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AI Job Fears Hit Peak Hype While Reality Lags Behind

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  • Only 75 out of 287,000 layoffs this year attributed to AI replacement, yet further down, IBM alone has replaced "hundreds" of HR employees with AI. Which is it?

    Absolute trash article. Any vague gesture in the direction of a fact is poorly defined with no sources. This should only increase skepticism towards AI replacing writers and journalists.

    Well, they can say anything, for example, I am a flying wizard on a broomstick, I answer, I don’t lie.

  • Only 75 out of 287,000 layoffs this year attributed to AI replacement, yet further down, IBM alone has replaced "hundreds" of HR employees with AI. Which is it?

    Absolute trash article. Any vague gesture in the direction of a fact is poorly defined with no sources. This should only increase skepticism towards AI replacing writers and journalists.

    AI : Actually India

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    I'm having a thought now.

    Each time we see "company laid off X employees to replace them with AI". Is it really to replace them with AI or is it just layoff because we are in recession that are disguised with AI to make it sound better ?

  • This post did not contain any content.

    What kind of source is GazeOn? Based off the top menu items, looks like a pro-AI rag. Biased source.

    To give them an ounce of credit, there are many factors that would prevent any sort of accurate reporting on those numbers. To take that credit away, they confidently harp on their own poorly sourced number of 75.

    Whether AI is explicitly stated as the cause, or even effective at the job functions its attempting to replace is irrelevant. Businesses are plowing ahead with it and it is certainly resulting in job cuts, to say nothing of the interference its causing in the hiring process once you're unemployed.

    We need to temper our fears of an AI driven world, but we also need to treat the very real and observable consequences of it as the threat that it is.

  • I'm having a thought now.

    Each time we see "company laid off X employees to replace them with AI". Is it really to replace them with AI or is it just layoff because we are in recession that are disguised with AI to make it sound better ?

    I was recently swimming in that thought soup, myself.

    In reality, the truth is somewhere in between. Yes, AI is taking real jobs right now, not a speculative future, but so are the economic issues.

    There are just so many people suffering. Young and old, there's not a demographic untouched by it. Plenty of blame to go around, for sure.

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    I remember the times when people used to say, well, let's talk when a computer beats a human in chess. After Deep Blue defeated Kasparov, everyone started saying, oh, it's all nonsense, just a set of algorithms. The wheel of 'betrayal-victory'... )

  • I remember the times when people used to say, well, let's talk when a computer beats a human in chess. After Deep Blue defeated Kasparov, everyone started saying, oh, it's all nonsense, just a set of algorithms. The wheel of 'betrayal-victory'... )

    The issue here is that human intelligence and computer intelligence work completely different and things that are easy for one are hard for the other.

    Because of that, measures of intelligence don't really work across humans and computers and it's really easy to misjudge which milestones are meaningful and which aren't.

    For example, it's super hard for a human to perform 100 additions within a second, and a human who could do that would be perceived as absolutely super human. But for a computer that's ridiculously easy. While on the other hand there are things a child can do that were impossible for computers just a few years ago (e.g. reckognizing a bird).

    (Relevant, if slightly outdated, XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1425/)

    For humans, playing high-level chess is really hard, so we arbitrarily chose it as a measure of intelligence: "Only very intelligent people can beat Kasparov". So we figured that a computer being able to do that task must be intelligent too. Turns out that chess greatly benefits from large memory and fast-but-simple calculations, two things computers are really, really good at and humans are not.

    And it turns out that, contrary to what many people believed, chess doesn't actually require any generally intelligent code at all. In fact, a more general approach (like LLMs) actually performs much, much worse at specific tasks like chess, as exemplified by some chess program for the Atari beating one LLM after another.

  • The issue here is that human intelligence and computer intelligence work completely different and things that are easy for one are hard for the other.

    Because of that, measures of intelligence don't really work across humans and computers and it's really easy to misjudge which milestones are meaningful and which aren't.

    For example, it's super hard for a human to perform 100 additions within a second, and a human who could do that would be perceived as absolutely super human. But for a computer that's ridiculously easy. While on the other hand there are things a child can do that were impossible for computers just a few years ago (e.g. reckognizing a bird).

    (Relevant, if slightly outdated, XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1425/)

    For humans, playing high-level chess is really hard, so we arbitrarily chose it as a measure of intelligence: "Only very intelligent people can beat Kasparov". So we figured that a computer being able to do that task must be intelligent too. Turns out that chess greatly benefits from large memory and fast-but-simple calculations, two things computers are really, really good at and humans are not.

    And it turns out that, contrary to what many people believed, chess doesn't actually require any generally intelligent code at all. In fact, a more general approach (like LLMs) actually performs much, much worse at specific tasks like chess, as exemplified by some chess program for the Atari beating one LLM after another.

    Good answer, thank you!

  • Capital Economics analysts warned that some firms use AI as cover for cuts driven by poor financial performance. “For some firms, AI is a way to spin job losses driven by poor financial performance in a more positive light,” they wrote.

    The AI job apocalypse narrative serves multiple purposes: it justifies hiring freezes, explains away poor financial performance, and creates urgency around AI adoption.

    I suspected as much too: that the people in-charge are using AI as a scapegoat so that the anger that would have been directed at them gets turned towards AI instead.

    Given that there's a vocal minority of Lemmings who blindly hate AI, I'd say their propaganda has definitely found at least some success.

    The company I work at has an AI-related job freeze.

    At the same time, AI is in the evaluation phase in the company and hardly anyone uses it for anything really. There are surveys, and they all say that AI can help a little bit in some niche circumstances, but that for most of the work it really does nothing.

    Also, the AI evaluation is entirely driven by some curious employees and doesn't really have anthing to do with upper management. In fact, upper management doesn't want to pay the AI subscription fees.

