Revenge of The Business Idiot

I highly recommend reading this newsletter by Ed Zitron, which tears into the AI business.
I'm delighted to present some choice extracts here that perfectly mirror my own views.
That said, I still think we should give LLMs credit—especially when used in scientific research—for the substantial amount of time that AI can save in those instances.

"AI is a concentration of failed organisational concepts, and the pinnacle of the era of the incompetent—a time when we are led by people so disconnected from reality on the ground that it was inevitable a technology would be created specifically to exploit their incompetence."

"If CEOs are particularly vulnerable to AI psychosis, it's because they are far enough removed from the ground-level work required to generate value with AI. LLMs are dangerous for many reasons, but one of the least discussed is their ability to manipulate the most incompetent leaders. Generative AI is very good at mimicking work, just like most managers and executives. Like them, even if it's completely incapable of doing something, it will claim otherwise and compliment you on your suggestions. And that's why business morons love it." "Where a human would say annoying things like 'that's impossible in this timeframe' or 'we don't have the necessary resources', the AI will reply 'of course, right away!' and burn through as many resources as possible."

"Companies aren't spending millions, or even hundreds of millions of dollars a year on AI because it's a good thing, but because they are run by people who are completely incompetent. Generative AI is a total magnet for overseers, snitches, the useless, sycophants, and everyone who hates working and loves putting others down. In other words, it flatters the failures who think that learning or excelling in a field is a waste of time, because they believe they deserve to do whatever they want without the slightest bit of effort."

"This is why so many bosses have such an abnormal reaction to AI, promoting and defending it as if it were their religion or their homeland. While many use LLMs and see them as a kind of calculator or search engine, many others see them as an opportunity to elevate themselves above the people who work or create, because they find the process of work or effort absolutely repugnant. When someone disparages AI, the business idiot feels compelled to defend it tooth and nail, because attacking LLMs is tantamount to attacking their output, which in turn is a judgment on those who tolerate its mediocrity and inevitable hallucinations."
"LLMs impress writers who loathe writing, developers who loathe coding, researchers who loathe doing research, and lawyers who have lost interest in case law. Those who sing the praises of AI and persuade you that it's indispensable are actually seeking to justify their own laziness or their aversion to effort. As for those who are impressed by the work produced by LLMs, they generally have rock-bottom standards."

AI zealots "aren't so much defending LLMs as they are the most advanced form of capitalism," one of corruption, predation, and mafia-like tactics. "The AI industry is fundamentally a scam machine," Zitron claims.

"When your entire economy is organised around middle managers, vice presidents, and executives who don't do any actual work, AI seems like magic."

We know that AI consumes an astronomical amount of money, not only to kit out data centres (along with an equally disproportionate amount of water and energy), but it's also extremely expensive to run, with no guarantee of results.
Uber recently had a bitter experience with this, seeing no benefit at all.
And as Ed Zitron adds: "AI is supposed to be an ultra-powerful streamlining tool that will transform the world of work forever. Yet, the concrete result seems to be: we've spent considerable sums on something that excites our least competent managers."

Finally, "no industry worth its salt needs to mislead you or make you feel guilty for not adopting its technology. No one trustworthy would find it necessary to humiliate or attack someone who isn't enthusiastic enough about a product. No CEO who talks about a hypothetical future to sell you software today deserves your trust. No technology that regularly makes mistakes should be defended. And an industry that demands everything from us — our land, our energy, our water, our jobs, our art, our writing, our attention, and every pound we own — should provoke nothing but disgust."