The younger generation's negative sentiment toward AI isn't Luddism. It's a feeling of being 'double-crossed' by tech leaders who are creating technology that will eliminate their future job prospects, leading to anger over economic disenfranchisement.
AI tools have made cheating so pervasive in higher education that they have dissolved academic foundations faster than they have disrupted the job market. This has bred a generation of cynical graduates who view the system as a performative farce.
As AI renders traditional workers into fungible 'cost centers,' owning a business is presented as the only viable path to economic self-determination. It provides a crucial buffer against mass layoffs and preserves individual agency in a volatile market.
Startups building on OpenAI or Anthropic APIs face a major platform risk. Their usage data trains the underlying foundational models, enabling the platform owners to eventually absorb their features natively and make the startups obsolete.
Relying on third-party APIs for AI is becoming unsustainable due to high token costs and the inherent security risk of uploading sensitive data. This will force a market shift toward powerful local hardware for running private, cost-effective models.
Despite a booming AI startup ecosystem, revenue is intensely concentrated. Foundational model providers OpenAI and Anthropic capture nearly 90% of the market, and their share is growing, squeezing out application-layer companies.
Corporate layoffs, once a sign of distress, are now interpreted by investors as a positive signal. They indicate that a company is successfully leveraging AI for efficiency and strategically conserving capital for an 'AI-first' future, rewarding the stock.
A parallel is drawn between Gen Z's anti-AI sentiment and the Vietnam War protests. Young people feel they're being forcibly 'drafted' into an AI-driven economy that devalues their humanity and career prospects, sparking a counter-cultural rejection.
The debate over Flock's license plate readers highlights a societal contradiction. Citizens broadly oppose mass surveillance on privacy grounds but demand the use of these exact tools to solve crimes after they occur, creating a constant policy tension.