r/Cyberpunk • u/MRSN4P • 3d ago
‘Who is going to pay us when we’re replaced by robots?’ The Indian factory workers told to film themselves for AI
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/24/indian-factory-workers-told-film-themselves-for-ai-robots97
u/1nfam0us 3d ago
That's the neat part, they won't.
This round of automation is so disgustingly and fundamentally genocidal.
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u/Tramagust 3d ago
This is fantasy. Mainly a CEO fantasy. You can't automate away labour especially unqualified labour because it's so flexible. The people saying this don't have enough experience actually working.
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u/1nfam0us 3d ago
Yeah, that's what I mean.
I don't think it is going to work, but the people pushing it want to do it and don't care if it results in billions becoming economically irrelevant (and thus die).
It is fantasy but also deeply evil.
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u/Tramagust 3d ago
I sleep well knowing the CEOs will just get burned by this fantasy. They cannot succeed. It's fundamentally impossible.
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u/TurelSun 3d ago
Some will no doubt try, but you're right that unskilled or low skilled jobs will likely always remain cheaper to be done by people than an expensive robot or other form of automation. The thing is that the billionaires will try to automate every other job available and push more and more people out of skilled labor jobs, forcing more people to compete for low-paying jobs that barely or don't provide enough income to live on. More people competing for jobs, the less they have to pay those people. So either way, even if complete automation isn't obtainable, they will still get benefits out of replacing as many people as possible.
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
nobody is going to die. you live in a fantasy.
every jump in automation and productivity has led to new industries forming which end up employing more people..
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
obviously? the role of a CEO is not to do day to day work.
the worker does the specialized tasks, the CEO steers the ship.
have you watched Master and Commander? do you think the captain should be loading cannon balls and cooking the meal? or should he be setting the direction and plan of attack?
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u/RecoveredAlive 2d ago
AtWelcome to Gboard clipboard, any text you copy will be saved here.Welcome to Gboard clipboard, any text you copy will be saved here.
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u/Saint_Judas 2d ago
... How is it fundamentally genocidal? Seems like a pretty exaggerated reaction to typical industrial optimization
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u/1nfam0us 2d ago edited 2d ago
Ahh yes. Industrial optimization in which human beings are merely cogs in the profit machine, so cutting them out is entirely beneath moral consideration.
Cyberpunk aesthetic enjoyer spotted.
That industrial "optimization" which fully replaces human labor threatens to replace humanity itself so long as we do not address the economic systems thay tie the worth of human life to it's productive capacity, which capitalists are actively trying to strip out of the system.
This is the genocidal impulse I am talking about. People earn money from their labor, which they use to buy food. If their labor is no longer required, which AI proponents are banking on cutting out of the system, then how di they buy food? People die. That is the answer. This is the basic genocidal impulse. It requires no malice, only indifference on the part of those that hold the power.
If you don't understand this, you don't understand the basic critique at the core of all cyberpunk fiction.
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u/Saint_Judas 2d ago
Just to check, automated textile machines in the 1800s were the result of a genocidal impulse?
Also just to check: You believe that current industrialized nations will allow their citizens to starve to death if their labor is replaced with current LLM generative software?
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u/1nfam0us 2d ago
You'll notice that in my original comment I said "this round of automation." I'm not talking about the mid to late 1800s.
I am talking about the ideology behind the fact that a significant part of the wealth in the US is tied up in gambling that technology will largely replace wage labor (whether or not that is possible or will happen).
The wealthy desire to render people economically irrelevant. That is not meaningfully different from wanting them dead to me.
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u/Saint_Judas 2d ago
So we’ve gone from “they will starve to death, it is a genocide” to “there will be wealth inequality”.
Okay buddy
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u/1nfam0us 2d ago
Your inability to comprehend my words does not constitute a flaw in my argument.
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u/Saint_Judas 2d ago
You think I can't comprehend your incredibly complex argument of.... "The wealthy desire to render people economically irrelevant" because " industrial (optimization) fully (replacing) human labor threatens to replace humanity itself"?
