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A comment on The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam.

Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by lowbloodsugar on Monday May 18, 2026 @10:55PM (#48188654)
I'll just keep repeating this:

There are three options:

1. AI owned by everyone

2. No AI

3. AI owned by billionaires

If you can make the masses fight for 2 instead of 1, then you guarantee that you don't get 1. If instead, the masses fight for 1, they've got a chance of getting it. You present AI as a false dichotomy: no AI or AI for billionaires. But 2 is a fantasy. There will be AI.

Any of us arguing for (1) get shouted down by the very people who would benefit most from it. The masses do the job of the billionaires.

Most utopian science fiction has AI doing the work and humans leading a life of leisure (e.g. Culture novels). Dystopian futures have AI keeping the rabble under control (Neil Asher's Owner Trilogy, Elysium). Time to choose folks.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by mycall on Monday May 18, 2026 @11:16PM (#48188781)
#2 is impossible now that oss models are readily available and nobody would know you are using them.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by heddycrow on Monday May 18, 2026 @11:04PM (#48188710)
I wish that those who support #2 looked a lot less like #3.

For that matter, I wish those who were pro-AI were more strictly supportive of #1.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by xscott on Monday May 18, 2026 @11:15PM (#48188775)
I agree with your logic, but you should replace 2 with "AI used by governments only". The haters would have more luck getting rid of nuclear weapons than putting the AI cat back in the bag. Governments will use it for surveillance. Think "sentiment analysis" to make sure you're not a terrorist.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by wvenable on Monday May 18, 2026 @11:29PM (#48188858)
What does #1 actually mean in practical terms? Collective ownership of a giant data center and all the CPUs, GPUs, and DRAM needed to do AI?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by euroderf on Tuesday May 19, 2026 @02:10AM (#48189815)
This is where the researchers and the essayists should be working. What does it look like when there's a significant tax at every value-add (hey let's call it a value-added tax!) that goes into a big beautiful kitty that funds UBI and general nutrition & housing ?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by wvenable on Tuesday May 19, 2026 @11:44AM (#48194859)
What?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by Octoth0rpe on Tuesday May 19, 2026 @07:11PM (#48200912)
The opposite I'd say, completely open models/weights with some level of government/civil support for ongoing training (through universities? government labs?), but the infrastructure to run models is private and entirely commoditized/interchangeable with highly competitive pricing from multiple private providers.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by prettyblocks on Monday May 18, 2026 @11:14PM (#48188765)
#2 is not really an option though. It's more like #1 or #3.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by throwawa14223 on Monday May 18, 2026 @11:24PM (#48188829)
#1 seems like the worst possible dystopia. We should shoot for #2 and have #3 as a fallback. The Culture is the worst dystopia I am capable of imagining.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by jaredcwhite on Monday May 18, 2026 @11:20PM (#48188804)
Yeah I'll pick two, thanks.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by shimman on Tuesday May 19, 2026 @11:22AM (#48194541)
It's hilarious how the elites don't understand the politics of rejection.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by lofaszvanitt on Monday May 18, 2026 @11:33PM (#48188879)
4. regulation... well, that's a no go in the US. So what is the 5th option?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by xscott on Tuesday May 19, 2026 @01:38AM (#48189605)
I predict it will get regulated in the US, and that it will lead to regulatory capture. Solving absolutely NONE of the problems people complain about while providing NONE of the benefits AI could bring to society.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by JumpCrisscross on Tuesday May 19, 2026 @02:09AM (#48189814)
4. AI owned by someone else. Unless you’re in America, China, the UK, France or Israel, it’s this or No. 2.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam by GolfPopper on Tuesday May 19, 2026 @09:43AM (#48193218)
If there are no billionaires, you don't have to worry about option 3.
[ Parent | on HN ]