4 ms·

SF tech CEO's billboards are 'dystopian.' That's how he wants it

41 points by thehoff 2y ago

calgoo 2y ago
"its only existing product is an artificial intelligence “sales agent” called Artisan, built to automate the work of finding and messaging potential customers." So they use "AI" to generate spam, and that is going to replace the workforce? Good luck!
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
JohnFen 2y ago
> “They are somewhat dystopian, but so is AI,” said the young CEO over text. “The way the world works is changing.” It really blows my mind that people can see that all of this is taking us to a dystopian future, but are eager to help that along rather than try to avoid it. It's pure sociopathy.
- jrflowers 2y ago
  It isn’t pure sociopathy. In this instance the sociopathy is heavily doped with high-test stupidity. “My spam chat bot is going to change the world” is the sort of thing an autoerotic asphyxiator gasps out before things take a bad turn
- DrillShopper 2y ago
  "People just submitted it. I don't know why. They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks." is up there as well
- a_e_k 2y ago
  Or the classic tweet (https://x.com/AlexBlechman/status/1457842724128833538 https://x.com/AlexBlechman/status/1457842724128833538): > Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale > Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus
- miltonlost 2y ago
  If you rule the dystopia, then it's not a dystopia to you. He can see it but is hoping to gain power instead of be ground into dirt or Luigi'd
  - clejack 2y ago
    Is "getting Luigi'd" becoming a thing? For the most part, I'm not in the loop as cultural phrases come into being, and I'm often not aware of the references. I'm conflicted by the fact that I find this phrase both tragic and funny as hell. I can't get Nintendo's Luigi out of my mind.
- LegitShady 2y ago
  these guys all see themselves as the future rich elite of the dystopia, they don't understand that they get get revolutionaried when the warlords come and can't stand competition.
elzbardico 2y ago
Annoying trust-fund kids never fail to impress us with their arrogant display of ignorance and their half-brained "genial" schemes. We should tax inheritance more just to make our society less subject to the bad taste of this gross people.
- aaron695 2y ago
  [dead]
- euroderf 2y ago
  It's not a "death tax", it's a "birth-time windfall tax".
mcntsh 2y ago
So once all of the workers get replaced with AI who's going to buy the products these companies sell?
JumpCrisscross 2y ago
FFS, it's a marketing campaign. In San Francisco. If it's posted to HN every picosecond, it's obviously working. If you don't make AI-nonsense procurement (or investment) decisions, you aren't its target. The only utility you can provide to the ad is in sharing it. Edgy, insulting marketing is common throughout history because it's effective, both in virality and in defining an us-them dynamic, typically on a strong-weak axis. (You see it in non-advertising memes, too. Snowflakes, Karens, et cetera work because they're infuriating to some people.)
iamleppert 2y ago
His company, like 9 out of 10 YC companies, is destined to fail. That is all the poetic justice you'll ever need.
bad_haircut72 2y ago
He wants you talking about him, that's all
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
Related: Y Combinator Funded AI Firm's 'Stop Hiring Humans' Billboard Sparks Outrage https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42380054 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42380054
Optimal_Persona 2y ago
Well to be fair, the rest of the billboards in SF off the 80/101 are generally bland and corporate AF. Gee, another HR/payment processing platform. Wow, a new iPhone! Anyone unfamiliar with the SF Bay Area's rich cultural history who was just passing thru would think it's a company town filled with docile, well-scrubbed tech serfs.
LegitShady 2y ago
just another ai customer service bot with ads meant to shock you. this guy is competing against a trillion other identical and replaceable firms and he needs recognition so he's making annoying and insulting ads. congrats, you're an edgelord.
romanobro56 2y ago
This is a perfect manifestation of our social cultural dynamics at play. If an employee comes in hungover on a Friday, it usually means they lived a little on Thursday night. But to think that ‘hungover employees’ is a force of evil is to completely misunderstand the greater human experience we all share. We are all playing in this game of economics to varying degrees of immersion. Ideally, the economy is just a labor focusing engine that puts people in the right place at the right time to produce the maximum efficiency in terms of what they provide to society. But the car that this engine drives is one that is meant expand and deepen the human experience by keeping people healthy for longer and giving people back more free time than ever before to explore themselves and the world. But some people don’t see it this way. Most ceos and founders are able to impose their deeply flawed worldview onto society as a whole by accruing capital at the cost of everything else. They benefit hugely by dragging us as far into ‘the game’ as they can and pitting us against each other. The only solution I can see is one where machines and automation can carry out all the essential functions needed to feed and care for a large population. Then everyone is given a universal basic income and the freedom to choose what they want to do with their lives. I’d like to believe most people will immerse themselves in the more human hobbies like arts and sports instead of wasting their lives away without purpose. Maybe I’m just hopeful
- tivert 2y ago
  > But the car that this engine drives is one that is meant expand and deepen the human experience by keeping people healthy for longer and giving people back more free time than ever before to explore themselves and the world. But some people don’t see it this way. Most ceos and founders are able to impose their deeply flawed worldview onto society as a whole by accruing capital at the cost of everything else. I agree, the CEOs and founders see the car a vehicle to further their own greed and power, they're personal human experience, not the collective human experience. Many of the ideologies that underlay our culture, especially at its elite ranks, allow and encourages that. > The only solution I can see is one where machines and automation can carry out all the essential functions needed to feed and care for a large population. Then everyone is given a universal basic income and the freedom to choose what they want to do with their lives. I’d like to believe most people will immerse themselves in the more human hobbies like arts and sports instead of wasting their lives away without purpose. Maybe I’m just hopeful That's an utterly unrealistic fantasy. Automation isn't a solution, it will be more of the same without fundamental change in those underlying ideologies. Hoping that automation will be the solution is a disparate, unrealistic hope that putting the cart before the horse will work out. The only reason the "ceos and founders" share anything with you (i.e. pay you) is because you're useful to them. What happens when automation means you're no longer useful? Are they going to keep sharing? Have their kind ever made that choice through all the other prior waves of automation? Isn't the richest man in the world right now working really hard to slash government spending in a way that will likely hurt all the people already discarded due to the prior waves of automation? What needs to happen before total automation, is an ideological change needs to be forced on the "ceos and founders" that massively reduces inequality and greatly lessens their power. And that needs to happen before most workers lose all economic power to automation. UBI's only purpose is a sop to keep the population passive in the face of changes that will pull the rug out from under them.

