Why tech bosses keep sharing their manifestos about AI

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz97ljy91zxo

13•tcp_handshaker•1h ago

Comments

sscaryterry•1h ago

Because they're pure sociopaths (edit: was psychopaths)?

altairprime•58m ago

Correction: sociopathy, not psychopathy. The DSM diagnosis would find in favor of clinically disconnected and unconcerned with social benefits, but lacking in the hostility and violence that would underlie a psychopathy outcome. The critical differentiator is whether they enjoy seeing others harmed, or are disengaged from seeing others harmed.

sscaryterry•28m ago

Sure, my intent wasn't lost though.

isatty•1h ago

Isn’t the answer just: money?

altairprime•54m ago

Considering another FP today about AI and ‘leadership’, perhaps it’s more on point to say that AI promotes Manager jobs, and Managers are writing manifestos about how Managers are the future of society. Yeah, money’s a factor, but if we lived in a world with replicators, a class that values itself for delegation would still be promoting AI for how it enables delegation without the tediousness of workers.

PunchyHamster•26m ago

I think they just realize their job (at least at the middle level) could near entirely be replaced by AI being fed tickets and company emails by an intern

cryptographical•46m ago

Ai is wonderful but it should never replace friends. I detest Mark Zuckerberg's claim that AI will replace friends, that's simply not happening. But AI is wonderful at tasks like upscaling or even meme generation.

thih9•40m ago

In what I found he didn’t say “replace” but “add more”; it is still chilling and I detest it.

Especially in the current incarnation of AI, where they are more or less controlled by corporations and government.

> The average American has "three people that they would consider friends," he said. "And the average person has demand for meaningfully more. I think it's, like, 15."

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/05/09/mark-zuckerberg-says-ai-...

barbazoo•30m ago

> And the average person has demand for meaningfully more. I think it's, like, 15

Research seems to point at more like 3-5 https://www.socialconnectionguidelines.org/en/evidence-brief...

baal80spam•38m ago

That begs a question: would you rather have no friends, or a few AI friends?

solid_fuel•33m ago

> AI friends

No such thing. It's a mechanical parrot that replies with the most likely response given an input.

It's not a person. It's not a friend. It's not going to hold you while you cry. It's not going to invite you to its wedding. It has no independent life or thought or plans. It's not real.

tootie•19m ago

Zuck's was weird. Andreesen's was just awful. Basically saying that nobody had any right to restrict him and other tech bros from raking in unlimited money doing whatever they wanted and that a bit of fascism couldn't hurt. He literally didn't give a single thing to be optimistic about. Just painted him as an absolute villain.

sublinear•3m ago

Was the BBC always this bad? This story represents both sides so poorly.

"AI" is the same shitty tech as ever before. These "manifestos" are a PR stunt, but only because "AI" has been used as a scapegoat for everything from layoffs to fraud and privacy violations.

Who reads this crap and actually believes it? Is the brainrot really this bad?

bluefirebrand•26m ago

I cannot express how deeply disgusted the idea of a chatbot "friend" makes me

We're not talking about a sentient machine like Data from Star Trek, we're so so far from that still

Edit: it's super important to remember that any and all of the big commercially available AI out there are.. commercial. They're owned by companies. Unless you run them on your own hardware someone else is ultimately the owner of your "AI friend".

That should be a huge alarm bell in your head. Corporations are not your friends.

optimalsolver•9m ago

>We're not talking about a sentient machine like Data from Star Trek, we're so so far from that still

How can you know how far from, close to, or beyond the line we are?

Also, I'm pretty sure Claude understands humans a lot more than Data does.

gradus_ad•31m ago

I've been talking with AI during my morning commute (car) recently, instead of listening to something. It's a great partner to bounce ideas off of. I don't have any friends that can or are willing to engage with ideas to the extent AI does.

macintux•10m ago

I used ChatGPT as a tour guide when I was traveling last year. It was helpful to identify places I should stop to take a look, explaining local flora, fauna and geology.

I'd rather have had a real tour guide, but for the price it was quite handy.

Snoozle•9m ago

it's not engaging or bouncing. it's simply responding as likely as it can to what would go after your sentences.

sheepdestroyer•8m ago

I would not talk to my friends about the stuff I bounce on AI. My meanest brain dead ideas get a rebuke, and I fight back to test grounds. I'd rightly get shamed for inflicting such undeveloped trash on anyone.

greggoB•8m ago

Isn't AI's infinite willingness and lack of inhibition sort of the thing that people are increasingly voicing concern over?

Put differently, maybe there's something fundamentally unhealthy to having a "discussion" with something that never says no.

Hard to say if your friends are reasonable or not without knowing what ideas your hoping to engage with them in (or the manner of said engagement).

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