We spend a lot of time talking about AI's technical capabilities: what it can do now, what it might do tomorrow, what it will never do.
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We spend a lot of time talking about AI's technical capabilities: what it can do now, what it might do tomorrow, what it will never do. But AI is only secondarily a tech phenomenon; it is primarily a *financial* phenomenon, hundreds of billions of dollars in investment capital in search of a return.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/05/ex-princes-of-labor/#hyper-criti-hype
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We spend a lot of time talking about AI's technical capabilities: what it can do now, what it might do tomorrow, what it will never do. But AI is only secondarily a tech phenomenon; it is primarily a *financial* phenomenon, hundreds of billions of dollars in investment capital in search of a return.
--
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/05/ex-princes-of-labor/#hyper-criti-hype
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The return on that capital only comes from one place: workers' wages. AI - as a financial phenomenon - represents that AI will a) replace, and/or; b) frighten workers to the point where more of the revenues generated by firms that buy AI tools will be returned to executives and shareholders, at the expense of their workforce.
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The return on that capital only comes from one place: workers' wages. AI - as a financial phenomenon - represents that AI will a) replace, and/or; b) frighten workers to the point where more of the revenues generated by firms that buy AI tools will be returned to executives and shareholders, at the expense of their workforce.
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This is why AI bosses are so eager to cite statistics - conjured out of thin air, without any backing - about how AI is about to replace *the majority* of workers:
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/07/will-your-job-survive-ai/
And it's why tech companies that are peddling AI tools boast so brazenly about how many programmers' work can be replaced by AI:
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This is why AI bosses are so eager to cite statistics - conjured out of thin air, without any backing - about how AI is about to replace *the majority* of workers:
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/07/will-your-job-survive-ai/
And it's why tech companies that are peddling AI tools boast so brazenly about how many programmers' work can be replaced by AI:
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After all, tech workers were - until recently - the princes of labor. Despite infinitesimal union density in the tech sector, tech workers were in such high demand that they could tell their bosses to go fuck themselves - and keep their jobs. Those bosses knew that a worker who quit during the morning scrum could have a better job with a rival firm before evening cocktails.
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After all, tech workers were - until recently - the princes of labor. Despite infinitesimal union density in the tech sector, tech workers were in such high demand that they could tell their bosses to go fuck themselves - and keep their jobs. Those bosses knew that a worker who quit during the morning scrum could have a better job with a rival firm before evening cocktails.
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While tech bosses cultivated a chuminess with these workers, treating them as peers (temporarily embarrassed founders, not employees) and sitting down for "town halls," they clearly *hated* this and wanted nothing more than to put these arrogant pismires in their place.
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While tech bosses cultivated a chuminess with these workers, treating them as peers (temporarily embarrassed founders, not employees) and sitting down for "town halls," they clearly *hated* this and wanted nothing more than to put these arrogant pismires in their place.
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The *instant* tech labor's supply caught up with demand, these bosses mass-fired their precious tech workers, canceled town halls ("Not a good use of my time" -M. Zuckerberg), and told workers that the "sweet spot" was a 60-hour work-week:
https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#are-more-equal-than-others
Facebook announced a 5% across-the-board layoff and doubled its executives' bonuses - *on the same day*. They fired thousands of workers and then hired a single AI researcher for $200m:
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The *instant* tech labor's supply caught up with demand, these bosses mass-fired their precious tech workers, canceled town halls ("Not a good use of my time" -M. Zuckerberg), and told workers that the "sweet spot" was a 60-hour work-week:
https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/27/some-animals/#are-more-equal-than-others
Facebook announced a 5% across-the-board layoff and doubled its executives' bonuses - *on the same day*. They fired thousands of workers and then hired a single AI researcher for $200m:
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Whatever else all this is, it's a *performance*. It's a way of demonstrating the efficacy of the product they're hoping *your* boss will buy and replace you with: *Remember when techies were prized beyond all measure, pampered and flattered?*
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Whatever else all this is, it's a *performance*. It's a way of demonstrating the efficacy of the product they're hoping *your* boss will buy and replace you with: *Remember when techies were prized beyond all measure, pampered and flattered?*
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*AI is SO GOOD at replacing workers that we are dragging these arrogant little shits out by their hoodies and firing them over Interstate 280 with a special, AI-powered trebuchet. Imagine how many of the ungrateful useless eaters who clog up your payroll *you* will be able to vaporize when you buy our product!*
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*AI is SO GOOD at replacing workers that we are dragging these arrogant little shits out by their hoodies and firing them over Interstate 280 with a special, AI-powered trebuchet. Imagine how many of the ungrateful useless eaters who clog up your payroll *you* will be able to vaporize when you buy our product!*
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Which is why you should always dig closely into announcements about AI-driven tech layoffs. It's true that tech job listings are down 36% since ChatGPT's debut - but that's pretty much true of *all* job listings:
https://apnews.com/article/ai-layoffs-tech-industry-jobs-ece82b0babb84bf11497dca2dae952b5
And the major decline in tech hiring isn't the result of hiring far fewer programmers - the tech companies have mostly cut back on hiring marketers, administrative assistants, and HR staff.
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