41 points by thehoff 2y ago

"its only existing product is an artificial intelligence “sales agent” called Artisan, built to automate the work of finding and messaging potential customers." So they use "AI" to generate spam, and that is going to replace the workforce? Good luck!

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

JohnFen 2y ago

> “They are somewhat dystopian, but so is AI,” said the young CEO over text. “The way the world works is changing.” It really blows my mind that people can see that all of this is taking us to a dystopian future, but are eager to help that along rather than try to avoid it. It's pure sociopathy.

jrflowers 2y ago
It isn’t pure sociopathy. In this instance the sociopathy is heavily doped with high-test stupidity. “My spam chat bot is going to change the world” is the sort of thing an autoerotic asphyxiator gasps out before things take a bad turn
DrillShopper 2y ago
"People just submitted it. I don't know why. They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks." is up there as well
a_e_k 2y ago
Or the classic tweet (https://x.com/AlexBlechman/status/1457842724128833538 https://x.com/AlexBlechman/status/1457842724128833538): > Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale > Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus
miltonlost 2y ago
If you rule the dystopia, then it's not a dystopia to you. He can see it but is hoping to gain power instead of be ground into dirt or Luigi'd
- clejack 2y ago
  Is "getting Luigi'd" becoming a thing? For the most part, I'm not in the loop as cultural phrases come into being, and I'm often not aware of the references. I'm conflicted by the fact that I find this phrase both tragic and funny as hell. I can't get Nintendo's Luigi out of my mind.
LegitShady 2y ago
these guys all see themselves as the future rich elite of the dystopia, they don't understand that they get get revolutionaried when the warlords come and can't stand competition.

elzbardico 2y ago

Annoying trust-fund kids never fail to impress us with their arrogant display of ignorance and their half-brained "genial" schemes. We should tax inheritance more just to make our society less subject to the bad taste of this gross people.

aaron695 2y ago
[dead]
euroderf 2y ago
It's not a "death tax", it's a "birth-time windfall tax".

mcntsh 2y ago

So once all of the workers get replaced with AI who's going to buy the products these companies sell?

