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‘Crypto v community’: 4,000 local US lenders join forces to fight ‘stablecoins’ law
Up to 4,000 community banks fear looming legislation to regulate digital cash will deprive rural firms and farmers of $850bn-worth of loans On a quiet summer morning, above a small mid-western town, an American flag is waving in the breeze. The camera cuts to a father helping his son at the wheel of a tractor,…
‘You can’t make billions without hurting people’: Cory Doctorow on Elon Musk, the AI bubble and bosses’ cruel fantasies
The writer who coined the word ‘enshittification’ tells us why AI will never deliver what it promises – and why it still appeals so much to those in power A “centaur”, in automation theory, is a person assisted by a machine, and a “reverse centaur”, hero of Cory Doctorow’s new book, The Reverse Centaur’s Guide…
AI absolutism is breaking our brains. The apocalyptic future we’re being sold isn’t inevitable
Nor is the dreamy promise that this tech will unlock boundless potential and productivity Everything we hear about artificial intelligence is conflicting, and hearing about it feels inescapable. AI is terrible. AI is wonderful. It will break the world. It will transform the future. It’s essential to embrace it. It’s a moral imperative to abstain…
‘A feedback loop with no brake’: how an AI doomsday report shook US markets
Shares in Uber, Mastercard and American Express fall on back of apocalypse scenario posted on Substack US stock markets have been hit by a further wave of AI jitters, this time from yet another viral – and completely speculative – warning about the impact of the technology on the world’s largest economy. The latest foreboding…
If AI makes human labor obsolete, who decides who gets to eat?
Amid talk of artificial intelligence taking our jobs, the big unasked question is: how will we be fed? How will we be fed? That’s the biggest question not seriously being addressed amid all this talk about whether or not artificial intelligence will end up taking over all of our jobs. Formidable though the technology appears,…
Why universal basic income still can’t meet the challenges of an AI economy
Andrew Yang’s revived pitch suits the automation debate, but UBI can’t fix inequalities concentrated tech wealth drives Universal basic income (UBI) is back, like a space zombie in a sci-fi movie, resurrected from policy oblivion, hungry for policymakers’ attention: brains! Andrew Yang, whose “Yang Gang” enthusiasm briefly shook up the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020…
Is AI a bubble that’s about to pop? – podcast
Should we be worried about the vast amounts of money pouring into AI? And what will happen if the bubble bursts? Blake Montgomery reports For months there have been fears that artificial intelligence is a bubble and that it is about to burst. As the Guardian US tech editor Blake Montgomery explains, the magnificent seven…
Once the AI bubble pops, we’ll all suffer. Could that be better than letting it grow unabated?
The world will be pushed into a recession, but perhaps we can build something more promising from the pieces The world economy hinges on the success or failure of artificial intelligence. It’s becoming apparent that we are probably doomed either way. Employment growth is stuck and wage growth is slowing, especially among low-paying jobs. Loan…