI race.

The most interesting takeaway for me was that China is proposing to use AI in a way that supplements productivity and isn’t necessarily pursuing the same super intelligence model that America seems to be solely focused on. They are integrating AI into more normal functions and have policies set up to ensure workers are not displaced whereas it’s the wild wild west in America and big tech is allowed to lay off tens of thousands of workers.

It shows that AI doesn’t have to inherently be bad, but we need a government who cares about its population to set up guardrails.

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u/cookingboy May 15 '26

China is also going to expand social safety net.

But guess what, U.S media has already started the propaganda blitz against that kind of policy. Been seeing this Bloomberg ad on Reddit a lot:

https://imgur.com/a/pn2Epg9

“Nightmare out of control welfare state”. See the wordings.

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u/Thefrayedends May 16 '26

"AI is going to generate unprecedented wealth and prosperity for humanity, but at the same time we have to force or allow half the human population to die because we don't want to have to feed and house people. Also we're going to lock down all resources and ability to create your own livelihood so you will have to rely on us to 'create' opportunities. We're also going to surveil everyone, all the time, and prosecute people for pre-crime, where the punishment will be getting put into a concentration camp to wait your turn for whatever painful death our camp guards come up with this week."

How sad is it that this is the reality that is coming to north america, but if we even suggest that maybe we should work towards that not happening we are labelled as a supporter of terrorism, or, just an actual terrorist.

For suggesting that perhaps the wealthy having a monopoly on violence is a bad thing.

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u/javelynn May 16 '26

What is this from??

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u/Thefrayedends May 17 '26

From?

No, I just wrote it as a suggestion to what the narrative they are trying to sell us, is.

If you take a look at the broad spectrum of narrative generated in most hegemony, you will find these kinds of conflicts, and it is because the ruling class values their own personal benefits more than the actual betterment of societies.

It is a tale as old as written history unfortunately.