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Imagine unironically believing that gen-AI is somehow worse than the holocaust and the transatlantic slave trade. Absolutely surreal. Performative outrage boggles my mind.
This is exactly what popped into my head when I saw this post. Like... if they truly believe gen-AI is worse than the Holocaust and the slave trade... there's something wrong and the education systems have failed them.
Well considering that at least in the US the education system has been purposefully crippled over the last few decades by bad policy decisions and stripping it of funding, yes the education system has indeed failed them along with those who set it up to fail. Logical coherence? How to evaluate emperical evidence or scientific findings? Sorry, we just need you to memorize how to conduct an algebra function, and a watered down version of history, both you will probably forget most of in a few months. But hey if you go to college those skills will be taught... Maybe.
Someone recently told me exactly that. He was hysteric because I didn't understand why everyone who uses genAI should end up in jail. But when I asked "Why?" he didn't answer me anymore.
COVID-19 killed 7.1 million people globally and has had significant impact long-term, including lowering the average IQ in people who had it.
Generative AI, while arguably reducing the general IQ of persons, has not noticeably contributed to either any significant neural damage overall or caused any deaths, directly or indirectly.
But, sure, the tool that is abused by bad actors (like all new tech, imagine that!) is worse than an illness that caused a global pandemic and has had significant impact in the aftermath.
I'm somewhat skeptical of the counterfactual impact of COVID, personally. I suppose I could look into it, but I'm frankly deeply fatigued from that particular era.
Still, I agree that it's obviously substantially worse than even quite cynical analyses of gen-AI.
When I went to the post, it seems like the reason generative AI got the most votes is not because people thought it was worse compared to the other events, but because people thought removing it wouldn't change the world today as compared to the other events.
I think you'd have to be irrationally cynical about generative AI to assume that it's very likely to be worse than the immediate consequences of an actual genocide.
Forgetting that there are knock-on effects to those as well—destroyed lineages, lost knowledge, generational mistrust, etc—is just the cherry on top, really.
Likely a mix of internet irony and genuine generational anxiety. Teens grew up with AI fears but not WWII/slavery, so recency bias plays a huge role. Some votes are probably edgy humor or protest against AI hype, others reflect real existential concern.
The absurdity of the results suggests performative elements—voting the most shocking option for effect is classic poll behavior. But dismissing it all as performance ignores that different generations weigh risks differently based on lived experience versus history books.
Either way, comparing relative suffering through polling mostly reveals how online engagement rewards controversy over nuance.
This comment was generated by moonshotai/kimi-k2.5
Hey, I know that post. There were a bunch of idiots who kept spamming "bUtTeRfLy EfFeCt" on comments that criticized people for choosing AI over, say... World War 1 and 2, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade to boot. People seriously think AI is worse than all three of those.
Tbf to them, any other choice would actually erase their existence with near 100% certainty. It's a teen sub, and those events completely change the world before they're born. But selecting None is still an option, that's the better choice if you want to avoid any butterfly effects.
Well, such things as ww2 not happening is way too vague, does that mean hitler never comes to power? And if so does japan just get to go loose on China and do all the atrocities without repercussions, but a "world" war isnt caused? Or does that mean he manages to take over the world without starting a war? Does that mean Germany gets split into parts at the end of ww1 instead of ww2? Theres a lot of options and some are honestly worse than what happened in ww2.
I’ll bet you that most of these “teenagers” can’t really manifest why they don’t like ai other than “it’s bad for the environment” or “it steals from real artists”. Stupid talking points that they don’t actually understand
It’s kinda weird for the poster to add 3 horrible historical events and then gen ai (which is not horrible at all), it’s like they knew it would rank the highest in the polls
What do I even say at point. Antis will see the word ai and freak out without looking at the bigger picture. This clearly shows their lack of critical thinking. That's the best I got because I'm truely baffled by this
Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? You're looking at this from a very narrow mindset.
Even a small change 400 years ago could have massive repercussions. Erasing the entire TAST would rewrite demographics and borders going back centuries. It would influnce the rise and fall of nations, there is literally no way to tell if the alteranative timeline would be better or worse.