JumpCrisscross 2y ago

FFS, it's a marketing campaign. In San Francisco. If it's posted to HN every picosecond, it's obviously working. If you don't make AI-nonsense procurement (or investment) decisions, you aren't its target. The only utility you can provide to the ad is in sharing it. Edgy, insulting marketing is common throughout history because it's effective, both in virality and in defining an us-them dynamic, typically on a strong-weak axis. (You see it in non-advertising memes, too. Snowflakes, Karens, et cetera work because they're infuriating to some people.)

iamleppert 2y ago

His company, like 9 out of 10 YC companies, is destined to fail. That is all the poetic justice you'll ever need.

bad_haircut72 2y ago

He wants you talking about him, that's all

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

Related: Y Combinator Funded AI Firm's 'Stop Hiring Humans' Billboard Sparks Outrage https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42380054 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42380054

Optimal_Persona 2y ago

Well to be fair, the rest of the billboards in SF off the 80/101 are generally bland and corporate AF. Gee, another HR/payment processing platform. Wow, a new iPhone! Anyone unfamiliar with the SF Bay Area's rich cultural history who was just passing thru would think it's a company town filled with docile, well-scrubbed tech serfs.

LegitShady 2y ago

just another ai customer service bot with ads meant to shock you. this guy is competing against a trillion other identical and replaceable firms and he needs recognition so he's making annoying and insulting ads. congrats, you're an edgelord.

romanobro56 2y ago

This is a perfect manifestation of our social cultural dynamics at play. If an employee comes in hungover on a Friday, it usually means they lived a little on Thursday night. But to think that ‘hungover employees’ is a force of evil is to completely misunderstand the greater human experience we all share. We are all playing in this game of economics to varying degrees of immersion. Ideally, the economy is just a labor focusing engine that puts people in the right place at the right time to produce the maximum efficiency in terms of what they provide to society. But the car that this engine drives is one that is meant expand and deepen the human experience by keeping people healthy for longer and giving people back more free time than ever before to explore themselves and the world. But some people don’t see it this way. Most ceos and founders are able to impose their deeply flawed worldview onto society as a whole by accruing capital at the cost of everything else. They benefit hugely by dragging us as far into ‘the game’ as they can and pitting us against each other. The only solution I can see is one where machines and automation can carry out all the essential functions needed to feed and care for a large population. Then everyone is given a universal basic income and the freedom to choose what they want to do with their lives. I’d like to believe most people will immerse themselves in the more human hobbies like arts and sports instead of wasting their lives away without purpose. Maybe I’m just hopeful

tivert 2y ago
> But the car that this engine drives is one that is meant expand and deepen the human experience by keeping people healthy for longer and giving people back more free time than ever before to explore themselves and the world. But some people don’t see it this way. Most ceos and founders are able to impose their deeply flawed worldview onto society as a whole by accruing capital at the cost of everything else. I agree, the CEOs and founders see the car a vehicle to further their own greed and power, they're personal human experience, not the collective human experience. Many of the ideologies that underlay our culture, especially at its elite ranks, allow and encourages that. > The only solution I can see is one where machines and automation can carry out all the essential functions needed to feed and care for a large population. Then everyone is given a universal basic income and the freedom to choose what they want to do with their lives. I’d like to believe most people will immerse themselves in the more human hobbies like arts and sports instead of wasting their lives away without purpose. Maybe I’m just hopeful That's an utterly unrealistic fantasy. Automation isn't a solution, it will be more of the same without fundamental change in those underlying ideologies. Hoping that automation will be the solution is a disparate, unrealistic hope that putting the cart before the horse will work out. The only reason the "ceos and founders" share anything with you (i.e. pay you) is because you're useful to them. What happens when automation means you're no longer useful? Are they going to keep sharing? Have their kind ever made that choice through all the other prior waves of automation? Isn't the richest man in the world right now working really hard to slash government spending in a way that will likely hurt all the people already discarded due to the prior waves of automation? What needs to happen before total automation, is an ideological change needs to be forced on the "ceos and founders" that massively reduces inequality and greatly lessens their power. And that needs to happen before most workers lose all economic power to automation. UBI's only purpose is a sop to keep the population passive in the face of changes that will pull the rug out from under them.