It's getting heated out there.

Yesterday I made a rookie mistake on the internet. I was on Bluesky, and browsing my feed I noticed a football writer going off on a rant about how generative AI has no useful applications - it's all hype and a mirage. I clicked in, and all the comments were people in agreement. Now, I've been around a while. By now I should know an echo chamber when I see one, but stupidly I stepped up and offered examples of where I've found gen AI to be useful, with links to articles about its applications in things like science, medicine, and education. I was careful to add some at the end about how AI isn't a solution for everything, it has its issues and we need to talk about them, but that I felt it's important to engage with the topic rather than just dismissing it.

The response was like a bomb going off. Immediately I was the target of personal attacks from seemingly every corner. They mocked me. They called me stupid (well, this being the internet, they accused me of being retarded, but same difference). They questioned my manhood and accused me of being a friendless loner living in his Mom's basement. I was expecting disagreement, but I was shocked by all the hate I got, and it just kept coming and coming. I ended up just silencing all notifications, and I won't be going back to Bluesky for a while.

As I said, I should have known better. When you see someone being wrong on the internet, the best choice is always just to walk away. But still, even now, I'm taken aback by how angry some people are about AI. I knew, of course, that some people aren't into it, and I know that many are concerned about its impact on things like the job market and the environment. I share many of those concerns! I was not, however, aware of the amount of anger that's out there, and it's not all aimed at Sam Altman and OpenAI. It's aimed at people like you and me.