alt-text for thumbnail in case it embeds: it is an image of a queer flag with an infinity symbol, on a drawn wooden background with the words “autistic people mistaken for AI” on it
I’m on the autism spectrum.
I’m fine with anti-AI hate, even if it means I get caught up in it too. The harms that will be caused by the mad rush to pursue AI are far, far worse than the harms that will be caused to people on the spectrum that get mistaken for being AI.
EDIT: it’s a simple equation. Under 3% of people are believed to be on the autism spectrum. AI is, or has, negatively affected a far greater percentage of people than that. I know creatives that have already lost jobs because of LLM image generators, and I know others that have seen their compensation drop sharply for the same reason.
Sorry but that makes no sense.
The AI craze is not avoided by AI hate. Thats like immigrant criminal activity being avoided by racism. Its lazy thinking.
Hate just benefits those in control as it focuses our attention on other things while we are being robbed blind every day.
The world is as productive and efficient as never and 2000 people are gobbling up the surplus while the rest looks at an uninhabitable planet for their future.
Nuance has been and always will be the correct answer. Thats why we need a nuanced plan to bar billionaires from politics (donations, lobbying, etc) and politicians from participating in the gambling den that is the stockmarket.
Edit: and even worse, throwing your fellow autists under the bus because „for the cause“ and because YOU dont have problems with it is pretty gross.
LLMs are tools that the wealthy are using to concentrate more wealth and power in their hands; the wealthy are the only people benefitting from it. There are no uses of LLMs that are a net positive for people outside of that class. So yes, it makes sense to oppose not just the people that suck up all the wealth–not just the ‘surplus’–as well as the tools they use to do it.
Edit: and even worse, throwing your fellow autists under the bus because „for the cause“ and because YOU dont have problems with it is pretty gross.
It’s a simple cost/benefit analysis. If 50% of the people are harmed by X if you allow it to be used unchecked, and 3% are harmed by opposition to using X, then it’s ridiculous to allow avoidance of harm to the minority to keep you from preventing harm to the majority. Moreover, under a system that allows LLMs to flourish, people on the autism spectrum will still suffer disproportionate harms compared to NT people; ND people are considered more disposable and generally diificult for NTs to deal with, so if a manager figures out a way to replace an ND person with an LLM, they 100% will.
We have incompatible thinking styles. Of course the rich use LLMs to gain more wealth, but they will use anything. Its THEM that is the problem.
„Cost benefit analysis“ my ass. Its just a way to reduce people to numbers. Its exactly how we got here.
The downvotes without even one critical comment are rather telling.
the anti-AI hate is something I see all the time in leftist spaces, and I have seen that weaponized against autistic people again and again
It’s all over. Not just there. But you aren’t wrong. In a lot of ways it’s very similar to the anti immigrant fervor on the right. Misguided to put it kindly. If anyone thinks targeted ai spam bots could divide the left more effectively than the left divides itself. Then they need to take a closer look.