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The cost of AI slop could cause a rethink that shakes the global economy in 2026 (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 6 days ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/world@lemmy.world

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The US dictionary Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2025 was “slop”, which it defines as “digital content of low quality that is produced, usually in quantity, by means of artificial intelligence”. The choice underlined the fact that while AI is being widely embraced, not least by corporate bosses keen to cut payroll costs, its downsides are also becoming obvious. In 2026, a reckoning with reality for AI represents a growing economic risk.

Ed Zitron, the foul-mouthed figurehead of AI scepticism, argues pretty convincingly that, as things stand, the “unit economics” of the entire industry – the cost of servicing the requests of a single customer against the price companies are able to charge them – just don’t add up. In typically colourful language, he calls them “dogshit”.

Revenues from AI are rising rapidly as more paying clients sign up but so far not by enough to cover the wild levels of investment under way: $400bn (£297bn) in 2025, with much more forecast in the next 12 months.

Another vehement sceptic, Cory Doctorow, argues: “These companies are not profitable. They can’t be profitable. They keep the lights on by soaking up hundreds of billions of dollars in other people’s money and then lighting it on fire.”

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[–] prodigalsorcerer@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 days ago

Should cars have been outlawed because it put farriers and stables out of business? Were shipping containers a bad idea because they required fewer longshoremen?

Technology comes and makes jobs obsolete. It happens all the time. It just happens that this technology has come in a big, visible way, and many of the ways its used and marketed are useless and/or awful. That doesn't mean it's entirely bad, and there's certainly no way to stop it now.

AI will replace jobs. We can't get around that fact. Companies that fail to adapt will fall behind. Whether I use it at my job or not has no bearing on the industry, and I'm not in a position to push for industry-wide change (nor is the company I work for). So we can either use it, or also fall behind.

I work for a mid-sized company. We still hire junior developers. I don't think we have any plans to get rid of them entirely, but I'm not involved in that process. But after a couple decades of huge growth in the industry, developers (especially junior ones) are going to have a rough few years as the industry realigns with the new normal. There will be job losses, there will be companies that disappear entirely because they either depended too much upon AI, or didn't adapt fast enough. But pretending that AI isn't a useful tool when used in specific ways is just sticking your head in the sand.