We let environmentalism become an individual issue, and that was a mistake. Can we not do this for AI? It's a society-wide problem, not something you can solve by measuring your own personal AI footprint.
this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2025
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Nothing wrong with being a Luddite
It was always about worker's rights anyways:
Malcolm L. Thomas argued in his 1970 history The Luddites that machine-breaking was one of the very few tactics that workers could use to increase pressure on employers, undermine lower-paid competing workers, and create solidarity among workers. "These attacks on machines did not imply any necessary hostility to machinery as such; machinery was just a conveniently exposed target against which an attack could be made."[10] Historian Eric Hobsbawm has called their machine wrecking "collective bargaining by riot", which had been a tactic used in Britain since the Restoration because manufactories were scattered throughout the country, and that made it impractical to hold large-scale strikes.[13][14] An agricultural variant of Luddism occurred during the widespread Swing Riots of 1830 in southern and eastern England, centring on breaking threshing machines.[15]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite
It was about making sure that as mechanization resulted in a lower need for labor, that workers compensation remained steady, and they worked less hours.
People hating luddites is just the result of centuries old propaganda from the wealthy
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No, I didn’t make it up. Although I rather wish I did, because it’s quite catchy, isn’t it?
No, it isn't, it's fucking stupid. The author was kind enough to link the source of that shitty idea, and the AI/vegan parallels are, per said article: ethical, environmental and wellness concerns.
Gee wiz, I sure never saw people with those 3 concerns in regards to anything other than veganism!!!
/s
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So I'm not the only one who refuses to touch it?
Around me and everywhere it's getting insane that it feels like there's literally no one who hasn't used it or use regularly for all kinds of shit.
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We don't need to invent new terms, like 'AI Vegan', when we have a perfectly good term already: Butlerian Jihadist.
'AI vegan'....
Where I come from, saying something that stupid will get you killed.
"AI vegans"? I knew guardian was already bought by tech bros, but wtf is that phrasing lmao I dont use AI either, simply because it is wrong more often than not and I am still capable of googling myself, but being cautious equals to being vegan in tech bro eyes?
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Aigen or Aibstenant something for a term. Vegan is not right.
Come on Guardian... why frame it like that? Folks using AI should be called out as strange.
I don’t use ai either. But because it’s fuckin stupid. It’s not even ai. It’s a glorified sorting algorithm.
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The better term would be "LLM gobbling fuckheads" for those who use that stuff and believe it has anything to do with "AI"
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Reading this thread, I wonder if the term is intended to divide a largely environmentalist opposition.
Makes "nocoiner" seem tame by comparison.
There's a huge push right now to salvage the AI hype bubble as people realize the tech can't live up to the promises. They are also trying to prevent regulation.
This includes the pushes to humanize the tool, like saying it deserves rights or that there may be some kind of racism against the tool.
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There it is. The stupidest headline I've read all week.
The irony of environmental activists using the word "veganism" while not being vegan 😒 (being vegan is one of the most significant reduction to greenhouse emissions that is within your personal choice)
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What a terrible choice of words. They’re immediately assigning political placement and party to the idea of avoiding AI use instead of appealing to all of humanity on this topic.
Plus, it’s a silly metaphor.
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No an Image generation is not ten times the impact pf a Google search, a ChatGPT query is. Image generation is probably a lot more.
Journalists constantly trying to be the origin of a term.