Now for something different

I'm old. And this chart and story from Semafor Technology freaked me out.

Genocide. Masked men disappearing people. Government workers fired with no process. Citizens harassed at borders (and elsewhere). Technology's capture of state infrastructure and administration. AI hurting people now while its builders promise or threaten. Tech mogul's exfiltration (theft) of government-held data (talk about needing a new social contract or theory of government to justify that). And a coming jobs crisis.

Leaders are busy breaking as many things as they can (in the USA and elsewhere). But when I look at that chart through my 22-year old eyes - especially after 35 years living in the SF Bay Area - I worry.

I know that companies are simultaneously hoping that AI will replace those costly people they have to hire, preferably before next quarter's reporting and telling the media and the people that it won't/couldn't/wouldn't.

Charts like the one above should be viewed alongside data from industries besides tech. A recent post by the Chief Opportunity Officer at LinkedIn noted the "bottom rungs" of the career ladder are being chopped off across industries - retail, law, banking. Even if AI brings on many new jobs sometime in the future that won't help today's new workers.

What does this have to do with philanthropy? To me, this kind of data is more important for foundations than the latest AI-slop added to Zoom. How can donors cut through the hype of the AI industry* to find reality for real people?

Can we shift the trajectory of tech? Can we shift the trajectory of capitalism? Does philanthropy have a role in either or both?

As a write this, I realize philanthropy (foundations, in particular) and nonprofits are being threatened with taxes, increased regulatory scrutiny, and politically-motivated shut-downs that have both types of organizations fully preoccupied (US comment). I am reminded of Toni Morrison's observation that "The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work." Can we imagine the world again - past the present administration's incessant (racially-motivated) distractions - to identify the roles and structures of giving we'll want after this political storm?

• I used to joke that, if you wondered why you were addicted to your phone, just take a guess at the size of the combined marketing budgets spent on nurturing your addiction and the amount of said marketing you had consumed. This is even more true of AI. Investors and builders are into AI for hundreds of billions of dollars, folks. Their AI products are trashing the environment, discriminating against Black women, and serving up complete BS on the regular; but if you don't use it it will cost them a LOT OF MONEY.