Companies are *already* quietly hiring people to come in and clean up the digital asbestos that is "AI" slop, or re-hiring the same folk (who did the actual work) that managers and CEOs ditched with surpassing cruelty.
Please, if you're a consultant or getting re-hired, MAKE THEM PAY.
"AI" hasn't persisted solely because it fooled rich people who don't like being told "no". It also had significant potential for union-busting, and producing economic uncertainty in order to achieve the Wealthy Sociopath Holy Grail of a permanent serf underclass to be abused at will.
Anyway, if you're being courted to come back to a place that fired you (or other people) with a "haw haw, the thieving slopbot'll do yer job, loser!", hold out for good benefits and make them fucking PAY. Don't let them call you in on piecework rates for what used to be a good-paying job.
(Also, "quantum computing" is absolutely the next big tech grift, and saying as much now will get one all sorts of new and interesting bots/trolls to block.)
@lilithsaintcrow Ugh yes. I'm lately in conversation with a guy who thinks that quantum computers are scientifically impossible (nope), we're about to see a bunch of desperate big tech growth stocks spend a bajillion to convince the public that quantum computers are just like faster, harder-to-program classical computers that will require a new era of developer education to be quantum-ready (ugh, also nope), and the subtle reality that these are very expensive useful tools within narrow niches (but it's hard to find new things they're good at) is going to be exhausting to maintain.
@MaddieM4 I'm exhausted just hearing about it, and anticipating the entire shitshow. Good heavens.
Jul 9, 2026, 11:58 AMMuch like 'AI', quantum computers' most promising use case appears to be crime.
Jul 9, 2026, 1:57 AM@MaddieM4 @lilithsaintcrow Don't forget all the multi-thousand dollar bullshit certifications they'll be hawking.
@MaddieM4 @lilithsaintcrow My understanding is that the current generation of quantum computers are very much artisanally crafted 1-offs, and that some recent IBM announcements significantly move the needle towards making mass-manufactured QCs a reality (although the utility of devices that can be made at current capabilities is IMO questionable at best).
Completely agree about the niche use cases too & I don't find "store now, decrypt later" to be a particularly compelling argument either.
@lilithsaintcrow are you familiar with the “quantum factorization on an abacus and a dog” paper?
The author refers to quantum computing as “a physics experiment”, which is definitely the current state.
@silverwizard @lilithsaintcrow @TindrasGrove
My understanding is that there are now numerous ways to create stable qbits that can be entangled with topologies like 2-d grids (which is cool as hell).
And also that all the potentially useful quantum-supremacy type algorithms would need an enormously larger and more flexible set of available entanglement topologies.
Are those reasonable first order suppositions for looking at stories about quantum computing?
Jul 9, 2026, 1:58 AM@silverwizard @lilithsaintcrow @TindrasGrove Maybe they'll find a way to rebadge Bitcoin miner ASICs.
Jul 9, 2026, 12:25 PM@TindrasGrove @lilithsaintcrow
The technology has improved since then. I was at quite an interesting talk covering the state of the art here at VeTSS recently. The fastest supercomputers can simulate a quantum computer with about 40 qubits. Increasing it by one qubit doubles the space requirements. The big hype recently was about 'quantum supremacy', which means you can run some quantum algorithm that cannot be simulated on any classical computer.
The next step is quantum utility, where you can run a useful algorithm (e.g. factorisation) on a quantum computer that you can't run on a classical one. This is different because quantum computers are not necessarily always general-purpose programmable.
The step after that is that you can run useful algorithms on useful data sizes.
The most interesting thing was that they have a date that's been updated regularly for when quantum computers are expected to be able to factorise numbers large enough for breaking asymmetric crypto. This is controlled by two factors:
It looks as if the second of these has been a much bigger driver in bringing the timeline closer. The improvements since Shor's algorithm have been enormous.
@lilithsaintcrow I read that as quantum quitting
@davidgerard was talking about this yesterday:
@BillySmith I very much enjoyed the video, even after all the hype I never felt the urge to use AI for anything. It is an almost self-righteous feeling that I had on hearing the arguments of David Gerard, I do hope they remove these annoying AI apps from Handy and other tools. 🤔 @lilithsaintcrow @davidgerard
@connynasch @BillySmith @lilithsaintcrow the consistent reaction i get to Pivot to AI is "oh thank God I thought it was just me"
Jul 9, 2026, 6:32 AM@lilithsaintcrow
Demand back pay for the period of unemployment.
@lilithsaintcrow People have forgotten that the middle class was only created as a temporary emergency firebreak by rich people because it was growing increasingly likely that the poor were going to rise up and kill them, as they were in Latin America and Europe.
Jul 9, 2026, 1:09 AM@lilithsaintcrow so, first they gave us quiet quitting, now they gave us quiet hiring. wonder what's next
Jul 9, 2026, 1:56 AM@lilithsaintcrow Some of the ones out here are being really uncool to insulting about it. I really hope nobody's taking those positions.