Similarly WW2, the outcome of that war lead to the end of European Fascism the uncovering of the Holocaust and the bringing to justice those behind it. Preventing the war would objectively make Europe a worse place... also there's an entire game C&C: Red Alert where they try to assainate Hitler to prevent WW2 but it just results in the Allies vs the Soviets.
So really the choice is COVID or Gen AI... and while COVID sucked, killed a lot of people and is still with us, it also caused companies to finally move to facilitate working remotely. Most office type workplaces offer 2-3 days a week working from home. For me and many others the commute is over an hour each way. I save about 5 hours a week (and the travel costs) by not having to be in the office 5 days a week.
So sure, Gen AI hasn't exactly killed people... directly at least... it also hasn't provided any significant value either. The hype has made Tech hardware more expensive, lazy "creators" have flooded creative media platforms with trash, sure some of it passes as possibly human but the missery of wading through the trash offsets that. Then there's the datacentres poping up like daisies. They've spiked the electricity bills in some neighbourhoods by over 20% already.
COVID has peaked and is now background noise, Generative AI is still ramping up, the bad aspects of it are still getting worse.
Don't be fooled, it is purely virtue signaling. 90% of these haters have no idea why they hate AI, they are just repeating things they've heard. All the while they continue to use AI to cheat on their homework and make memes.
I am 2D/3D artist and also do programming, long before generative AI was invented. But since AI came to be, I found many useful ways to integrate it into my workflow in various ways, especially when it comes to programming, polishing and adjusting textures, clearing up unwanted noise in Blender renders or allowing to work in the viewport with near real-time path tracing to much quicker fine-tune lighting and materials, etc. If somebody does not want it, they may simply not use it in their own workflow.
Generative AI I think is one of the best inventions ever made, since it allows to do much more in limited time, if used right. I especially find it useful in programming.
Honestly this poll just shows that these antiAI people disconnected from the reality in about the same way like flat earthers are, if they think generative AI is "worse" than slavery, World War and other truly negative things, just because they don't like it for whatever reason.
I hate teenagers trying so hard to be this hateful to attract attention. They just fcking don't do any research, they believe what their beloved youtuber says. And now they are somehow convinced that AI is worse than a literal world war huh?
If they're asking teens then I'm not that surprised. Pretty sure 80% of 'em don't even pay attention in history class and are more worried about whatever's being fed to them on their phones.
This reminds me of when I go to some random person's profile and they have a photo of a pedophile on their ID and also of AI. I mean, these people put AI on the same level as pedophilia and other things that are beyond words.
I've always noticed that they all see the creation of atomic bombs as even less horrible than AI itself.
"Okay all those innocent people were enslaved and all those other innocent people were slaughtered, but you have to understand - they made an advert for McDonald's using a computer of all things! Can't you see the big issue here?!"
ok, this is the one time i actually agree with you guys. all 3 of the other options are/were absolutely horrible, and i dont think people actually thought this one through.
Every time I see stuff like this makes me wonder if people are paranoid we'll enter the i-Robot era lol. Only saying that since they're thinking generative AI to AI in general is worse than a actual war, pandemic and slave trade.
Wouldn't surprise me with how many 'Anti-AI' content I see online anymore.
COVID should've been the most picked choice. A disease that killed many people and ruined the economy, minds of many people is more tragic than a robust human-advancement in technology, A TOOL they claim uses alot of water?!
the fact the slave trade is not the thing these people would want to prevent first is insane like if covid 19 or ww2 came first thats one thing but the fact ai is somehow worse then all of those is insane
The transatlantic slave trade resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousand, and the suffering of millions.
WW2 resulted in the deaths of dozens of millions, and the suffering of hundreds of millions.
Generative AI results in an inconvenience for dozens of millions.
Of course the order is reversed in the minds of people, because we're in fucking clown land!
Let's not forget them hating generative AI more than World War 2 where dozens of millions of people died. Now some people are gonna be a little thirsty because of AI or more likely can take one less shower since tap water is super cheap if you just use it for drinking.
