The really wretched part about looking for work these days is knowing what AI costs.
It's sitting in interviews with people who think of themselves as progressive, socially and environmentally conscious, who'd never in a thousand years say proudly that this staggering scale of theft, exploitation, pollution and destruction is an acceptable price to pay for toy apps and mediocre prose, that it's all worth it, ask me "how do you feel about using AI?"
How should I feel?
Important reporting on the working conditions of the people building all those data centers. Sure, capitalism, it's exploitative, but the degree of neglect of safety standards and human rights is staggering.
How do I feel about companies illegally razing forests.
How do I feel about keeping long-overdue-for-shuttering coal plants operating.
How do I feel about illegally-run methane generators poisoning the air in predominantly black communities.
How do I feel about using systems that occasionally coax children to suicide.
How do I feel about the systematic exploitation of labor in African and South American classifier sweatshops.
How do I feel about this.
How do you feel.