The blue collar folks don't get to escape the AI-related-dissonance. I live in rural Wisconsin and we have data centers popping up all over. My husband runs a department with a mechanical contractor but he is still an active union guy -- he sees the jobs/contracts come through and the amount of work (and $$) up for grabs is staggering. Thus, our labor unions are incentivized to support these projects. The dissonance comes because we are learning more and more about the risk of these data centers & their deleterious impact on the environment: noise/light pollution, using our natural resources, the increased energy costs, etc. -- and they are being built right in our own backyards. The same laborers who build these data centers are going to see increases in their energy bills, dried up wells, and hear the constant low "hum" being emitted from the compound if you live close enough. The dissonance deepens when you realize that the union pensions are reliant on a market that is increasingly propped up by these AI companies lending & borrowing from each other.
Oh, boy. This post resonated with me as a former tech employee who lived in Austin and quit her job in January due to severe burnout, among other reasons. My old company then laid off 10% of the global workforce in March and blamed it on AI—the same tools we had all worked ourselves into the ground building.
Unfortunately I think you’re right about the source of your friend’s illness. It’s taken me months to feel safe in my own body again but I’m finally well. Wishing her the best.
I'm probably Colombus-ing into this, but since AI was trained on the entire internet and scraping user data, shouldn't every person in the world get to be an owner of AI? Everyone who ever existed helped make it the tool it's becoming. In your podcast, Katie, you talk about Norway (I think) having state sponsored investment accounts from oil money. We'll, AI could be the US's oil money. Although because of the global nature of the training sources, it feels unfair that only Americans would benefit.
I work at a company focused on this area of AI ownership. Europe and other countries are acutely aware of sending their data to the US and are looking for sovereign AI options that utilize open source and let companies own their systems / data. I think that is the future, who will be the winner in that space we will see.
I heard Michael Tubbs who is running for Lt Governor of California talk about the idea of a data dividend which I overlaps with AI, although I think was inspired by the harvesting and selling of our data and attention for marketing. Super interesting and something I want to hear more about. The whole interview really impressed me, he’s really inspiring and we need more leaders like this. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/higher-learning-with-van-lathan-and-rachel-lindsay/id1515152489?i=1000761973739&t=4698
I was laid off yet again 3 weeks ago. I have been laid off 3 times in the last 4 years. 25 years in tech and this feels like my signal to bow out.
Katie, I’m sure you’re already familiar with her work, but if not Catherine Liu’s books dovetail beautifully to what you speak and write about. Thank you as always.
Completely agree. Folks at my company in tech (myself included) spin themselves up trying to appear as two things simultaneously: an indispensable human and open to rapidly iterating their process with AI. It’s nerve wracking to walk that line every day not knowing where it will end up leading.
You’re writing is brilliant and I’m not sure what layer of the brain you’re tapped into or how to get there or go much caffeine is required or the booklist that’s on your syllabus but, I want it all. I’m thinking we need to build a future ready library- let’s go!
I’ve accepted that our jobs most likely won’t exist in 3 or so years and started talking to my teams about what we’re all planning on doing next. I don’t think anyone can pretend anymore that we’re not in a world changing tech moment. It’s inhuman to be a leader right now and pretend 2029 will look anything like today.
“…will continue to arrive at these impasses about who innovation should benefit and how.”
This really strikes a cord - so much of the persuasion of capitalism we’re fed as children in the US circles around the benefits it provides to innovation, and that innovation is possible only because of capitalism. But I’ve never - once - thought to consider who this innovation will and/or should benefit. It seems quite obvious now that if we consider AI the “innovation” and the benefits of innovation involve replacing human labor with machine learning models that never need to stop doing a job, the beneficiaries are all at the top.
I’m personally having a hard time seeing humanity get through this without some serious social reorganization.
I think the best action one can take to address what I believe is your underlying dilemma is to vote for the right people and be involved in politics in ways you can. This is a policy question, not an individual investment decision.
