> I think people wildly underestimate how protectionist people - particularly educated software engineers and PhDs will get once an AI model directly impacts their source of wealth.
I don't know what power you imagine SWEs and PhDs posses, but the last time their employers flexed their power by firing them in droves (despite record profits); the employees sure seemed powerless, and society shrugged it off and/or expressed barely-concealed schadenfreude.
They were sued for collusion and the lawyers got a massive payout and the employees got a fraction of lost wages. I was one of them. (Employees not lawyers.)
The Apple et al suit was many years before the post-covid layoffs: which I was referring to in my comment.
That settlement favored Apple, Google and the other conspirators because they only paid out a fraction of what they would have paid in salaries absent the collusion - so the settlement was not exactly a show of force by the engineers. Additionally, this was after a judge had thrown out a lower settlement amount the lawyers representing the class had agreed to.
I don't know what power you imagine SWEs and PhDs posses, but the last time their employers flexed their power by firing them in droves (despite record profits); the employees sure seemed powerless, and society shrugged it off and/or expressed barely-concealed schadenfreude.