AI killers

Brian Merchant asked workers what AI was doing to their jobs and got back loads of thoughtful, hilarious, at times desperate and at times righteous responses. In this post, he shares what he heard from tech workers as they deal with edicts to throw AI at everything, bottom lines be damned. The whole thing is long, but it’s worth reading in full (and the kicker is its own reward); the stories make plain that AI is being used to deskill, de-spirit, and demean the work and craft that so many people have spent years developing, and that the promise of AI is the kind of promise wiser people have learned to expect from the emperor’s tailor. What I’ll call out here: if you’re one of the many, many workers who is angry, fearful, demoralized and worse about the AI sloppification of work, know that you are not alone, and you likely aren’t even in the minority.