alt Hacker News> The affordances of AI systems have the effect of eroding expertise, short-circuiting decision-making, and isolating people from each other.
This affordability is HEAVILY subsidized by billionaires who want to destroy institutions for selfish and ideological reasons.
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This is literally corporate textbook 101. Subsidize your product, become market leader, cause lock-in and make your customers dependant.
Every large enough corporate wants to become the new Oracle.
Given how nobody properly understands LLMs, I doubt that they are intentionally designed like that. But the effect... yeah. I can see that happening.
(By the way, are you confusing affordance, the UX concept, with affordability?)
The institutions have been doing a fine job of destroying all their credibility and utility all on their own for far longer than this new AI hype cycle.
ZIRP, Covid, Anti-nuclear power, immigration crisis across the west, debt enslavement of future generations to buy votes, socializing losses and privatizing gains... Nancy is a better investor than Warren.
I am not defending billionaires, the vast majority of them are grifting scum. But to put this at their feet is not the right level of analysis when the institutions themselves are actively working to undermine the populace for the benefit of those that are supposed to be stewards of said institutions.
I think you have misread the word “affordances”. It’s not about affordability [0]. The main text also explains what it means.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordance