this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2026
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AI staff 'genuinely frightened' for humanity's future, ex-Anthropic researcher tells BBC (www.bbc.com)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Return_of_Chippy@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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I'm not an AI techie and I'm not well educated on LLMs/AI in general. The issue I'm having is the dichotomy between how people talk about it. I've heard completely opposite ends of the spectrum. From AI is quickly becoming advanced enough to threaten human society, all the way to its a glorified dictionary/search engine that can't really do much of anything. I know Lemmy has a steep anti-AI slant. But, can someone talk about this in a way I can wrap my head around why the divide seems so big?

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[โ€“] RickRussell_CA@lemmy.world 78 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (8 children)

The biggest risk I see is Idiocracy. Like, the movie.

Business workers become afraid to do or propose anything without AI signoff. Retail & service workers are told to do what the AI says, the way the AI says to do it, or get fired.

Technology innovator Marshall Brain (RIP) wrote a book in the early 2000s about an AI called "Manna" designed to replace fast food managers:

https://web.archive.org/web/20201204080050/https://marshallbrain.com/manna1

The AI just talks in your ear all day: "Empty one bag of fries into the fryer. You have 6.5 minutes, switch to the sandwich station. Make one Big Burger: grab one patty from the 1/4 pound bin and place it on the griddle... ... The fries are ready, turn around and lift them into the drain hopper..."

All day, every day, exactly 8 hours plus mandatory breaks, employees on autopilot listening on ear buds.

[โ€“] tachikoma@lemmy.today 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Ahhh one of my favorites. The Iron Cage of Bureaucracy

I saw a funny video of an example. But I cannot remember the name for it. I tried searching for it once but failed. The conficlt was about some dude that exploded.

How topical, I wager I could use AI to find the video. ๐Ÿ˜

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