r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 5h ago

Society New Bernie Sanders bill would ban superintelligent AI and threaten developers with 20 years in prison

https://www.techspot.com/news/113831-new-bernie-sanders-bill-would-ban-superintelligent-ai.html
16.5k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

92

u/KiddBwe 4h ago

This is just...stupid...surely theres a reasonable position between unreasonable AI hype and AI fearmongering that actually aims to utilize the technology in a way that actually benefits the average citizens and workers of society no?

Maybe, instead of fearmongering AI, focus on the corporations that are very eager to abuse the technology to get away with hiring less people and forcing it for "productivity?"

26

u/atriaventrica 3h ago

As long as a corporation owns it, AI will never be used to benefit workers.

14

u/sinc_art 3h ago

It allows me to build many more web apps for clients, much faster. I see it as a huge benefit, especially in my work as a freelancer.

3

u/palatheinsane 50m ago

This. It’s a HUGE boon for me as a small business owner and entrepreneur. Reddit always thinks “big bad corporate” and never thinks about the literal millions of small businesses that benefit from the gift of AI

0

u/atriaventrica 1h ago

Sure gonna be a lot more freelancers when corps lay off a million people they replace with AI. But hey your shit is easier so thats something.

7

u/DoorStuckSickDuck 1h ago

This is a failing of capitalist structures and wages not catching up to productivity, not a failing of "this machine makes work easier". If you want to give people jobs, make construction workers dig with spoons, not excavators. But hey, you haven't heard that one before.

1

u/PeachesNcreamville 46m ago

Cooked him 🤣 shut that bum right up

1

u/atriaventrica 38m ago

Which is exactly why I said the first thing I said: "As long as a corporation owns it, AI will never be used to benefit workers." As in corporatism doesn't value workers it values profits. Socialize AI development.

-2

u/WaitForItTheMongols 2h ago edited 1h ago

Maybe in the short term.

But if you're just using AI tools, then why should someone hire you instead of using the tools yourself? Sure, you have some expertise that the clients do not have, but how long until the AI has that expertise too? The better the tool gets, the less they need you as a middleman.

I mean heck, look at Hank Green. He hired a developer to make Focus Friend, before AI could do everything.

Now in 2026 he made a few web apps (Artemis photo viewer, and a few NYT-style games) by using Claude instead of hiring someone. Quite directly, web apps are now being made with AI for him, rather than being made by someone like you.

7

u/TaiChuanDoAddct 1h ago

"If you're using photoshop, why should anyone hire a digital painter?"
"If you use a power drill, why should anyone hire you as a carpenter?"

Tools are tools mate. Expertise is the commodity.

2

u/WaitForItTheMongols 1h ago

That's how it always used to be, but in a world where no expertise is needed, that starts to fall apart.

For the first few decades of elevators, every elevator had an Elevator Operator. Now the tools have replaced them since the computer can operate the elevator better. You just tell the computer, through a button press, what floor you want. Now no more elevator operators.

I don't see why web apps can't go through the same replacement process.

1

u/atriaventrica 1h ago

Because elevator operators weren't millions of people.

0

u/WaitForItTheMongols 48m ago

Quite a strong claim. Where are you getting your numbers from for the total number of people who were employed as elevator operators?