I roll my eyes when people demand we build AI to “augment and not replace” us. This is a platitude, wishful thinking; it is not a reality most workers can choose. If the tech is good and cheap enough to replace us, it will. Economic incentives are a hell of a drug.
Most AI backlash is economic anxiety coated in a veneer of social justice. Alfalfa farming consumes 19 times the water that data centers do; there’s no sound environmental reason to boycott Claude but not GPS. When people say “AI is a moral stain,” they really mean: I am scared that I won’t be able to pay my bills.