Initial data on the impact of AI on jobs seems to suggest that those jobs that have a high social/soft skills element have proved least exposed to replacement by Artificial Intelligence & its associated technologies.
Its already clear that jobs that require actual physical contact/engagement are likely to resist replacement from AI, so it looks like the work that will (for now) be 'safe' are jobs that are built on human interaction & physical presence.
Massive infrastructure investment in AI-related data centres has led to a boom in skilled workers needed to build these centres;
of course, in the longer term the impact on workers of AI may not be so positive, but for now skilled workers are reaping the benefits of this investment - whether this will balance off the net-loss of jobs in the short term from AI-deployment is another matter;
but who knows what the relationship between AI & work will look like in 50 years?
Massive infrastructure investment in AI-related data centres has led to a boom in skilled workers needed to build these centres;
of course, in the longer term the impact on workers of AI may not be so positive, but for now skilled workers are reaping the benefits of this investment - whether this will balance off the net-loss of jobs in the short term from AI-deployment is another matter;
but who knows what the relationship between AI & work will look like in 50 years?
Anthropomorphizing language can be cute when applied to your favorite car, but it helps to muddy the discourse when applied to tech sold as "AI", especially given all the boosters and AGI-cult members peddling their nonsense about imminent artificial minds. New from me & Nanna Inie on Tech Policy Press -- how to spot & revise away from anthropomorphizing language applied to "AI":
https://www.techpolicy.press/we-need-to-talk-about-how-we-talk-about-ai/
@emilymbender Excellent article.
At the moment, I am wondering why this #anthropomorphizing #AI is going viral at a time when many people are #alienated from #nature, attribute little or no #intelligence to animals, or ridicule the environmental personhood of nature.
We are quicker to attribute personality to an LLM than to a wild boar; we attribute non-existent intelligence to machines, but not to a bee (which undoubtedly demonstrates a kind of intelligence).
What does that say about us humans?
Great post by @pluralistic on the reason why virtually all first year college kids use AI in their writing.
Writing vs AI – https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/07/delicious-pizza/#hold-the-gravel
"Yet, it turns out no one is buying Copilot."
#Microsoft #Copilot #AI #KI #Bubble
"But why is Copilot’s growth and/or sales so bad? Well, one study tested these ‘agentic’ AIs, including Copilot, and found that they flat out failed to complete even simple tasks 70% of the time, rendering them somewhere between useless and an active hindrance.
The same is true for Microsoft’s cash baby, ChatGPT."
No shit, sherlock?
https://www.planetearthandbeyond.co/p/the-ai-industry-is-starting-to-unravel
(Danke, Mathias!)
Great post by @pluralistic on the reason why virtually all first year college kids use AI in their writing.
Writing vs AI – https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/07/delicious-pizza/#hold-the-gravel
This is a profound read by @pluralistic on writing. As much as I agree I fear nothing much will change. I do think there are creative ways to teach these skills "en masse" but they still are more expensive than your simple term paper. Yet, departments are at odds with college admins. Sadly, the latter mostly prevail.
Here's @sjwrenlewis pondering what might be the fallout from the bursting of the (putative) AI bubble... the key Q.is will Govt.s utilise the insights of Keynes or miss-respond as the post-keynesian 'consensus' might imply....
Interesting stuff & worth reading if you have the time...
#politics #Keynes #AI #FinancialCrisis
https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/01/what-kind-of-crisis-would-bursting-ai.html
Cory Doctorow @pluralistic is able to pull an argument together in **such** clever ways. Here, he argues that AI-produced code is a *liability*, not an asset.
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/06/1000x-liability/#graceful-failure-modes
Cory Doctorow @pluralistic is able to pull an argument together in **such** clever ways. Here, he argues that AI-produced code is a *liability*, not an asset.
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/06/1000x-liability/#graceful-failure-modes
Heartbreaking update from #tailwindcss. They had to lay off 75% of their staff yesterday due to #AI driven losses.
I really don't see how the #OpenSource industry survives this. The days of making your source and your docs open to the public is quickly disappearing.
https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss.com/pull/2388#issuecomment-3717222957
Heartbreaking update from #tailwindcss. They had to lay off 75% of their staff yesterday due to #AI driven losses.
I really don't see how the #OpenSource industry survives this. The days of making your source and your docs open to the public is quickly disappearing.
https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss.com/pull/2388#issuecomment-3717222957
the most fucked-up #AI thing I can think of: search for jazz Music on YouTube. 99% of JAZZ (of all styles) you get there is AI slop 🤮🤮🤮
Code is a liability, not an infinitely reproducible machine that requires no labor inputs to operate. It is a brittle machine that eventually "wears out" and needs a top-to-bottom refactoring to keep being in good working order.
It's code's capabilities that are assets.
«"Writing code" is about making code that runs well. "Software engineering" is about making code that fails well»
And then came #AI.
@pluralistic nails it:
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/06/1000x-liability/#graceful-failure-modes
Code is a liability, not an infinitely reproducible machine that requires no labor inputs to operate. It is a brittle machine that eventually "wears out" and needs a top-to-bottom refactoring to keep being in good working order.
It's code's capabilities that are assets.
«"Writing code" is about making code that runs well. "Software engineering" is about making code that fails well»
And then came #AI.
@pluralistic nails it:
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/06/1000x-liability/#graceful-failure-modes
Here's @sjwrenlewis pondering what might be the fallout from the bursting of the (putative) AI bubble... the key Q.is will Govt.s utilise the insights of Keynes or miss-respond as the post-keynesian 'consensus' might imply....
Interesting stuff & worth reading if you have the time...
#politics #Keynes #AI #FinancialCrisis
https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/01/what-kind-of-crisis-would-bursting-ai.html
Gone that Dell, of all companies, are the first to realise (or say it out loud) that their customers don’t want AI PCs - and it’s actively hindering sales.
@GossiTheDog Only a #StableGenius or a #KeyboardWarrior living with his parents would buy an #AI #clanker spewing #slop. 🤷🏻♂️