The blue collar folks don't get to escape the AI-related-dissonance. I live in rural Wisconsin and we have data centers popping up all over. My husband runs a department with a mechanical contractor but he is still an active union guy -- he sees the jobs/contracts come through and the amount of work (and $$) up for grabs is staggering. Thus, our labor unions are incentivized to support these projects. The dissonance comes because we are learning more and more about the risk of these data centers & their deleterious impact on the environment: noise/light pollution, using our natural resources, the increased energy costs, etc. -- and they are being built right in our own backyards. The same laborers who build these data centers are going to see increases in their energy bills, dried up wells, and hear the constant low "hum" being emitted from the compound if you live close enough. The dissonance deepens when you realize that the union pensions are reliant on a market that is increasingly propped up by these AI companies lending & borrowing from each other.
Oh, boy. This post resonated with me as a former tech employee who lived in Austin and quit her job in January due to severe burnout, among other reasons. My old company then laid off 10% of the global workforce in March and blamed it on AI—the same tools we had all worked ourselves into the ground building.
Unfortunately I think you’re right about the source of your friend’s illness. It’s taken me months to feel safe in my own body again but I’m finally well. Wishing her the best.
We're so back. Essays galore, plz. I also love the pop-up function of the footnotes. No more losing my spot!
I'm probably Colombus-ing into this, but since AI was trained on the entire internet and scraping user data, shouldn't every person in the world get to be an owner of AI? Everyone who ever existed helped make it the tool it's becoming. In your podcast, Katie, you talk about Norway (I think) having state sponsored investment accounts from oil money. We'll, AI could be the US's oil money. Although because of the global nature of the training sources, it feels unfair that only Americans would benefit.
I work at a company focused on this area of AI ownership. Europe and other countries are acutely aware of sending their data to the US and are looking for sovereign AI options that utilize open source and let companies own their systems / data. I think that is the future, who will be the winner in that space we will see.
I heard Michael Tubbs who is running for Lt Governor of California talk about the idea of a data dividend which I overlaps with AI, although I think was inspired by the harvesting and selling of our data and attention for marketing. Super interesting and something I want to hear more about. The whole interview really impressed me, he’s really inspiring and we need more leaders like this. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/higher-learning-with-van-lathan-and-rachel-lindsay/id1515152489?i=1000761973739&t=4698
Oh, no. The big tech lobbyists won't allow that. That's Socialist. (But I agree with you completely.)
I was laid off yet again 3 weeks ago. I have been laid off 3 times in the last 4 years. 25 years in tech and this feels like my signal to bow out.
Katie, I’m sure you’re already familiar with her work, but if not Catherine Liu’s books dovetail beautifully to what you speak and write about. Thank you as always.
Completely agree. Folks at my company in tech (myself included) spin themselves up trying to appear as two things simultaneously: an indispensable human and open to rapidly iterating their process with AI. It’s nerve wracking to walk that line every day not knowing where it will end up leading.
I love your writing - just excellent.
You’re writing is brilliant and I’m not sure what layer of the brain you’re tapped into or how to get there or go much caffeine is required or the booklist that’s on your syllabus but, I want it all. I’m thinking we need to build a future ready library- let’s go!
I’ve accepted that our jobs most likely won’t exist in 3 or so years and started talking to my teams about what we’re all planning on doing next. I don’t think anyone can pretend anymore that we’re not in a world changing tech moment. It’s inhuman to be a leader right now and pretend 2029 will look anything like today.
“…will continue to arrive at these impasses about who innovation should benefit and how.”
This really strikes a cord - so much of the persuasion of capitalism we’re fed as children in the US circles around the benefits it provides to innovation, and that innovation is possible only because of capitalism. But I’ve never - once - thought to consider who this innovation will and/or should benefit. It seems quite obvious now that if we consider AI the “innovation” and the benefits of innovation involve replacing human labor with machine learning models that never need to stop doing a job, the beneficiaries are all at the top.
I’m personally having a hard time seeing humanity get through this without some serious social reorganization.
This line in the peptides article made me giggle: "I accepted the poke but declined the drip." Perfect.
I think the best action one can take to address what I believe is your underlying dilemma is to vote for the right people and be involved in politics in ways you can. This is a policy question, not an individual investment decision.
Create the MWK commune, and all retire together.