Currently laughing at all the companies saying that mass layoffs will occur “due to AI”.
It’s the “due to COVID” of 2023.
Does anyone seriously believe this shit? Are we supposed to believe that economics is a law of nature and not ideological, and that these supposedly “good and kind” corporations just want to help? Are we expected to believe that they are forced to make impossible decisions and that being God is just so hard, you guys. And what about AI? Oh no, we’ll be forced to fire people. Alas! Alack! Give me a break.
Folks:
It’s a choice.
Stop buying the “difficult decision” shite. It wasn’t a difficult decision, it was a callous one, borne from self-interest, cowardice and a refusal to stand up for what’s right.
They’re cutting you for their shareholders, nothing else. Not a pandemic (in which most increased profits and used public funds on share buybacks), not on the supply chain (many have artificially limited supply to gouge people), AI (it is dog shit), a gust of wind, or a Twitter mob…
It’s a choice to put profits first, people second. Stop defending it.
Stop making excuses, and take some “personal responsibility”, which is what those who make the world so much worse than it needs to be tell us to do, daily.
Corporations choose to put prices up/gouge us, and fire people rather than absorb it, even though they can afford to. I’m not talking about SMEs, who feel if they remain quiet on this shit they might end up a billion dollar corporation (you won’t). I’m talking about corporations with billions of dollars in profit that was gained off the back of human suffering.
Companies who are all on board with United Colors of Bennetton billboards, but still keep people in bonded labour, sweat shop conditions and under surveillance. And they appoint the corporate cops, HR, to tell that YOU have a choice.
Well, so do they.
They choose to manipulate supply. They choose to cause inflation by putting up prices to keep their margins intact whilst you struggle to pay your bills, and small business’ overheads explode.
Then, because of a lifetime of propaganda that told you economics is a law of physics, you sit there, defending it, like it isn’t a choice.
Pay attention: the one time they need to do actual corporate social responsibility, and maybe not put their prices up, or keep staff on, or help people out: they don’t.
Remember this next time you see some HR asshole talking about sustainability, social justice or whatever. It’s a cloak that distracts you from the fact we are ruled by psychopaths.
They could absorb the costs. They don’t. The costs trickle down to you.
And they use whatever veneer they can to wriggle out of that fact.
Replacing people with AI is not a random act of nature that just happens out of the blue and is outside people’s control. There is not an invisible hand of a vengeful God, sending a flood of AI to drown all the sinners and their families, or a swarm of locusts to lobby politicians to cut their taxes, or a massive bush fire telling everyone there aren’t enough homes for everyone. The CEO is not trying to build an Ark to save you all from a vengeful God.
It is a choice. And they choose profit over people.
It really is that simple. Stop overcomplicating it. Stop defending it like it isn’t a conscious decision by individuals with agency. Stop pretending that corporations give a shit about you, the world, social causes or anything.
And worse, stop bloody defending it.
The only thing that trickles down is the suffering, the starvation, and the exploitation. And you keep making excuses for it.
It is not inevitable. It is man-made and you let them get away with it.
For crying out loud. Take some personal responsibility.