I’m not an AI techie and I’m not well educated on LLMs/AI in general. The issue I’m having is the dichotomy between how people talk about it. I’ve heard completely opposite ends of the spectrum. From AI is quickly becoming advanced enough to threaten human society, all the way to its a glorified dictionary/search engine that can’t really do much of anything. I know Lemmy has a steep anti-AI slant. But, can someone talk about this in a way I can wrap my head around why the divide seems so big?
The people claiming it’s humanity ending are all directly involved in the AI companies. One take is that they are the ones that know the most about it.
My take is they are financially incentivized in making sure their investments grow in value.
A third take is that they are unhinged cult members who are high on their own supply. Although I expect it’s a mix of both types (maybe within the same people).
Cory Doctorow also thinks that it is a coalition of true believers high on their own supply, and cynical grifters collaborating with them. https://pluralistic.net/2026/09/17/porque-no-los-dos/#fascist-incoherence
That or this is an elaborate form of advertisement. “Oh wooow guys our product is soo powerful it’s dangerous!”
I figured out recently that Thor Ragnarok is a perfect analogy for what is happening, and this is also why I think everyone’s pdoom should be very little, because they just evolve into new asgard
I was thinking about it in terms of a Vikings analogy.
It could be like Ivar the Boneless, or Bjorn Ironside.
But I guess either ways, you end up fucked.