Gandalf the Slay ☽☾

"I don't understand why they're pushing AI so hard when we can all see it's making everything worse." That's because it's not being marketed to you; it's being marketed to governments and plutocrats. They're the real target audience for these products, not you. You are not receiving the real sales pitch for AI, because the real sales pitch would not appeal to your sensibilities. The real sales pitch for AI isn't "Hey check out this product, it makes some web searches slightly easier and it can maybe write your emails for you." The real sales pitch for AI is "This product allows you to surveil the entire population of your country. It can be built into autonomous surveillance drones and killing machines. It can allow you to monitor and control every aspect of your society. It can reverse the decentralization of information brought on by the internet age. It can take away the collective bargaining power of workers and give you the skilled services your company requires. It can nullify strikes, civil disobedience, and even full-scale revolutions, and lock humanity into your capitalist dystopia forever." That's the real sales pitch. It doesn't sound appealing to any normal person, but it makes sense when you remember who these technologies are really being sold to, and why.