  • I'm having a thought now.

    Each time we see "company laid off X employees to replace them with AI". Is it really to replace them with AI or is it just layoff because we are in recession that are disguised with AI to make it sound better ?

    I'm going to say that every layoff has a cover story. The goal, reduce the workforce make/save money, is really the only justification needed. Everything else is PR, and an attempt to stay out of legal hot water.

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    omegalemmy@discuss.onlineO
    American individualism is when you believe everyone is as bad as you or worse Self-fulfilling prophecy when they never want to cooperate in fear of being ripped off
  • Palantir partners to develop AI software for nuclear construction

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    T
    The grift goes nuclear. No surprise.
  • 455 Stimmen
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    eyekaytee@aussie.zoneE
    They will say something like solar went from 600gw to 1000 thats a 66% increase this year and coal only increased 40% except coal is 3600gw to 6400. Hrmmmm, maybe these numbers are outdated? Based on this coal and gas are down: In Q1 2025, solar generation rose 48% compared to the same period in 2024. Solar power reached 254 TWh, making up 10% of total electricity. This was the largest increase among all clean energy sources. Coal-fired electricity dropped by 4%, falling to 1,421 TWh. Gas-fired power also went down by 4%, reaching 67 TWh https://carboncredits.com/china-sets-clean-energy-record-in-early-2025-with-951-tw/ are no where close to what is required to meet their climate goals Which ones in particular are you talking about? Trump signs executive order directing US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement — again https://apnews.com/article/trump-paris-agreement-climate-change-788907bb89fe307a964be757313cdfb0 China vowed on Tuesday to continue participating in two cornerstone multinational arrangements -- the World Health Organization and Paris climate accord -- after newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump ordered withdrawals from them. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250121-china-says-committed-to-who-paris-climate-deal-after-us-pulls-out What's that saying? You hate it when the person you hate is doing good? I can't remember what it is I can't fault them for what they're doing at the moment, even if they are run by an evil dictatorship and do pollute the most I’m not sure how european defense spending is relevant It suggests there is money available in the bank to fund solar/wind/battery, but instead they are preparing for? something? what? who knows. France can make a fighter jet at home but not solar panels apparently. Prehaps they would be made in a country with environmental and labour laws if governments legislated properly to prevent companies outsourcing manufacturing. However this doesnt absolve china. China isnt being forced at Gunpoint to produce these goods with low labour regulation and low environmental regulation. You're right, it doesn't absolve china, and I avoid purchasing things from them wherever possible, my solar panels and EV were made in South Korea, my home battery was made in Germany, there are only a few things in my house made in China, most of them I got second hand but unfortunately there is no escaping the giant of manufacturing. With that said it's one thing for me to sit here and tut tut at China, but I realise I am not most people, the most clearest example is the extreme anti-ai, anti-billionaire bias on this platform, in real life most people don't give a fuck, they love Amazon/Microsoft/Google/Apple etc, they can't go a day without them. So I consider myself a realist, if you want people to buy your stuff then you will need to make the conditions possible for them to WANT to buy your stuff, not out of some moral lecture and Europe isn't doing that, if we look at energy prices: Can someone actually point out to me where this comes from? ... At the end of the day energy is a small % of EU household spending I was looking at corporate/business energy use: Major European companies are already moving to cut costs and retain their competitive edge. For example, Thyssenkrupp, Germany’s largest steelmaker, said on Monday it would slash 11,000 jobs in its steel division by 2030, in a major corporate reshuffle. https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/High-Energy-Costs-Continue-to-Plague-European-Industry.html Prices have since fallen but are still high compared to other countries. A poll by Germany's DIHK Chambers of Industry and Commerce of around 3,300 companies showed that 37% were considering cutting production or moving abroad, up from 31% last year and 16% in 2022. For energy-intensive industrial firms some 45% of companies were mulling slashing output or relocation, the survey showed. "The trust of the German economy in energy policy is severely damaged," Achim Dercks, DIHK deputy chief executive said, adding that the government had not succeeded in providing companies with a perspective for reliable and affordable energy supply. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/more-german-companies-mull-relocation-due-high-energy-prices-survey-2024-08-01/ I've seen nothing to suggest energy prices in the EU are SO cheap that it's worth moving manufacturing TO Europe, and this is what annoys me the most. I've pointed this out before but they have an excellent report on the issues: https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/97e481fd-2dc3-412d-be4c-f152a8232961_en?filename=The+future+of+European+competitiveness+_+A+competitiveness+strategy+for+Europe.pdf Then they put out this Competitive Compass: https://commission.europa.eu/topics/eu-competitiveness/competitiveness-compass_en But tbh every week in the EU it seems like they are chasing after some other goal. This would be great, it would have been greater 10 years ago. Agreed
  • life trip

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    Niemand hat geantwortet
  • France considers requiring Musk’s X to verify users’ age

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    C
    TBH, age verification services exist. If it becomes law, integrating them shouldn't be more difficult than integrating a OIDC login. So everyone should be able to do it. Depending on these services, you might not even need to give a name, or, because they are separate entities, don't give your name to the platform using them. Other parts of regulation are more difficult. Like these "upload filters" that need to figure out if something shared via a service is violating any copyright before it is made available.
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    S
    I still get calls, but I can't see details (e.g. just the phone number, not the caller).
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    J
    This is why they are businessmen and not politicians or influencers
  • How I use Mastodon in 2025 - fredrocha.net

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    J
    Sure. Efficiency isn't everything, though. At the end of the article there are a few people to get you started. Then you can go to your favorites in that list, and follow some of the people THEY are following. Rinse and repeat, follow boosted folks. You'll have 100 souls in no time.