Years ago, when I started writing about Silicon Valley‘s efforts to replace workers with artificial intelligence, most tech executives at least had the decency to lie about it.
“We’re not automating workers, we’re augmenting them,” the executives would tell me. “Our AI tools won’t destroy jobs. They’ll be helpful assistants that will free workers from mundane drudgery.”
Of course, lines like those—which were often intended to reassure nervous workers and give cover to corporate automation plans—said more about the limitations of the technology than…