AI, power and politics

It will only get better. The road might be a bit bumpy but the advantages will more than make up for it.

That's what they say.

AI hypers, fascist politicians, factory owners. And to some extent I think they believe it. It is very convenient to believe and there is no easy path back out so selling it well is the important part. Truth has long been optional.

Sell someone on lowering their expectations for a while, find leverage in the new implementation to make things cheaper for yourself, then there is no reason to raise those expectations again and there is no reason to give the margin back.

My concern is not with LLMs as a technology in itself. But we know leadership will use it as an excuse to lower cost and absolutely murder quality, making the lives of developers and operators worse again in the process. That is the system. Any new tool makes things more automatable, we adapt to it, things get more efficient and often slightly worse. I'm not convinced the LLMs will bring the dreamed of efficiencies, much like the big Agile systems rarely deliver on their grand idea. I also don't think the new fascist regime of the US will bring a new stronger nation.

Most organisations are not overly concerned with quality or outcomes. Cheaper is good, worse is fine. As long as people can make choices that help them accrue power or money.

We are asked to lower expectations, bear the pain and bad consequences for a while and things will get better. But in reality we know if things improve that will just accrue as margin, profits. The only thing that ratchets up our quality of life, our work life, our salaries, improves our cost of living is when people on the ground get really forward about just how many of us there are. And I think a lot of us don't know how that works, which is concerning.

Fights against new technology has to my knowledge rarely been won. Fights against regimes are won all the time, in the big and the small. Those are also hard.

I don't think ducking our heads and hoping for a better tomorrow is a good strategy because I don't trust the people in charge.

It's rough out there. Stay safe.