Been meaning to post about this for some time, but I am having some trouble articulating my thoughts in English. So this is probably mostly going to be an incoherent ramble with some personal anecdotes.

I have in my immediate circle a tech person, an engineer who is somewhat introverted and has socially only mingled with others like him. Sees the world in a very engineer sort of way and has some unconscious male supremacy and misanthrophy in the way he has learnt to view the world. Tends to stan Elon Musk type of thinking and dismisses human contribution as lacking and faulty. In essence seems to have formed this weird machine supremacist thinking which might be symptomatic of the tech world as a whole.

I’ve had incredible struggle sessions with him over AI. Which he first was a believer in, then believed it will destroy work. Basically doing the tech bro pipeline with it.

But what is interesting to me is that currently he is aware of the issues with it and still uses it. He clearly thinks it is superior to humans and therefore is willing to listen to it in ways he was never ready to listen to other humans.

Here is an example. He has a particular problem, one he has had for a long time. This is in an area where I am trained in and have attempted to coach him in previously. Not long ago he came to me telling how AI has fixed this problem for him that no human ever could fix. It sounded sus, but I did not confront him on it. Instead I decided to wait and see what it is that he now does.

It turns out that the AI has given him exactly the same exercises I have recommended he do time and time again over the years that he never did. The only difference is that he now does them. Because this clearly very male coded non human model adviced him to do that from a position of authority that he actually listens to.

And this is the thing. I think the AI as a model appeals to people like him as it is something they do not dismiss right out of the gate like they do other people or people they deem (unconsciously) less then they are. And I feel like this touches on something relevant when it comes to the entire AI bubble and the architects of said bubble as a whole.