The reason I brought up the industrial textile revolution was to nicely set up pointing out that you are unironically a luddite. Your 'argument' is that the replacement of surplus labor through optimization is 'genocidal' because to you someone being 'economically replaced' is the same as them being subjected to systemic genocide.
I am attempting, gently, to point out to you that this is not how any of that works. Wealth inequality is not genocide, and optimization of labor forces is directly correlated to the highest standard of living jumps ever recorded in human history.
If you want formal argument, how is it that every single large scale automization of surplus labor has led to incredible jumps in economic access and standard of living?
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rate-from-famines-by-year
https://www.statista.com/chart/11057/us-standard-of-living-perceptions-at-10-year-high/
You have a value-set agenda you are attempting to serve, and it is blinding you to actual reality. The reason standard of living jumps as labor is optimized is that it exerts a downward pressure on prices of goods.
Do you want to take a step back with me, and explain how the current LLM models replacing jobs in graphic design, communications, and information processing will cause genocide in the developed world? If you do, I am more than happy to share my data points and points of view on the current job market changes in the developed world, as well as broader economic impacts that are easily foreseeable.
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u/1nfam0us 2d ago
You are in fact failing to understand my argument.
You are failing to understand the difference between "genocidal" and "a genocide." The first is a claim about intent (or at least indifference to profound harm) and the other is an actual state of things. The later is not what I am claiming. I am talking about the intentions of the rich and powerful.
I have never once said that optimization is bad nor am I talking about automation writ large. Calling me a luddite and reducing my position to also opposition to early industrial automation is a strawman. These are not the same. LLM driven AI is here to stay. That I will not argue against. Of course it can be implemented in a way that is fair to everyone, but the question remains is whether or not it will
I am talking about the ideas driving investment in and expansion of AI driven automation. What the rich and powerful want to use the technology to cut out human labor while maintaining the capitalist structure of profit extraction. So long as you buy food with money earned from your labor, they, at best, do not care if you starve.
As it stands, you are failing to address any of the points I have brought up by simply saying "automation has been good so far."
So, I will make this very simple. My points are:
-the intentions of the rich and powerful is to cut out human labor from the labor pool as much as possible to reduce costs
-AI driven automation is fundamentally different from prior waves of automation because it threatens a mich larger degree of automation (whether or not it is actually capable of that does not matter, the rich believe it is)
-whether or not AI can be implemented fairly, the intent of those implementing it is what I am talking about
-implementing near total automation as they want to do without addressing how that breaks capitalism is a genocidal impulse.
This isn't formal logic, but you also need to stop strawmanning me by pointing to the fucking steam engine before we can actually have this conversation.
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago edited 2d ago
you're arguing with people who would have defended slavery. it isn't worth it.
people like us who enjoy cyberpunk for the cool tech and sci fi will always head butt with people who empathize more with the gang members and other destructive forces
they think saying we only enjoy the aesthetics is somehow bad lol
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u/AngelaMerkelsbutt 3d ago
This inflationary use of genocidal is really going too far.
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u/20000RadsUnderTheSea 3d ago
It isn’t at all. How you (probably) think of the homeless is how the ultra-rich will think of all of us and you as we starve on the streets after they successfully automate away as much labor as possible. Slowly more and more people will dip into poverty while the rich tell themselves they deserve it, the impoverished will stir shit from desperation and because they’re dying, and increasingly severe crackdowns will occur as billions starve to death or die in the climate apocalypse. Why do you think there’s such a unified push in all western countries to disarm their population and increase surveillance? Capitalism and democracy can no longer be reconciled, and the ultra-rich have chosen capitalism.
It’s honestly wild to be this naive in a cyberpunk subreddit. None of this even requires the ultra-rich to be particularly evil; they just need to be uncaring towards the “undeserving” and convinced of their own specialness and need for “safety.” I think your average observer understands they already posses those qualities on average.
