Be a hater all you want, AI's here to stay
- ID
- 14890
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 17 Aug 2026, 6:18 PM
- Fetched
- 18 Aug 2026, 1:02 AM
- Provider
- The Register
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.theregister.com/columnists/2026/08/17/be-a-hater-all-you-want-ais-here-to-stay/5288275
- Source URL
- https://www.theregister.com/headlines.atom
Summary
- Score
- 4.5
- Created
- 18 Aug 2026, 2:08 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersvibe_coderssaas_founders
What happened
Opinion columnist Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols argues AI is permanently reshaping work despite its flaws, citing Forrester's prediction that AI will eliminate 10.4 million US jobs (6.1%) by 2030, with entry-level programmers hit first. He notes AI companies are losing money and token-based pricing may temporarily make AI more expensive than humans, but expects costs to eventually drop enough to displace white-collar jobs. He also warns that most AI providers are proprietary, users should check their EULAs for data access terms, and that many AI startups are 'dead companies walking' hoping for acquisition.
Why it matters
If you're building on proprietary AI models, read your provider's EULA now—Vaughan-Nichols explicitly calls out that Big AI can 'cherry-pick your work and data.' The open-weights-vs-proprietary tension he describes is a real architectural decision for builders choosing model providers today. The entry-level programmer displacement point is worth discussing if your team hires juniors or runs training pipelines.
Discussion angle
Is the columnist's claim that open weights are 'gaining traction' enough to justify betting your stack on them, or are Malaysian builders still pragmatically locked into proprietary APIs for the next 12-18 months?