this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025
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The issue with AI is not that it's not an impressive technology, it's that it's built on stolen data and is incredibly wasteful of resources. It's a lot like cars in that regard, sure it solves some problems and is more convenient than the alternatives, but its harmful externalities vastly outweigh the benefits.
LLMs are amazing because they steal the amazing work of humans. Encyclopedias, scientific papers, open source projects, fiction, news, etc. Every time the LLM gets something right, it's because a human figured it out, their work was published, and some company scraped it without permission. Yet it's the LLM that gets the credit and not the person. Their very existence is unjust because they profit off humanity's collective labour and give nothing in return.
No matter how good the technology is, if it's made through unethical means, it doesn't deserve to exist. You're not entitled to AI more than content creators are entitled to their intellectual property.
It’s built on publicly available data, the same way that humans learn, by reading and observing what is accessible. Many are also now trained on licensed, opt-in and synthetic data.
They don’t erase credit they amplify access to human ideas.
Training consumes energy, but its ongoing usage to query is vastly cheaper to query than most industrial processes. You’re assuming it cannot reduce our energy usage by improving efficiency and removing manual labour.
“If something is made unethically, it shouldn’t exist”
By that logic, nearly all modern technology (from smartphones to pharmaceuticals) would be invalidated.
And fyi I am an anarchist and do not think intellectual property is a valid thing to start with.
I think you're also underestimating the benefits cars have ushered, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone serious that can show that the harm has 'outweighed their benefits'