If your think smashing this generations looms will get you there, your mistaken. See what it took for communism to take hold, and plan for that","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"Frost1x","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:56:33.000Z","created_at_i":1787486193,"id":49408088,"options":[],"parent_id":49407988,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"The underlying issue is really capital ownership, what classifies as capital, protections around it, and how much leverage capital provides on a society and democracy (that part being the most important, IMHO).
Who owns the looms and what they do with them isn\u2019t inherently an issue if all loom owners can do is buy an extra Yacht. Instead they can enforce ungoverned law on society through a combination of disproportionate influence in government and through market forces where private policy (especially at large) become nearly undifferentiated from law (the policy that benefits them becomes so widespread and normalized that alternatives are for all intent and purposes impractical or unreasonable, therefor private policy within a capital ownership domain is law or they\u2019re a monopoly so their policy is the policy).
But I think you\u2019re right, as always we\u2019re going to focus on the adjacent issues vs addressing the root of the problem. The issue is what wealth inequality affords one, when it is capable of infringing on rights and livelihoods of others, not that they necessarily have to share the other luxuries and rewards of their attained wealth. I care not how many luxuries in life Musk has, I may be envious from time to time but whatever. I care a lot more when things he does or says has unrealistic influence and affects me directly, just because he sits atop a mountain of capital and we pretend that mountain of capital somehow was bestowed upon him from divinity that he should have such influence. I\u2019m picking on Musk because he\u2019s the richest and has clear examples of this, he\u2019s by no means alone\u2026 it\u2019s that class of wealth at large.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"owebmaster","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T13:17:15.000Z","created_at_i":1787491035,"id":49408629,"options":[],"parent_id":49407988,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"> We're going to smash the looms rather than figure out how to share them, again.
Not we. They. Maybe you are part of that group too but "we" certainly don't.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:38:50.000Z","created_at_i":1787485130,"id":49407988,"options":[],"parent_id":49407785,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"I really hate how the excruciatingly overdue reckoning for tech elites and income inequality is turning into this religious schism over AI and datacenters.
We're going to smash the looms rather than figure out how to share them, again.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"wildrhythms","children":[{"author":"nextlevelwizard","children":[{"author":"tkel","children":[{"author":"nextlevelwizard","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T13:51:03.000Z","created_at_i":1787493063,"id":49408856,"options":[],"parent_id":49408126,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"In current economy it is hard to keep your convictions. I am starting to be on the anti-ai side of the issue, but even without kids to take care of I don\u2019t see myself quitting over it since I need to make as much money as I can before the bad times roll in and I need to rely on unemployment benefits. I don\u2019t think people with families and mortgages are going to join me in any sort of boycott to not risk their jobs.
This battle sadly was lost before I was even born. People let Epstein class get all the power and do whatever they wanted and now it is too late to make a difference. This economy will collapse one way or another and status quo won\u2019t change before that.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T12:03:31.000Z","created_at_i":1787486611,"id":49408126,"options":[],"parent_id":49408090,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"I think parent comment is saying this person should have organized with their coworkers who had similar complaints rather than resigning individually.
Which is understandable. The problem is not solved by resigning. The problem is solved by changing their employer's policy.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:56:58.000Z","created_at_i":1787486218,"id":49408090,"options":[],"parent_id":49407995,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"In what world does including AI \u201cimprove our workplace for all\u201d?
All I see (as a software developer) is bad developers producing way more bad code which just increases my workload as I need to review it, which in turn they will just feed back into the hallucination machine so I just end up remote prompting something until it is \u201cgood enough\u201d and I will fix it properly when I next work on that part of the code base.
Managers push everything to AI and to Southeast Asia trying to get things done cheaper without realizing how much technical debt they are taking on. Worst part is that if this continues actual good workers, like myself, will be fired for slowing down progress and in decade either so will be the bad developers as then the managers can just prompt the code or whole software industry will collapse under all this bad code.
