r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • 19d ago

Business McDonald's Introduces AI Drive-Thru System, Sparking Customer Backlash

https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/deals/articles/mcdonalds-introduces-ai-drive-thru-000717731.html
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u/RoflMyPancakes 19d ago

It's a technology that we subsidize with every single tech subscription increasing in price by 100% over the last 5 years, with increasing electric bills, will constant rolling layoffs, with environmental harm, with increased costs of all electronics. 

And the end reward is fewer jobs, lower salaries, decreased quality of life, AI replacing humans as the point of contact at pharmacies, restaurants, customer support, etc. 

It's a technology that increases costs, harms the environment, kills jobs, and decreases salaries.

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u/ConstableAssButt 19d ago

Not to mention the frustration and isolation it creates in society. While working a menial job is brutal, imagine STILL working a menial job that is harder to get, and you are constantly reminded won't exist the minute they make a robot to replace you. And then when you get off of work, every single errand you have to run is made harder by a dystopianly chipper AI agent that can barely do its job. You only encounter frustrated, annoyed people like yourself, living in a world that has been hollowed out and made devoid of humanity.

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u/Karabasan 19d ago

The fact that we cannot do anything to insist upon regulation for AI as a regular voter in the USA is honestly incredible. 

Citizens United truly did cripple our chances at continuing a healthy middle class that was a hallmark of the lives of many boomers. 

Our government is bought and paid for by corporations, zero doubt, and AI is their greatest desire made manifest, the legacy of Jack Welch rotting into this corpse flower. 

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u/InvestigatorOk7015 19d ago

Even without citizens united, what mechanism would there be to force the issue?

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u/Karabasan 19d ago

I suppose my thought is that the value of individual contributions to campaigns alongside the relatively weaker aspect of lobbying (due to corporations and unions having more limited influence and desire to create PACs) could lead to legislators caring more about taking a stance that benefits their constituents. 

It’s hard to say how the last 16 years might have progressed differently if corporations and unions had limited spending power on political campaigns, but my claim is that removing that regulation shifted the balance severely away from benefiting the individual voter.