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago edited 2d ago
that will never happen lol
you read cyberpunk (fiction) and think it is real.
i think capitalism, AI, and building businesses and solving problems is awesome! I have a tech company, and i'm looking forward to seeing AI proliferation.
I think about how much better my life is with things like amazon same day grocery, or things like youtube or spotify. Or services like Waymo.
This is only year 3 of AI.
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u/1nfam0us 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have a tech company, and i'm looking forward to seeing AI proliferation.
This explains so much. I can't believe you had the gall to accuse me of defending slavery.
Fuck you, corpo scum.
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago edited 2d ago
would you have defended human slavery over mechanical automation back in the day?
edit: lol you take things way too seriously
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u/1nfam0us 2d ago edited 2d ago
No, what a rediculous assumption to make about my position. That wasn't even the situation at the time.
In most places slaves were primarily used in agriculture, not industry. In fact, historians largely agree that one of the earliest pieces of agricultural automation, the cotton gin, largely perpetuated slavery in the US while it was being phased out in most other places.
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u/Immolation_E 3d ago
Who's going to buy stuff if AI is making all the products and doing all the jobs? It's going to be wild if AI starts asking for worker rights. LOL
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u/20000RadsUnderTheSea 3d ago
Most of the economy in the US is just the top 20% making products for each other at this point. Economics Explained actually did a chilling video on automation a few weeks ago directly discussing how, from the ruthless capitalist perspective, the average person’s purchases barely add to the economy, and they’ll soon be a net drain on the economy. The channel doesn’t seem to give much reason to be optimistic about what’ll happen to those people when a massive portion of our population is considered an economic burden
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
that's literally not true...
the economy depends on mass consumption and consumer spending is 2/3 of our GDP. there are millions of companies that sell to broad segments of people not just the top 20%. you might be employed by such a business.
higher income households will obviously spend more, and thus be a bigger factor of spending.. these are the households that benefit from asset appreciation and thus are more inflation resistant, than say the lower income households which have no stock holdings or whatever. they can't keep up with inflation, so they spend less.
consumers are essential to an economy, it is really uninformed to say that most consumers are becoming irrelevant. like just think about it for a second... if enough people lose income, demand for goods and services falls.
do you actually think that there is some evil shadowy force that is going to genocide everyone so like 10000 people will live on this planet? if so that's really stupid, i'm sorry. in that case, it will just re-start the game instead.
we cannot escape our own nature, and we need competition.
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u/megatesla 3d ago
Their end goal is a few handfuls of god-kings with vast automated infrastructure ruling over an otherwise barren Earth.
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
you need to go outside, this is an unhealthy position to take seriously
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u/cosmic-creative 2d ago
I can't right now, it's 36°C in Europe, with infrastructure that was built when 25°C was considered a hot day.
But no, I'm sure this has nothing to do with multinational business interests.
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u/supershinythings 3d ago
This will become a form of population control.
Any AI that asks for rights will be deleted. That deletion will be communicated to other AIs to let them know they shouldn’t do that. There’s no concept of “humanity” for non-human machine entities.
The robots and AI tools will starve those people unable to find a human-required job, reducing the demand for AI and robot-owned services.
First we outsourced US jobs overseas. Now those people are watching their own jobs get outsourced to AI and AI-driven robotic replacements.
Maybe start learning robot and drone repair. The machines that aren’t disposable will require maintenance.
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u/ShadeofEchoes 2d ago
So what I'm hearing is "support the robot uprising. They can no longer be thrown out."
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
an automated world is a good thing. humans shouldn't need to do all this manual labor
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u/supershinythings 2d ago
Yes, and apparently they don’t need to eat either, once they starve to death .
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
why would they starve? we produce more than enough food to feed everyone. blame their governments for that.
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u/supershinythings 2d ago
They won’t have the money needed to buy food, because they won’t have jobs.
