If your robobureaucracy is more concerned with fighting fraud than delivering service, then it isn't a service delivery system at all - it's a service denial system.
The bureaucratic AI arms-race is mutually assured destruction @pluralistic
https://pluralistic.net/2026/08/10/deep-state-wopr/
@CartyBoston @pluralistic In a war between robot AI stormtroopers and Boston City Hall, I'd honestly be pretty torn
@rstein @pluralistic Perhaps our German bureaucracy should rather make the system usable by humans, so you don't need LLM guesses/lies to make sure you get the help you are entitled to / need.
Even before LLM, a big portion of complaints were successful, if people were able/willing to file them at all and go to court. And even in court, the agencies had a bad track record validating their reasoning for rejecting/reducing benefits.
It's just degrading, inhuman procedures that need to go...
@pluralistic how DARE the plebes exercise their legal rights the same way the rich do. Obviously the state will respond by creating a new "fast lane" for the wealthy to get their stuff done.
@pluralistic Something similar is happening in Germany. Rejected or reduced benefit claims are answered with help of an LLM. And about a third of these complaints get positve results.
But the adminstration is swamped. Perhaps they should use an LLM...
@anne_twain @pluralistic
The same vibe Jack Straw gave off in meetings with Condoleeza Rice, if anyone's old and sad enough to want to remember 2003 (but at least that invasion was of a third country, not his own)
@pluralistic Dear Mr Doctorow, would you please have a word with the Premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, who recently thought it was something to brag about that he signed a "memorandum of understanding" with the execs of Open AI. He's the one on the right in the photo, looking like an eager toddler meeting Santa Claus. #SouthAustralia #Australia #GodHelpUs #enshittification
507 words on “Once Is Enemy Action,” a science fiction novel about the origins of modern technofascism. (3619 words total) #dailywords
@pluralistic However, for businesses outside of the US, the risk in using US-based services is increasing sharply. The exodus is starting and anyone not at least *considering* leaving google, microsoft, etc. is either sleeping or in denial.
@pluralistic
Reminds me of how clever my old schoolyard verbal bullies got by middle school... which, in turn, led to my getting misdiagnosed behind my back as hallucinating it all, with traumatic results.
@pluralistic
And so begins the AI fueled bureaucracy arms race. And we thought bitcoin was going to eat all the power on Earth. We ain't seen nothing yet.
I'm also on Bluesky. Read today's thread there at:
https://bsky.app/profile/did:web:pluralistic.net/post/3mspjxzojmc2j
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Recent appearances:
* The AI Enshittification Bubble (Hidden Forces)
https://hiddenforces.io/podcasts/the-ai-enshittification-bubble-cory-doctorow/
* F@#$ the AI Overlords (On The Media)
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/articles/f-the-ai-overlords
* Why AI Won't Replace Workers, But Will Crash The Economy (Smart Cookies)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRRmUuxJolY
* AI and the Enshittification Era (The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dAIJRjb-Bw
* AI is not inevitable (Betakit)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbiTVkq1WHo
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You can follow these posts as a daily blog at pluralistic.net: no ads, trackers, or data-collection!
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Upcoming appearances:
* Virtual: EFFecting Change: Who the Machine Serves, Aug 12
https://www.eff.org/event/effecting-change-who-machine-serves
* #Edinburgh International Book Festival with Jimmy Wales, Aug 17
https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/events/the-front-list-cory-doctorow-and-jimmy-wales
* #Sydney: The Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Aug 23-24
https://festivalofdangerousideas.com/program/
* #Melbourne: Enshittification at the Wheeler Centre, Aug 25
https://www.wheelercentre.com/events-tickets/season-2026/cory-doctorow-enshittification
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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):
* #Brighton: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Carole Cadwalladr (Brighton Dome), Sep 8
https://brightondome.org/whats-on/LSC-cory-doctorow-the-reverse-centaurs-guide-to-life-after-ai/
* #London: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Riley Quinn (Foyle's Picadilly), Sep 9
https://www.foyles.co.uk/events/enshittification-cory-doctorow-riley-quinn
* #SouthBend: An Evening With Cory Doctorow (Notre Dame), Oct 6
https://franco.nd.edu/events/2026/10/06/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow/
* #Vancouver: BC Policy Solutions Gala, Nov 12
https://bcpolicy.ca/gala/
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My ebooks and audiobooks (from FSGxMCD, Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."
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My latest nonfiction book is the internationally bestselling"The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI," from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/
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My previous nonfiction book is the internationally bestselling "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It":
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/
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Saturday's threads: Digital sewer socialism; and more!
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/117059169198667999
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#5yrsago Canada's got the world's worst internet ideas https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/11/the-canada-variant/#no-canada
#5yrsago End of the line for Uber https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/10/unter/#bezzle-no-more
#1yrago Goodhart's Law (of AI) https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/11/five-paragraph-essay/#targets-r-us
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