Either way I see no improvement for anyone except the Epstein class.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"oytis","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:59:54.000Z","created_at_i":1787486394,"id":49408113,"options":[],"parent_id":49407995,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"I don't think I would enjoy AI powered communism more than AI powered capitalism","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"archagon","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T13:36:53.000Z","created_at_i":1787492213,"id":49408765,"options":[],"parent_id":49407995,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"Proselytizing actions like this is step one of collectivization.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:39:39.000Z","created_at_i":1787485179,"id":49407995,"options":[],"parent_id":49407785,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"I don't appreciate the celebration around acts of individualism rather than collectivizing to improve our workplace for all.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"tkel","children":[{"author":"azan_","children":[{"author":"tkel","children":[{"author":"Slurpee99","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:49:25.000Z","created_at_i":1787485765,"id":49408040,"options":[],"parent_id":49408023,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"Strawman for a third time, might as well keep them coming!","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"cobertos","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:59:17.000Z","created_at_i":1787486357,"id":49408111,"options":[],"parent_id":49408023,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"Perhaps they can't or refuse to consider ethical arguments surrounding it? It's just tech as-is to them, without externalities (which is disingenuous).
Feels like a language limitation to me. It is hard to describe succinctly the complexities of AI use that preserve a human element or recognizes externalities. The wording is not immediately obvious and require subtlety that I rarely see in HN, unless it's about the tech itself and it's minutae.
Curious to see if HN could have any kind of thoughtful conversation on it but so far I haven't seen one.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:45:39.000Z","created_at_i":1787485539,"id":49408023,"options":[],"parent_id":49408017,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"If not then why do they get so upset here on every similar thread? Complaining about "anti-AI"","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"florkbork","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:49:45.000Z","created_at_i":1787485785,"id":49408043,"options":[],"parent_id":49408017,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"They will be, if they can't find accountability sinks.
https://www.commonplace.org/p/reining-in-the-unaccountabilit...
In this case this person was "responsible for getting five- to 12-year-olds to play football in the Hunter region".
She would have the occasional exposure to children, market to them, gather statistics and survey them. She asked if she could not expose this group to AI and the answer was "no".","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"matsemann","children":[{"author":"azan_","children":[{"author":"tkel","children":[{"author":"azan_","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T13:32:39.000Z","created_at_i":1787491959,"id":49408740,"options":[],"parent_id":49408425,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"What? I think you must be replying to wrong comment or something.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T12:47:09.000Z","created_at_i":1787489229,"id":49408425,"options":[],"parent_id":49408215,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"You're still doing the thing where you make defensive comments though, just now pretending it's about something tangential","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"archagon","children":[{"author":"azan_","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T14:08:56.000Z","created_at_i":1787494136,"id":49408990,"options":[],"parent_id":49408751,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"?","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T13:34:03.000Z","created_at_i":1787492043,"id":49408751,"options":[],"parent_id":49408215,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":""""jovial"""","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T12:18:10.000Z","created_at_i":1787487490,"id":49408215,"options":[],"parent_id":49408123,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"In jovial mood, not in shambles though.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T12:01:43.000Z","created_at_i":1787486503,"id":49408123,"options":[],"parent_id":49408017,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"Yet, here you are, commenting :)","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:44:16.000Z","created_at_i":1787485456,"id":49408017,"options":[],"parent_id":49407996,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"Yes, I'm sure AI boosters are in shambles.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"glimshe","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T12:28:03.000Z","created_at_i":1787488083,"id":49408287,"options":[],"parent_id":49407996,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"There will be plenty of "AI Boosters" lining up to take that job. If you think about it, she did exactly what the "boosters" wanted: get out of the way.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:39:45.000Z","created_at_i":1787485185,"id":49407996,"options":[],"parent_id":49407785,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"AI boosters on this site will be very mad that this person exists, but I'm glad there are people that stick to their principles. Principles that aren't just "productivity" or "efficiency". People can and should have other motives that are just as if not more important.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"CalRobert","children":[{"author":"oytis","children":[{"author":"CalRobert","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T13:10:23.000Z","created_at_i":1787490623,"id":49408589,"options":[],"parent_id":49408072,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"GDPR absolutely, 100%, applies to work people do for their employers. That's mostly the point of it! In this case I was wondering about the processing of the personal data of minors.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:54:51.000Z","created_at_i":1787486091,"id":49408072,"options":[],"parent_id":49408054,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"Gdpr doen't apply to work you do for your employer, on employer's equipment either AFAIK","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"progval","children":[{"author":"CalRobert","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T13:09:26.000Z","created_at_i":1787490566,"id":49408578,"options":[],"parent_id":49408080,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"I was thinking more about the rights of the children in question.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:55:47.000Z","created_at_i":1787486147,"id":49408080,"options":[],"parent_id":49408054,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"From the article:
> The AFL\u2019s refusal to allow Boyle a choice is not unlawful. Employers in Australia can install software on the equipment they own, are exempt from privacy law when handling employee records","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T11:51:26.000Z","created_at_i":1787485886,"id":49408054,"options":[],"parent_id":49407785,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"Does Australia have privacy provisions similar to the gdpr?","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"tancop","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T12:01:32.000Z","created_at_i":1787486492,"id":49408122,"options":[],"parent_id":49407785,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"Workers should get to decide individually if they want to use AI or not. It's the only fair solution. Unions need to fight for job guarantees not restrict their own members from using tech when they want to.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"JimDabell","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T12:05:42.000Z","created_at_i":1787486742,"id":49408141,"options":[],"parent_id":49407785,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"> Her objections run from the immediate to the apocalyptic: the water and power consumed by data centres, what the technology is doing to people\u2019s capacity to think, and research suggesting advanced AI could pose a risk of human extinction.
