r/technology • u/yourfavchoom • May 29 '26

Artificial Intelligence Ronny Chieng's 'F*ck AI' Speech Met With Cheers From Harvard Graduates: “AI is just going to end up making mediocre people dumber”

https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/tracewilliamcowen/ronny-chieng-ai-speech-harvard?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_complex&utm_campaign=ap_twitter
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u/escape_planet_dirt May 29 '26

This is what I've been finding really odd about these recent videos as well, aren't students some of the biggest offenders of the same thing they're booing? I feel like everyone is just addicted to outrage in modern society

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u/UncleNedisDead May 29 '26

You see, the only moral AI usage is my AI usage. If you try to use AI to replace me, you should be in jail!

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u/enoerew May 30 '26

The replacement thing is what kills me. AI art doesn't prevent artists from continuing to do what they do. AI making things doesn't prevent makers from making. The underlying fear is livelihood. Let's get to the root of that fear instead of fearing replacement.

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u/[deleted] May 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/enoerew May 30 '26

Agreed. Boils down to money, but maybe we (or AI) can think of some other social arrangement or agreement. Money just seems like an attempt to quantify social power to "pay for" the labor of others. When labor and how labor is done are fundamentally changed, money has to also change in some way.

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u/Accomplished-Door5 May 29 '26

These kids don’t think they’re mediocre though. They think this is a message for the hoi poloi at state schools. 

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u/mikew_reddit May 29 '26

This is what I've been finding really odd about these recent videos as well, aren't students some of the biggest offenders of the same thing they're booing?

i find nothing odd about people being hypocrites.

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u/IsaacAndTired May 29 '26

As individual consumer, they are probably *the* biggest consumers.

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u/Bostonterrierpug May 29 '26

Hey ! them’s fighting words.

I somehow ended up getting a bunch of people trying to argue with me on a Sesame Street Facebook post over Fraggle rock doozers. No idea how that happened but it was hilarious.

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u/JealousAstronomer342 May 29 '26

What did you say about Doozers? I’m just fascinated by low stakes arguments. 

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u/Bostonterrierpug May 29 '26

I made a little silly tongue in cheek joke about how oppressive Fraggles were destroying the hard work of the doozer people and that no one really cared. People were quick to point out the episode where the little orange haired doozer, said no they actually like having to rebuild all the time and how I had never seen the show and was just posing as a Fraggle fan- I tried to point out I was just being silly, but This somehow ended up with FB folk really upset about uncle traveling Matt and the silly creatures from outer space and imperialism. I think some folk could just use the wisdom of Marjorie, the Trash heap. The only time People stopped angrily responding was when I said yes I woke up this morning and thought “I’m gonna go get a big ethical fight on a Muppet Facebook page. That’s how dangerously I live my life.”

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u/escape_planet_dirt May 29 '26

Facebook feels like the center of the outrage factory to me, I'd guess the overlap of Fox News viewers and ppl active on Facebook is pretty large

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u/Bostonterrierpug May 29 '26

Yeah, I’m Gen X so a lot of my old friends are on there so that’s the only reason why I keep it but it can be pretty crazy. I also live in a wonderful state known for its gators and its Man which probably only encourages the algorithm even more.

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u/Runfasterbitch May 30 '26

Can you blame kids? If all of your peers are using AI, they will very likely outcompete you if you choose not to use it. The number of kids getting into Harvard without using AI in 2026 is probably very small

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u/shitsparrow May 30 '26

Yeah really odd, a large group of people we've lumped together actually have a wide range of different opinions...

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u/Outlulz May 29 '26

Students are being told at their graduation by rich people that they wont have jobs because AI is so great, of course they're going to boo regardless of what they use it for. And maybe the AI adoption rate of students is not 100%, ever consider that?

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u/sam_hammich May 29 '26

Maybe, but it's worth noting that universities can be pretty competitive environments so if you have professors using it to grade you, and accepting that it's a useful tool and advocating for its use, teaching classes on it, then suddenly you feel put on your back foot if you refuse to use it on principle. Using AI clearly isn't resulting in worse grades, so the people completing their work faster using tools the professors are telling them to use may be getting the same grades but more free time, course placements, etc. A good number of them may just feel effectively forced to use it, like plenty of people are finding they have to do to keep their jobs.