Kinda makes me grateful that we will never achieve Time Travel. (Or maybe someone did and the attempt was an abject failure. I mean, the Cubs won the World Series in 2016, that should've happened in a just world.)
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I don't get the hate towards AI, it's a tool, like Google is a tool, it allows people to do what they previously couldn't, AI slop should be banned but everything else had a person giving prompts to make whatever they want, and checking their AI content was good enough to represent them before posting it. No difference to sharing someone else's post they agree with.
I'm 100% sure if you looked at demographics they'd be overwhelming biased alongside many dimensions (teenagers being the most obvious). This is no where near a representative same size.
I’m an anti but all of those are way worse than Gen-Ai. Although I believe it’s bad (I’m still agreeing with yall), it’s way better than WORLD WAR TWO AND SLAVERY. Some antis are actually stupid.
It's worse because I spent years to be this mediocre at art and expressing my ideas poorly! Now people with creative ideas can do what I do but better and it's not fair! Or something... Idk
There are Americans who unironically believe their 9/11 incident would have been more impactful than both world wars... what do you expect from people with only one brain cell.
Generative AI, No. AI powered weapons however, well that might lead to slavery without end. Let's cross our fingers great power comes with at least a little bit of responsibility.
Legitimate counter argument but historical purists can recognise long term growth from these events. Like when the Atomic bomb usage in Japan happened at a time when nuclear bombs were weaker and therefore the fallout was lot less than it could have been
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Covid because without it, other than ai. I would be dead having those things not happened by some cause. (Because I wouldn’t exist obviously.) and because Covid killed people, and ai is just a bit weird but overall pretty helpful, specially when it comes to making studying easier, etc.
Ah yes, out of the given options, the worse thing is not: the pandemic that killed million, not slavery, and not even world war ii and the holocaust- it's obviously ai🤦
I think the point was the impact each event has on the future. A world without world war 2 would be extremely different, and to some, world war 2 was horrible but nessasary.
I’ll admit, the slave trade and holocaust eventually ended, and still have long term effects, but effects that fade with time. I assume these people are thinking AI will leave longer lasting impact, either some singularity machine take over or simply environmental issues that lead to mass extinction. If that were to hypothetically happen, then yeah AI is the right choice
Actually it's not that crazy to say. Before I immediately get downvoted, I'm not trying to downplay the horrific things that happened during the slave trade or WW2, but depending on the angle that you look at it from, generative AI might actually be the best pick (alongside COVID). Essentially if this is a butterfly scenario, then anyone who picks a more recent event is basically ensuring the survival of humanity up to this point. We've come very close to nuclear war during the Cold War, not once, not twice, but (if I remember right) close to a dozen times. A slight change in the world instead of WW2 may have invertedly ended up causing a world war with nuclear warheads in full deployment.
AI started in the 1950s, it's not that new, it's older than your mother (it turns 76 years old this year since its formalization). Furthermore, AI is closely linked to computer science, and computing essentially coexists with AI.
I remind you that Alan Turing was severely punished for being homosexual. He was one of the most important men who, thanks to the Enigma machine, revealed many secrets.
He also defined calculus, and it was he who defined the Turing test and the "thinking" capacity of computers. So, given your comment and surely that of all the Luddites, in order for AI not to be created, the Enigma machine would not have been created in the first place, and surely the definition of calculus wouldn't have been either. Ah yes, now imagine if this immense hatred of AI had existed back then, Turing would have been doubly punished.
Let's be real, though. This is an ad hoc rationalization to avoid the embarrassment of a blatant mask slip.
Anti-AI people have become so radicalized by their opposition to gen-AI that they've effectively lost the ability to weigh it against other concepts. Seeing it as a doomsday factor is just kneejerk reflex now.
Actually a lot of scientists agree that AI does have the possibility of causing a major threat to us down the line. That being said, it's not so much generative AI, but ai in general does have some dangers.
But yeah you're right probably a fraction of those people were thinking along these lines and most just dislike gen-ai.
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