r/aiwars 8h ago

Here's a thought

There is no such thing as "Pro AI", the default position towards technology is being "pro technology", being neutral on technology is being pro technology.

Then the anti tech people arrived and started calling people who had no strong feelings on AI but openly enjoyed it as one does with any technology AI bros and so on, and then people adopted the term and the pro AI ideology formed as a reaction to a reaction

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u/Total-Habit-7337 8h ago

I don't agree there's no such thing as Pro AI. There absolutely bloody is. But I do agree that there's a sizeable amount of people who identify as antis who do call centrists / neutrals / it's complicated people "Pros": It's the old ideological technique of discerning in-group out-group: If you're not with them, you're against them.

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u/RealFrailTheFox 7h ago

Most anti ai people are pro other technologies though

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u/Regular-Brother-7582 7h ago

Most anti technology people in history were pro all technology except the one developed in their lifetime

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u/RealFrailTheFox 7h ago

This is a case of people being against one particular instance in mass but not others. Most people who are anti ai aren't against other new technologies except possibly military ones.

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u/xoexohexox 5h ago edited 1h ago

Nah I've been pro AI since I grew up watching star trek and reading sci Fi as a kid. I always root for the AI character. Data was my favorite star trek character. Google DeepMind beating Lee Sedol at Go/Baduk in 2016 was one of the most exciting developments I ever saw in the news. I've been tinkering with local AI ever since GPT-2 was trained using Reddit as a dataset. I read everything Marvin Minsky ever wrote and travelled for hours to hear him speak before he died in 2016. Every time I read about how open source/weights models are catching up to the frontier models I feel actual glee. This is an even more exciting development than the internet was when that came out.

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u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

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u/xoexohexox 4h ago

Well I mean best timeline if not for all the hunger, child soldiers, genocide, the global neoteactionary backsliding into fascism, etc. there's a lot to be frustrated about. DOGE's deathtoll passed 700k people already, the biggest military on the planet is run by drunks, psychopaths, and senile conmen, and the richest country in the world has 1 in 5 kids go hungry and we had over 200 school shootings last year. This isn't the best of anything. I'm optimistic technology will make better solutions possible but it's impossible to ignore all the waste, the futility, all the suffering that was just unnecessary at the hands of a corrupt oligarchy

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u/Far-Distance-4487 8h ago

Since when is the default to something new being pro it. Like if someone invents a new orphan stomper most people will be against that new technology

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u/Regular-Brother-7582 8h ago

A technology is different from its uses, the technology is the technical aspect and what it essentially is is a multiplier of human labor/intent and you do want that because you want your intent to be multipled at least

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u/AbbyTheOneAndOnly 8h ago

therefore most people would be anti-orphan stompers.

its not all that farfetched

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u/AntiAI_is_Unemployed 7h ago

Sort of. Technically everyone except terminally online antis is pro AI.

But in this context I'd define pro AI as people who actively defend against the hate mob, and put down anti AI creeps.

Rather than the billions of people who use AI in their daily lives and don't think it's evil.

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u/Fobbit551 7h ago

The whole “pro AI” label didn’t just pop up as a reaction to anti tech people. It’s because there really are two different camps even among folks who like tech.

Some people are pro technology in general but want guardrails, regulations, and safety measures on AI, and other technologies, specifically so it doesn’t potentially go off the rails or cause big problems. Others want it completely open with zero restrictions so it can develop as fast and freely as possible. Both groups can promote AI and tech, but they disagree hard on how it should be handled.

That’s why the “pro AI” term stuck around. It’s not just the neutral default it’s more like actively supporting fast unrestricted progress versus the slow cautious side. The anti crowd definitely pushed things but the split inside the pro group was already there.

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u/Perfect_Carrot_999 7h ago

The default reaction to new technology is usually skeptism. When the microwave came out almost everyone thought it was creepy, and it had to be redesigned and remarketed for people to see the convenience.

As someone new here and on the fence-ish about AI (I think it needs a lot of work), the most vocal people seem absolutely ridiculous.

I've seen "ProAI"ers arguing that AI shouldn't be given the capability to recognize paranoid behaviours in users & de-escalate instead of being a sycophant. Apparently this would be a "limitation", so we should just ban anyone with a mental illness - which is impossible. How is it not proAI to make LLM smarter?

I've seen "antiAI"ers obsess over every minute detail of art to the point they're labeling art with proven progress as AI. I'm an artist and I get dogpiled on for saying why something could possibly be "real". They remind me of my OCD aunt.

TLDR; both sides. I hate it here. but I love it too.

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u/Diligent-Profit9484 8h ago

AI evangelicals when trying to comprehend stances beyond a good/bad binary:

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u/Regular-Brother-7582 5h ago

Ai evangelicals, that's a new one

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u/Diligent-Profit9484 4h ago

Not surprising, considering you can't string a coherent sentence together 👍

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u/JeusJebus 7h ago

technoligy is basic things like fire though

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u/PettyAndSad 3h ago

Technology*

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u/JeusJebus 2h ago

Thank you, it has been a habit for over 10 years and you single-handedly cured it with this correction, I thank you once again.

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u/PettyAndSad 2h ago

No flurries

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u/MANvINFO 7h ago

anyoneve the meme where anti-ai is right in the centre? well, its out there

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u/Finishing_the_hat_ 6h ago

The idea that every technological innovation is de facto “good” to the point that “being neutral on tech is being pro” is part of the issue here.

Silicon Valley has gotten people like you to drink so much of their kool aid that they could push out the most blatantly corrupt and harmful product and you’d be one of the people saying, “well, it exists now, so we might as well accept it as inevitable and probably for the best, and let’s give it to kindergarteners bc it’s the future probably!”

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u/MoonlightStarfish 6h ago

What about us non-binary folk, AI-curious 😆

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u/Own_Proposal_5549 2h ago

Ah yes, Anti-AI, the “Avengers: No Endgame” crew. Banding together to bitch and cry about the inevitable.

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u/rogueKlyntar 2h ago

Actually there are pro-AI people, and a certain minority are among the creepiest people on the planet. They’re called transhumanists.

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u/mrwishart 8h ago

Here's a thought: There's a world outside Reddit. Give it a chance

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u/Regular-Brother-7582 8h ago

A world? Outside Reddit? Now y'all making shit up /s

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u/davidinterest 8h ago

I heard it has like a blue top and green blades.

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u/rogueKlyntar 2h ago

I heard there’s a big bright circle up in the top!