I'm not buying it and nobody should. It's just a marketing ploy, and most importantly a way to keep the AI bubble afloat.

The fact is that AI is incapable of living up to the hype and AI companies can't keep promising that any day now it's going to cure cancer and become self aware and be as smart as humans and let employers fire most of their staff. They know that isn't going to happen. They want to be able to blame the Slowdown for AIs continued failure to deliver while also claiming the Slowdown is needed because of how successful AI is.

That said, AI isn't harmless. It could be harmful to the internet since the flood of bots and slop could drown out the voices of real people. AI will be used and misused by companies and governments to screw over people and hide discrimination. People's air and water will become increasingly polluted while their already difficult to afford energy prices will go up. AI will enable new levels of surveillance and control at a scale that was never possible before and with a lot of false positives and negatives.

We don't need an "AI slowdown" so much as we need to rethink what we're really gaining in exchange for what it's costing us and what steps need to be taken to protect the public and make sure they get prioritized over private profits.