First one reminded me of this:

“Didjya hear about the school dance that had to be canceled due to the thunderstorm? It was an electrically-erasable PROM.”

Ditch the AI slop logo, please.

“In 2026, the job market is tough. AI plunged us all into economic despair” (itself exaggerated, and a play on the typical “AI doomer” clickbait articles […])

The choice to frame this with parody is a bit problematic, though, since it makes it sound like your piece agrees that the economic issues are wildly overblown. They are somewhat, of course, but it’s also a very difficult time for many people.

I can see how your reading of the article is valid. I’ll sleep on it and see if I can do something about it.

Thank you for the acknowledgement. Maybe I’m over-identifying with your character, but the piece hit me pretty hard in a bad way. Your empathy is really appreciated.

But you frame the only alternative as “use the AI tools we tell you to”.

That’s what I mean by punching down, though. There’s no criticism of the outside factors - all the blame falls on the PoV character.

There have always been (and always will be) engineers with self-sabotaging tendencies, but with plenty to contribute nonetheless. It shouldn’t be a sentence for poverty.

Deciding whether or not to use AI in your work is a valid issue to discuss, but being unemployed right now is almost entirely a function of a shitty job market, not being a stick in the mud.

Are you sure you read it? The POV character gets fired (and ends up working as a janitor doorman) because they only start using it “too late”.

You’re essentially implying, throughout the piece, that being unemployed in the current tech market is a result of failing to use AI tools, completely regardless of the fact that employers have laid off (and continue to lay off) tens of thousands of qualified engineers in order to increase spending on more AI tools.

You’re insinuating that being out of work (at a time when the cost of living is extravagant nearly everywhere) is entirely the fault of the workers, regardless of the shitty, greedy behavior of employers and the industry in general.

It’s satire of the people who are out of work because they “won’t adapt to the AI paradigm”

eta: which seems like a bad thing, yeah?

Wow, fuck you too. Strawmanning people in dire financial circumstances is fun, I guess.

Stop punching down, asshole.

I apologize for taking this tone - I was obviously a little too emotional about this. The author’s discussion in the comments here was very respectful.