The Dark Side of “AI” in Corporate Culture

Dr Stuart Woolley
6 min read5 days ago

Humans always need to a part of the algorithm, at least for the moment, even if they do cost more.

“Image generated using OpenAI’s DALL·E.”

We read pretty much everyday now about the ways in which “AI” is slowly inserting itself into every aspect of our lives, most especially that portion of the day where we’re required to rent ourselves out to some corporate overlord or other — especially if you, like me, are an engineer playing their moves in the Grand Game of Software Engineering.

Things have been pretty grim in the Grand Game for a while, most especially with what I like to call the “commuting culture” — where we were habitually expected to donate unpaid overtime in actually getting to an office where, for the most part, our physical presence was only required for middle-managers to tick their surveillance boxes rather than it being necessary to do our day to day work.

Thankfully, in no small part due to the acceleration of remote working in general caused by the recent pandemic, this is now beginning to recede and software engineering, along with many other similar related professions, has have gained a modicum of recognition for their minions from the corporate overlords in realising that their work units do actually have a life outside of the office.

However, due in part to management not quite letting go of surveilling their…

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Dr Stuart Woolley

Worries about the future. Way too involved with software. Likes coffee, maths, and . Would prefer to be in academia. SpaceX, X, and Overwatch fan.