this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2025
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In California, human mental health workers are on strike over the issue of their employers using AI to replace them. (www.bloodinthemachine.com)
submitted 6 days ago by Lugh@futurology.today to c/futurology@futurology.today
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[–] Lugh@futurology.today 9 points 6 days ago (4 children)

I suspect from now on we will see more and more strikes and protests like these. I'd guess by 2030 or so they will be a widespread global phenomenon. By that point, self-driving cars will rapidly be replacing most driving jobs too.

Most of us instinctively feel sympathy with the striking workers - deep down we know AI/robots will be coming for our jobs one day too.

But there's a paradox here. AI tends towards what economists call zero marginal cost, in plain language - near free.

What if AI Doctors as good as humans were nearly free & every human on the planet had access to their expertise. Surely, that is something to go on strike for - not against.

[–] daerion@feddit.org 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This requires some proper wealth distribution though so that the wealth generated by automation is not only landing in the pockets of the few ultra rich that "own" this technology. As long as the actual benefits only serve a small elite class this conflict is just going to grow.

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 1 points 6 days ago

Yes. The logic of al these changes with AI & robotics being able to do most work, is that some sort of socialism is the only economic system that will work in the future.

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

I'd guess by 2030 or so they will be a widespread global phenomenon. By that point, self-driving cars will rapidly be replacing most driving jobs too.

That is a terrible guess, and it isn't even remotely close on the scale of decades.

What if AI Doctors as good as humans were nearly free & every human on the planet had access to their expertise. Surely, that is something to go on strike for - not against.

What if you read too many scifi novels with AI while ignoring how politics were changing in the real world and have willingly mistook a vehicle of brutal class war (that has a MASSIVE carbon footprint) being used by the ultrawealthy to force everyone back into feudalism as a magic technological savior of our futures?

Do you realize how easy of a mark people like you are? You got played hard.

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

That is a terrible guess, and it isn’t even remotely close on the scale of decades.

No. It's based on how technologies are adopted, which tends to follow an s-curve.

Level 4 self-driving cars are already on the road in China & the US.

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Lol, yup and it is going so well.

The only reason self driving cars are legal on US roads is we actually hate pedestrians as drivers in the US and we don't really give a shit about traffic safety.

[–] Pyro@pawb.social 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I don't understand the corlation between hateing pedestrians (fully agree) and the self driving car

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 2 points 6 days ago

There are actually two ways to make a self driving car.

  1. make a self driving car that can be trusted to drive around pedestrian filled environments and not kill them (this option is extremely hard with literally infinite edgecases)

  2. dehumanize pedestrians culturally and legally to the point that the bar for safety becomes a bludgeon to beat them with, then sell a broken self driving car

which do you think tesla is choosing?

[–] Jabril@hexbear.net 3 points 6 days ago

As long as it exists under capitalism, every human on the planet won't have access to it. It will cost nothing for the owners of the technology to run but they will charge a fee to use it.

[–] evenglow@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

There's 2 ways this could have gone down : CEO profits or government doing their job and managing society. USA chose maximum profit. Again.

[–] EstraDoll@hexbear.net 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Thesis: Workers will have their jobs largely replaced by automation

Antithesis: AI "Automation" is mostly useless and won't replace anyone's jobs

Synthesis: AI "Automation" is mostly useless but they'll replace everyone's jobs with it anyway

[–] takeda@lemm.ee 2 points 6 days ago

I'm actually worried that this could be used to exploit vulnerable people and plant some malicious thoughts.

[–] huppakee@lemm.ee 8 points 6 days ago

Yay, have been waiting for Artificial Empathy my whole life!

[–] lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

[–] Frogmanfromlake@hexbear.net 4 points 6 days ago

Looks like this will be a common occurrence during the second Gilded Age

[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 3 points 6 days ago

Wow. This is even worse than the headline suggests. Mental health care has got to be one of the worst possible uses for AI. There are far too many subtleties and nuances that only a well-trained HUMAN professional is equipped to deal with.

I’d like to see Kaiser nailed to the wall for such flagrant violations of the law, but I also wonder how many other states don’t have these (supposed) protections on the books.