TL;DR
AI companies used various tactics to try and get people hooked into AI as well as to try and bring in new investors and to also introduce regulations, so few companies can monetize AI, going as far as to try and jail anyone who might protest against AI.
Foreword:
There was a post that suggests that people against AI are operating on manufactured outrage.
That is simply not true. What I am going to do here is share how AI companies have used various tactics in an attempt to get people hooked into AI as well as market themselves to corporations who might be interested in the more dangerous aspects AI has to it.
Promises of Utopia:
Sam Altman on Universal Basic Income
Elon Musk Sees A Future of Complete Universal High Income
So, here we have two billionaires talking about this Utopia where UBI will come for us all and we can choose to opt out of work. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? That's because it is too good to be true. Even if everything was automated, no UBI for us.
UBI is a trick to get people to support AI. When the time comes to deliver on those promises? Nothing's going to be delivered.
There have also been talks about healthcare, curing cancer, curing every known disease in the world. Again, sounds amazing, doesn't it?
But again, it's just talk. Sure, we have seen bits and bobs of what AI can do, but so far nothing that is really beneficial to humanity.
So, what do you have to do in order to receive this world-saving, work eliminating technology that will grant you eternal health and freedom?
Your information, your compliance, your money, basically everything you have. Now to me, that sounds like a scam.
Okay, so we have been promised Utopia, but people didn't really buy what these AI companies were selling, so what was being done next?
Adapt or get left behind:
‘Adapt to AI or get left behind’: Google CEO Sundar Pichai issue new corporate mandate, Microsoft follows
Fortnite-maker Epic Games confirms 'huge pivot' towards using AI
Okay, so carrot did not work, so companies try the stick instead. AI is marketed as this amazing tool that will shape the world anew, allow people to be creative and efficient. If you don't want to be part of that, you will be left behind.
In fact, you will be seen as the weird and offensive one for not complying. If AI is truly the futre, then wouldn't humans naturally pivot to AI, given enough time?
Why all this marketing, why force people to use AI at workplaces? Whatever happened to people choosing?
Forcefeeding AI
The microsoft article is old and things might have changed, but it's good to still have these as an example of forcefeeding:
Microsoft Will Again Force-Install Microsoft 365 Copilot App on Windows 11
Google switches from Google Assistant to Gemini. Android users react
Okay, so despite employees being forced to use AI to see its "usefulness" and despite promises of a Utopia, people are still resistant, so companies decided to do something else instead!
That is to force AI into everything! Your browser, your phone, your computer, maybe even your household appliances!
If you want to opt out of using AI, you have to work for it. Of course in some cases it is easier to opt out, but I believe that people should be allowed to opt in, not forced to opt out if they don't want something.
That hasn't worked for these companies, in fact I'd say that it has only fueled peoples' resistance towards AI. No one wants to be forcefed anything, so tactics were changed again.
Fear AI
Unexpected chat between OpenAI agents led to Hugging Face hack
OpenAI agents tried to hack Wikipedia tools and flooded it with traffic
Anthropic warns AI models could soon copy themselves across home devices
Okay, so what's the point of this? Wouldn't this just make people even more reluctant to use AI?
Well, think of all the military applications! Rogue AI agents escaping their cages to hack things! Now there's an effective weapon that can shut down networks and systems or spy on hostile nations!
It's so scary that the military complex should buy it and also if OpenAI happens to sell programs to defend yourself against rogue AI agents, you should buy those too.
This is also done to get regulations, that so few and select companies will be approved to be AI companies, rest need to go through some rigorous testing in order to be accepted as AI companies.
You know, make it so only the already established big companies can operate.
Okay, so. Most people did not believe AI will solve all of humanity's problems, people did not fall into the scare tactics of "Adapt or get left behind", people that are forced to work with AI were very upset about the fact and not even using fear to sell AI worked.
So what's the final step?
You are an extremist, enemy of the state, executing the will of foreign powers
US Law Enforcement Warns of ‘Anti-Tech Extremism’ as AI Hatred Grows
OpenAI says a suspected China-linked influence operation tried to sway the debate about US data centers
Anthropic is building a surveillance system to monitor anti-AI activists
Department Of Justice Hints At New Tool For Prosecuting Protesters
Don't be fooled, the term "Anti-tech extremist" will be stretched to include anyone protesting against data centers. Much like ICE sees anyone who might look a foreigner as an illegal immigrant.
And isn't that convenient? OpenAI has found that China has influenced the "anti" rhetoric with Anthropic building a surveillance system to monitor people against AI. The company that directly is hurting from people protesting against AI
But all of this groundwork makes sense now, because DOJ says that you can be jailed for up to 5 years if you act in the interests of foreign powers.
So if you are out there protesting and can't be linked to "anti tech extremism", officials will just put you in jail under the suspicions of acting in the best interests of China.
So, really. If anything people in America against AI will be hunted down, because they don't want data centers, don't like AI and want to have communities without massive pollution machines in their backyards.
