Carl Brown (Internet of Bugs): Silicon Valley’s Idiocy is Killing AI, Innovation and The Internet

We discussed how the tech sector reached its current messy situation, starting with social platforms that learned to reward outrage, engagement, and extreme opinions long before today’s AI boom. From Gamergate to Brexit/MAGA, we saw how algorithms could amplify misinformation, manipulate public attention, and divide communities.

AI is now taking that same system and making it more powerful, more personal, and harder to scrutinise. Carl made a crucial point about the way “AI safety” is being portrayed and discussed by the media and the tech sector.

We constantly hear that AI might eventually destroy humanity, but far less attention is paid to the harms already happening today, such as data breaches, surveillance, deepfake abuse, copyright theft, manipulation, and vulnerable people being misled by automated systems.

The hyped-up apocalyptic narrative may sound serious, but it can also distract us from asking the most important questions: what is happening now, who is responsible, and why are companies still pushing forward if they genuinely believe their technology could cause catastrophic harm?

We also challenged the economic story behind the AI bubble. Companies and investors talk about trillion-dollar markets built on the promise of replacing human labour, yet businesses are still struggling to prove meaningful returns.

Carl put it perfectly that feeling more productive is not the same as generating more revenue, reducing costs, or improving quality. More lines of code do not automatically mean better software, and more AI output does not automatically mean real progress. Much of the current boom seems to depend on the hope that someone else will pay more later.

We delved deeper into the true meaning and value of knowledge, curiosity, and care. I like to discuss how people need to learn beyond their own fields, question confident claims, and use AI to strengthen their expertise rather than replace their judgment.

However, Carl’s version was even more direct: People need to care about the truth, businesses need to care about their customers, care about the quality of their work, and care about the consequences.

Join the conversation and tell us whether you think AI created the crisis we are facing, or did it just inherit it from humans?