Cory: “it’s also weird to be anti-AI in the sense of ‘opposing AI because someone, somewhere used AI in a way that was gross, harmful or exploitative.’”
Um…
All Generative AI is gross, harmful, and exploitative.
Yes, I said it.
I think Cory D. wants to live in a world where he can have his cake and eat it too
He gets to be the knight in shining armor to rescue us from the horrible Big Tech companies
At the same time, he wants to embrace the technology produced by these Big Tech companies and say it's pretty great actually.
Fuck that shit. 💩
@jaredwhite He's just a writer. And not a particularly notable writer. He's ultimately nobody of influence or importance. But he thinks he's both.
@computerchronicles Well, I would say objectively he's pretty influential. We are even using the term he came up with, enshittification.
One would think he could be a great ally on our side. Unfortunately, I think his instincts are headed towards the wrong places.
@jaredwhite If coming up with a mildly obscene buzzword is influence, then sure. I still think it's safe to ignore him. 🤷
@jaredwhite Doctorow always puzzles me. I listen to an interview, and he seems very sensible on power, exploitation, labour, etc. Then he suddenly says something like this, where he completely fails to understand that technologies have social context, and that tools have a shape that determines their most likely use. Yes, it seems a bit as if he would like for a social problem to be solved while still being able to play around with the tool whose availability causes that problem.
Oct 20, 2026, 8:57 PM@jaredwhite cory doctorow is the walking embodiment of a corporate ERG/BRG. he exists to mollify and subsume. so of course he's pro-slop.
Oct 21, 2026, 6:55 AM@jaredwhite
Critique as a business model. Of course he will always shy away from being resolute when it could hurt his bottom line.
Oct 20, 2026, 8:29 PM@jaredwhite There's also a massive difference between using AI to do something gross, harmful, or exploitative and AI *existing* due to those traits.