@lilithsaintcrow I’ve told my management exactly this during a meeting recently! “If you fire me because you think AI can do my job, and in 6 months you realize you need me back… you will have to pay me TRIPLE my current salary”
They laughed, thinking I was joking.
I stared at them stone faced and said “I’m dead serious. If you make a dumb choice, it’s gonna cost you a LOT of money for me to come back and clean up ”
They stared at me for an uncomfortably long time, not knowing what to do before saying “ok. Your comment is noted” and I walked out and went back to work.
@ironcladlou Let's hope they fully grasped the gravity of the situation.
this may be true for you
but for many workers - I dunno what percent - if you walk off and they need to rehire you, they can easily rehire someone else, cause there are a lot of unemployed tech workers right now
@failedLyndonLaRouchite @lilithsaintcrow this is, of course, very true.
I have a very niche skill set, in a very niche field. However, the executives at the top are staggeringly stupid and still think AI can do anything (despite mountains of evidence to the contrary) and an employees unique qualifications are meaningless.
My warning shot across the bow was to the level of management who kiss the asses of executives, but still understand how our industry works.
Not everyone can pull off this stunt. But those of us who work in areas of tech and CAN confidently make this stand MUST for all tech workers everywhere.
About 28 years ago my company brought in a bunch of guys in three-piece suits to "evaluate" the workforce. They talked to all of us and were very friendly.
One day, a few weeks after they went away, the phone calls began. First to the head of my department. They told her to come to a meeting; she did. We never saw her again.
Then more calls. One by one, people were called and told to come to a meeting somewhere else in the building. It wasn't long before we knew what was happening. People would start crying when their phones rang. They'd gather up their personal stuff, hug their friends goodbye, and go to "the meeting".
By the end of the day over half of the department had been laid off.
And this was long BEFORE AI, mind you!
But the funny thing was that the advisors fucked up in a number of cases. Some of the people they laid off were VITAL to the company–and couldn't be replaced by other hires, because they had decades of experience with the company that wasn't available in the general job market.
So the company desperately tried to get them to come back. I don't know how many agreed, or on what terms. But one cool woman only agreed to come back at double her previous salary, and with a special condition: a life-sized photographic cardboard stand-up cutout of her, with a BIG smile on her face, pointing to a speech bubble above her head that said "I TOLD YOU SO!".
@Quasit @lilithsaintcrow oh, the cardboard cutout is next level hero material! I love that!! 😂❤️
@ironcladlou @lilithsaintcrow
I saw it myself. And it really was life-size. She was a tall woman, too! At least 6 ft tall.
@Quasit a hands-down hero, I hope she's still living her absolute best life @ironcladlou
@lilithsaintcrow
I just see this hype as a work insurance.
I’m a contractor who specialised in cleaning up bad, often legacy, code.
I don’t see the difference between AI slop and code that got hacked for decades.
I just charge a big amount of money to come fix it
@lilithsaintcrow Unionize and get rid of the braindead dead weight. The managers and CEOs.
When considering How Much you need to be paid include:
Low job security.
Stupid senior level management.
Venal and cruel middle management.
Company's low respect for your expertise.
Company's low value for your expertise.
Company's future viability (you'll need to find another job soon as they're gullible fools).
Your inside knowledge that naive candidates lack.
The accessibility of client lists.
The likelihood of the server-people being convinced to wipe all storage.
AI as "digital asbestos" and the billionaires sprayed it on everything ☠️
Jul 9, 2026, 8:49 AM@lilithsaintcrow I would never return to a company that arbitrarily fired me without cause. I'm not sure there's enough money in the world to induce me to go back. I would literally rather work as a cashier in a bodega in a bad neighbourhood than go back to a company that did that.
@lilithsaintcrow +9001%
At least demand DOUBLE, IF NOT TRIPLE + RETROACTIVE PAY & FIRING OF #AIslop ADVOCATES before even considering rejoining!
@lilithsaintcrow Came here to say that you probably don't need to tell a consultant to "make them pay" after axing them 😁
@lilithsaintcrow Totally - and the one thing everyone should insist on is the ability to WFH permanantly.
Along with significant pay rise, and continuity of employment.
Also, the bosses car. OK, maybe not that.
Jul 9, 2026, 12:55 PM@lilithsaintcrow
But in many cases they are hiring them to teach the AI to do a better job of replacing people like them.
Not what I would want to do unless starving.
@lilithsaintcrow @williampietri Digital Asbestos is an amazing term, thank you!
@labria @williampietri I wish I could take credit! I forget where I first heard it, but it's not mine. Possibly it’s @cstross’s term.
@lilithsaintcrow @labria @williampietri Not mine! Possibly Cory Doctorow's?
@lilithsaintcrow getting rehired is probably the best position to start or join a union
@lilithsaintcrow I reckon there's a lot of money to be made by short-selling all the companies that are investing in AI. (But I'm not a finance bro, so I have no idea how to do that.)