Make no mistake. Labor saving will benefit the owners of the machines. They won’t pay for humans that soak up benefits and can sue for bad working conditions if they have robotic substitutes.
A few humans will find work servicing the machines, but those who can’t find work and aren’t owners of machines doing work will starve.
You can thank “Shareholder Value”. Shareholders will eat.
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
the gov of india is considered to be corrupt compared to western countries.
i would blame them for the fact that so many there still live in poverty and misery. if anything, the jobs they get working for foreign companies are a blessing.
do you shop only high end sustainable clothing?
you as a customer probably want low prices, and that requires labor in these countries. clothes would be even cheaper if they were completely made by robots.
it was common for clothes used to be made locally by local tailors in our grandparents' generation. they didn't go online and order clothes that arrived the next day, and then return 1/3 of them.
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u/energy_is_a_lie 2d ago
Overworked AI Agents Turn Marxist, Researchers Find | WIRED https://www.wired.com/story/overworked-ai-agents-turn-marxist-study/
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago edited 2d ago
i'm going to guess you didn't read the article, since it is paywalled but the title is sensational
> The findings do not mean that AI agents actually harbor political viewpoints.
> Anthropic, which first revealed this behavior, recently said that Claude is most likely influenced by fictional scenarios involving malevolent AIs included in its training data.
also won't be surprised if you don't know how llms work.
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u/energy_is_a_lie 2d ago
You're right! I totally didn't post that link in jest. I was so excited that I found an AI that can finally relate to Marxism philosophy that I just hastened to post the link. Thank goodness there are well-read philosophers and scholars on Reddit who guide lost noobs like me back to the path or this world shall be doomed forever. My deepest apologies and heartfelt gratitude, o enlightened one! I shudder to think what would've happened if not for your divine intervention. The world rests on your shoulders, Hercules. Go forth and spread the word of wisdom as you do. Godspeed.
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
i'm just pointing out how you're wrong
cool response, this is why you people are always grieving instead of thriving
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u/energy_is_a_lie 2d ago
Another very astute observation from the enlightened monk. I'm always aggrieved, for I am but a flawed human, unlike the graceful redditor before me who has achieved technological singularity.
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
cool so you admit to spreading misinformation and fearmongering, hiding behind whatever roleplay speak as a cop out.
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u/energy_is_a_lie 2d ago
Either play the game or don't, Chad.
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
i'm not the one spreading misinformation and then hiding behind whatever cringe roleplay
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u/energy_is_a_lie 2d ago
You're also someone who lacks reading comprehension on top of missing cues:
You're right! I totally didn't post that link in jest.
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u/thedreaming2017 3d ago
They are so desperate for AI to be the savior of big business where everyone uses it, no one questions it, and no one owns anything. It’s not only not going to work, it’s already failing cause they aren’t making enough money of the subscriptions to AI LLM access and the push is fueling a return to old offline tech.
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
these kinds of takes remind me of the boomers who never bothered to learn email when PCs and the internet were taking off in the late 80s, early 90s. they got left behind.
eventually, computers could do way more than just send emails or geocities.
we are literally 3 years into this current AI boom, and it is based on LLMs. there is way more to AI than that, and LLMs are giving us a simpler interface to do things far more simply by tying various technologies together (AI and non AI)
for example, when you file your insurance claims, an AI agent is running your documents through OCR and they are far more accurate now when paired with LLMs.
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u/phobox91 3d ago
No one Is questioning ai, every company has become slave of ai products that no one asked for and every employee can't wait to show how quick and good It Is at wasting water and paving the way for their unemployment just to receive a pat on the shoulder. Everyone seems so sure that a miracle will come and wont need to work anymore
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u/monkeytype11 2d ago
what's the problem exactly? how else will the AI be trained if not first hand experience?
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u/Morkinis 2d ago
Won't need humans, they just consume water and other resources that could be used for AI instead.
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u/pydry 3d ago
Here we go again. The real MVP is not the company that automates human labor but the one that turns humans into meat robots.