To think Morrisons should be boycotted over their AI adoption?

I already “boycott” them but not shopping there because they became shit. Filthy stores, empty shelves and expensive

That will never happen. If AI could replace humans to the extent that a UBI were needed, hardly anyone would be paying tax. A government that has no money cannot pay UBI. It would also hit the tech bros hard, because no one would have any disposable cash to buy their crap.

All of this, of course, would depend on AI being intelligent, which it isn't, and able to replicate all the functions of a human being, which it can't. If it could, do you not think that governments would be seriously worried about the scope for societal collapse and would be banning the development of AI?

The bigger worry is the prospective collapse of the AI bubble. The value of these companies is ludicrously inflated because they all trade with each other at ridiculous prices. So what they are worth on paper is not supported by reality. When that bubble bursts, stock markets will crash and there will be a global recession of 1929 proportions. There's nothing we can do about that, but since a stock market crash is likely to make billionaires paupers overnight, we can all fervently hope that Elon Musk is one of them.

It won't matter at all. ALL large companies are going to be handing over jobs to AI, it's a done deal and there is nothing at all you can do about it. You'll be boycotting everyone in 5 years time if you try that.

AI has a lot of issues, is definitely not a therapist, should never be treated as a human, is often wildly wrong about simple facts, and is nobody's friend or confidante - not to mention issues songwriters and artists have.

But all that aside, there is certainly going to be an upsurge of different types of jobs because of new tech. There always is. When photography was invented there were protests about portrait painters losing their jobs. When factories started mass producing furniture, cabinet makers were livid. Now think of the hundreds of thousands of hours of work photography and factory furniture stores have added. There will be jobs you cannot even imagine yet which will come about because of AI.

The very word luddite comes about because the 19th century textile workers called Luddites (named for a fictional outlaw they claimed to operate out of Sherwood Forest) protested about automated machinery.

The ship has sailed, don't be a Luddite. King Knut couldn't hold back the tide either.

Having worked at that head office, it must be this.

I refuse to believe they have become that effective at using new technology.

Nah.

It would be a nightmare world and basically the end of humanity. Completely unsustainable.

What kind of life is it to spend your day in a drab and menial job that could be done by AI or a robot?

Theoretically, more people will be free to pursue more interesting and creative pursuits, for their own sake. But we'll need an education system and broader culture designed to prepare people for that.

Which is why it's nonsensical to suppose that mega-corporations are seeking to destroy the economy, given that it provides their wealth and the financial systems that recognise the value of that wealth.

What kind of life is it to be a consumer but nothing else?

What do you think of the Luddites OP? Do you wish they'd been successful?

Surplus to what requirements? They'd still be needed as consumers and they'd still need what's being produced.

UBI would basically be the end. How would society cope when people know they are surplus to requirements?

Ultimately, I don't think the tech billionaires and their descendants will survive either. They might be rich enough to employ their own doctors, for example, but if medical schools no longer exist, there will be no one to replace them when they retire or die. The collapse of civilisation would be bound to lead to new medical challenges, but very little medical research could be carried out.

The billionaires' passive income from investments will eventually dry up, as no banks will be borrowing their money and no customers will be spending or investing. But what would the billionaires spend their money on anyway? Few people will be around to produce much.

The few survivors, whether billionaires or ordinary people, will probably all end up subsistence farming. If anyone manages to produce any surplus, they will probably barter it, not sell it.

If society won't survive, the "billionaires" won't either, since their money will be worthless.

In reality of course, these companies are investing in AI because they fully expect the economy to keep functioning, and to return higher profits. They're certainly not expecting to lose their customer base of ordinary consumers on ordinary incomes.

i can understand your points, however i belive your conclusions are wrong overall

You reckon that the mega corporations will just pony up the taxes? Why do you think that the tech billionaires are buying islands and building bunkers? They know that society won't survive.

I am worried about all the people who are being made redundant due to AI. I expect it will happen to me at some point. Will we be granted Universal Basic Income, or will we end up desperately competing for an ever-decreasing pool of vacancies?

I've been spending far less at Morrisons this year anyway, because I read that it's now owned by a US private investment group. I'd like to boycott Trump's government, even if I can only do so indirectly.

Do we know that the head office was inefficient? Many corporations have used AI as an excuse to cut head counts only to later learn that they actually needed those staff.

I buy from small businesses instead. No chance of them replacing employees with AI.

lets consider the end game of capitalism, you have no population limits, you have cheaper factories abroad, at the uk you have robots and majority of machines running the show, you would only need a handful of people.
then what for the economy ? at some point the locial outcome is the ubi, based on taxes from the mega corporations using all the machines and robots etc because otherwise how would society survive ?

I don’t really see the point in protesting AI adoption. It’s a thing, it is phenomenally useful in some fields and will never replace other roles. You’ll never get a chatGPT gas fitter or surgeon (yes I know AI aids but it doesn’t carry out whole transplants etc). It feels like when people were moving from typewriters to PCs -newfangled magic, save the typing pool…

If a company isn’t using it properly for productivity gains but their competitors are… well, they aren’t going to stay competitive for long.

Having said all that, I think AI is probably the latest bogeyman to be wheeled out whenever job cuts are proposed -even when they actually have nothing to do with the job cuts.

ETA, I absolutely see the point of protesting it on ecological grounds - it’s dubious on that score.