Workplace AI mandates are about disempowering labor

AI doesn’t take jobs

First off all, let’s put the blame where it belongs. AI doesn’t replace jobs.

Bosses eliminate jobs and tell the remaining staff to use tools like AI to perform the tasks that still need to be done.

The real goal of workplace AI

From an executive’s perspective, AI is about one thing: disempowering labor. That’s it and that’s all.

Your CEO has no respect for your expertise. Because I think some part of them knows how replaceable they are—what is a CEO but a mouthpiece for the day’s conventional wisdom, anyway?—CEOs can’t understand (or tolerate) true subject matter expertise. CEOs love “vibe coding” because their whole job is vibes, already.

To them, everyone below them should be replaceable. And AI has been a godsend: a tool that devalues your expertise and even deskills you! It’s offered bosses every excuse to finally put you in your place, which is why they’re forcing you to use it.

They want us to feel replaceable—by leaning on AI as the new subject matter expert. And then they want to make the case that we actually are replaceable—by maintaining or increasing productivity with fewer employees.

Well, I’m not replaceable. And you aren’t either. So fuck that.

Productivity alone is meaningless

I mentioned productivity. That’s honestly all AI can promise. And productivity is not (despite the interchangeability with which people use the terms) efficiency.

Productivity measures the volume of output. Efficiency measures the speed at which tasks are successfully performed. Productivity doesn’t care about quality, and neither does AI.

My job as an accessibility producer is all about quality. If the AI screws up, I’m still to blame. So why would I let it do my work in the first place?

What can you do?

Build solidarity. Unionize.

And if you’re a good manager, encourage your workers to do so.

I understand if you feel pressure to use (and even promote) LLMs for now. We all have to work to get by, and jobs are scarce enough.

But let’s try to find ways to build the future we want, when we can.