> Boyle is an outlier, and knows it. She no longer owns a smartphone, has deleted her social media accounts and now lives in a converted Toyota 4WD.
> She followed up in writing to Haagsma, setting out research on AI\u2019s labour market and extinction risks and asking the league to pause its adoption.
> By mid-June, Boyle had told her managers she would not have Copilot on her laptop, would not put her work through AI systems and would not direct her team to use it. She wrote that the change was causing her significant distress and that she felt unsafe at work.
> Boyle is now living in a 1986 Toyota Troop Carrier with her cat, carrying a flip phone and handing cards to strangers on their screens that read: \u201cI\u2019m open to talk, want to have a conversation?\u201d
She\u2019s a kook who thinks she\u2019s Sarah Connor. Your employer using Copilot is not a threat to your safety, you don\u2019t get to tell your employer what they can install on their laptop, you don\u2019t get to stop your colleagues from using AI, and if you write to the general manager warning them about the apocalypse you aren\u2019t going to find them very responsive.
There are thousands and thousands of people who have been pulling shit like this for every topic under the sun, from contrails to fluoride in the water for generations. We don\u2019t give them publicity because we understand the proportionality of their grievances and react accordingly. This is only making the news because the topic of this person\u2019s fixation happens to be AI.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"CalRobert","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T13:18:19.000Z","created_at_i":1787491099,"id":49408634,"options":[],"parent_id":49407785,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"It seems like a lot of people are disagreeing with something she isn't saying. Surely it makes sense to have some concerns before dumping a bunch of kids' personal info into an AI?
Aside from that, the AFL doesn't seem to realize that using AI means uploading data to another company.
"""\nThe AFL also gave her a technical answer. Copilot, its technology team explained, can only see files and emails Boyle could already open herself. It doesn\u2019t give anyone new access to anything, the AFL\u2019s information stays on the AFL\u2019s own systems ....\n"""
This statement seems reasonable enough
"""\nMeanwhile, on March 16, Boyle emailed to report that a trainee planned to tidy up a list of registered AFL program participants by putting it through an AI tool. The list held children\u2019s personal details, drawn from PlayHQ, the platform community clubs use to register players. No AI policy existed at the time.
\u201cSharing detailed personal information of our registered participants to third-party AI companies seems like it would be in breach of their privacy,\u201d she wrote.\n"""
Finally, this alone is reason enough to rage quit....\n"""\n Boyle says the facilitator told staff to give their AI assistants human names, rejecting suggestions like \u201cChatty\u201d as insufficiently human, and to have the AI generate pictures of them.\n"""","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null},{"author":"delichon","children":[],"created_at":"2026-08-23T14:12:11.000Z","created_at_i":1787494331,"id":49409006,"options":[],"parent_id":49407785,"points":null,"story_id":49407785,"text":"> She wrote that the change was causing her significant distress and that she felt unsafe at work.
I can see the long term safety issues but have trouble seeing shorter term ones. Her attitude reminds me of President Benjamin Harrison refusing to touch the newly installed light switches in the White House for fear of electrocution circa 1891. I don't doubt his woman's sincerity or sanity, so I would like to better understand her safety concern. If her answer is "Roko\u2019s Basilisk" I'll be at least sympathetic.","title":null,"type":"comment","url":null}],"created_at":"2026-08-23T10:54:35.000Z","created_at_i":1787482475,"id":49407785,"options":[],"parent_id":null,"points":34,"story_id":49407785,"text":null,"title":"'AI refuser' quit her dream job, and hopes others follow","type":"story","url":"https://www.smh.com.au/technology/this-ai-refuser-quit-her-dream-job-and-hopes-others-follow-20260818-p60pdu.html"}